When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare Page A

you.”
    His gaze held hers, intense. “Even if I could trust you, I canna trust the world. What if something happens to you?”
    â€œWhat do you mean? If I were to die?”
    â€œIf you married elsewhere.”
    She laughed at the idea. “Me, marry elsewhere? Death is the more likely event. I’m so far on the shelf now, I’ve accumulated an inch-­thick layer of dust.”
    â€œYou’re a gentlewoman. You come from good family. You’re an heiress with property, and you’re uncommonly pretty. I canna believe you’d have no prospects.”
    Maddie wanted to argue back at him, but her thoughts kept snagging on the fact that he’d called her uncommonly pretty.
    He went on, “If you were to marry another—­or die trying—­the lands would pass to someone else. Then all your intentions and promises would be worthless. So a lease willna be acceptable.”
    She sighed. “None of this is acceptable.”
    Becky knocked and called up from the foot of the stairs. “Ma’am, Cook is asking how many for dinner this evening.”
    â€œEight,” Logan answered.
    â€œ Eight ?” Maddie asked him.
    â€œYou, me, your aunt, and my men. Eight.”
    She shook her head. “We rarely have a formal dinner. Most evenings, I work late and then take a light repast in my room.”
    â€œWell, tonight you and I are going to welcome my men to dinner at a proper table. As husband and wife.”
    â€œThis was supposed to be an arrangement of convenience. I thought we agreed that you would have your life, and I would have mine.”
    â€œAnd we will, once we’re married fully and irrevocably. But as you’ve pointed out, that isna yet the case.” He pulled a folded paper from his pocket. “Perhaps you’d prefer for everyone in England to read about your love affair with a pillow?”
    â€œLogan, this isn’t fair.”
    â€œI never promised you fairness. I promised you the letters in exchange for a proper marriage. I’m still waiting on my end of the bargain.”
    â€œYou are such a rogue.”
    He gave her a devilish look. “I’m a Highlander, an officer, and a man who knows the meaning of ‘incendiary.’ I’m exactly what you asked for, mo chridhe . You shouldna have any complaint.”
    Then he left her, disappearing in a series of pounding, unapologetic footfalls. Tromping down the stairs as if he owned Lannair Castle already.
    But he didn’t, fully. Not quite yet.
    Maddie had only one possible route of escape. She must find those letters. If she could find and destroy them, his claim on her would be gone, too. She’d been hoping to search for them this morning, but Lord Varleigh had called. She hadn’t had the chance.
    But Logan couldn’t keep her from searching forever.
    In the meantime, she would take inspiration from Fluffy—­grow a thick, impenetrable shell around herself and stay inside it just as long as she dared.

 
    Chapter Eight
    L ogan knew his bride hadn’t been counting on hosting a half dozen soldiers at dinner. However, he would offer no apologies for including them. He needed to show them that this marriage was real, regardless of what had—­or hadn’t—­happened in their bedchamber last night.
    The castle’s dining hall was certainly large enough to accommodate their makeshift clan. Even with five of his men, Maddie, her aunt, and Logan in attendance, they still didn’t fill the whole table.
    Most of all, the men deserved this—­to sit down to a table laid with china and silver, and be served joints of roasted meat, jellied fruits, oysters, rich sauces, and more.
    This was the lavish homecoming he’d promised them on the battlefield. And Logan didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep.
    These men—­broken-­down and brash as they were—­had been the closest thing to family Logan had