Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 101336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
The rain poured down on her, soaking through her garments, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to run, escape, but how did one escape oneself?
Sky gasped when her arm was grabbed, and she was yanked to a stop and spun around to be plastered against her husband’s hard, wet chest.
“Don’t ever, EVER, run away from me like that again,” he yelled to make sure he was heard above the pouring rain and his pounding heart, thinking it could be heard it beat so heavily. “You cannot escape this marriage as much as you may want to and never would you escape me. I would find you no matter where you went. Nothing, absolutely nothing would stop me from finding you.”
Though she was locked in no cell, this marriage still made her feel very much a prisoner and one from which she would never be able to escape. Her shoulders slumped and her head drooped in defeat.
He scooped her up into his arms and carried her back to the cottage, the heavy rain soaking them every step of the way. Once inside, he stood her on her feet in front of the hearth.
“You need to get out of those wet garments,” he said and went to the chest at the foot of the bed and grabbed the blanket folded on top and returned to her. “Take off your garments and wrap yourself in this.” He placed the blanket on the table and stepped away from her and began to strip off his own garments.
Sky stood staring at him, too shocked and fearful to move while he undressed without hesitation.
“Get them off, Sky, or I will do it for you,” he ordered.
She forced her chin up and she wished she could force her fear away, but that was not possible. Instead, she did her best to temper it. “Please, Slayer, do not make me do this now. I have only learned I am your wife. Please give me a chance to digest this news and come to terms with it before we consummate our marriage.”
She had braved her own fear to speak up to him and for that he admired her, and her plea made sense. This was all shocking news to her, news she had yet to come to accept.
“You make a reasonable request so I will not deny it but when it comes time, I will have your word that you will not deny me but willingly consummate the marriage.”
“You will give me time?” she asked, her fear subsiding now that she had been granted a delay.
“I will give you a few days, no more.”
“A few days should be sufficient,” she said, though she had no idea if it would be. But at least it gave her time to better understand her situation and to learn more about her husband and perhaps befriend him as she had thought it wise to do. Maybe then things would not seem as dreadful as they presently felt.
“We will revisit this in a few days. Now get out of those wet garments,” he ordered and stepped away and turned his back on her.
She was grateful he gave her a bit of privacy. He was right about the wet garments. They would do her no good, though the thought of having only a blanket to wear left her feeling vulnerable.
She hurried and rinsed the rainwater from her hair before she began to undress and get the blanket wrapped around her so that she would not be left standing there naked when he turned around.
A sudden chill sent a shiver through her, and she hurried to finish tucking the blanket around her a few moments before he turned to face her. He walked toward her with ease and with no regard for his nakedness as though it was a common thing for him to walk naked in front of a woman. The brief view of his wide, muscled back and taut backside had been compelling enough to see, but the front of him assaulted the senses and sent a pleasurable sensation racing through her. He was an exceptional figure of a man and far too easy to gaze upon.
He stopped in front of her. Her two different colored eyes intrigued him but what intrigued him even more was how easy it was for him to see in her eyes what she was feeling. And he did not like the fright and vulnerability he saw there, though he understood it. He had spoken the truth to her and told her that his father had chosen her as a wife for Warrand because he believed his son would not love her and now, she believed the same of him. That love would never exist between them. That he would tolerate her.
Sky forced herself not to flinch when he raised his hand toward her and with his finger gently wiped the rivulet of rainwater that she felt dripping from her hair down along her cheek.