Duncan scowled at him. “Hiding? What the hell for? What are you trying to say?”
“I’m not trying to say anything,” Connor hedged. “But many a bride wakes up from her wedding night confused and upset.”
“Not my bride. She has no reason to be hiding. Believe me.”
Still, the men wheeled their mounts around to return to the keep. Forget about Mitchum, thought Duncan. When he got hold of her, he was going to let her know exactly and in no uncertain terms what running away and hiding from him resulted in, and it would be very difficult for her to sit down after that lesson had been taught.
“Any sign of her?” he asked Henna when he entered the courtyard.
“No, my lord. Oh, dear, where could she have gone?”
“You spoke to her this morning? What was her demeanor?”
“Oh, she was just normal. I don’t know. She had little appetite, but I’d no thought she would go running off. I don’t think she’s run off at all. I think someone’s taken her!”
“From the third floor of the keep? I doubt it. She’s hiding. I want her found.”
He strode into the hall and up the stone stairs, Henna tripping at his heels.
“What will ya do to her when you find her? You must be gentle with her. She never asked to come here and be your bride—”
“Silence!” he said. “I will deal with my wife as I choose.”
He took the stairs two at a time, leaving Henna behind him, and barged into his room to pick up the weapons he’d left behind. He was halfway back to the door when he stopped short, staring in disbelief.
The lass every man in the castle was searching for was fast asleep on his bed.
Not just on his bed. The blasted wench was in it, snuggled right under his blankets making herself at home. He strode to the door and yelled down the hall.
“Did no one think to check my room? Call off the blasted search, you sorry lot of idiots!”
He slammed the door and turned on Cait, who was now very much awake. She inched from the bed, hopped down to the floor, and at the look on his face, sidled around to the other side.
“What were you doing in here?” The quiet, controlled tone of his voice belied the anger bubbling beneath.
“I—I fell asleep. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“You have your own room. Your own bed to sleep in,” he reminded her tightly. “I’ll ask you once again. What were you doing in here?”
“I just... I came in to look...to see if you were here. I hadn’t seen you all day.”
“There is a reason for that. I’m a very busy man and I don’t have time to act as playmate to my wife. If you wish for company you can look for it elsewhere. I’m sure the women of the keep will be happy to comply.”
“Oh,” she murmured miserably.
“My men have been combing the woods for you for an hour. They have been over every inch of the castle and grounds in search of you—”
“I was right here!”
“Don’t interrupt me,” he snapped, “or things will go very badly for you. I assigned a guard to you so I would know at all times that you are safe. He is now in grave dishonor because of your capricious behavior. I don’t care what you decide to do, but from now on, if you leave your room your guard is to know exactly where you are. Do you understand me?”
“But, sir—”
“Do you understand?” he barked.
She bowed her head. “Yes.”
“Repeat it to me.”
“I’m to make sure my guard knows where I am at all times. Whenever I leave my room,” she whispered.
“Furthermore, you will remember that this is my room. My room. You are not permitted in my room, and certainly not in my bed. From now on you are not to set foot in this room no matter how much you wish to know if I am here. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.
Tears. She wouldn’t sway him with those tears. He pressed on, angrier at himself than with her. He had to hurt her. He had to make her see that for her own good, she had to leave him alone.
“And listen to me now, little Cait. You may be the king’s own daughter, but you will not be permitted to do whatever you please. If I find you in this room again, you will be punished. Severely punished. And I promise you, if you ever go missing again through your own carelessness, if you ever leave your guard without an idea of your whereabouts, you will rue the day you were born. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir.” She swiped away the tears as they fell. Tears like little diamonds. He wished he could catch every one of them and put them back from whence they came. It was for her own good, her own good. He would punish her if she couldn’t abide by his rules. They were for her. He tried to convince himself of that as he pointed to her door and watched her slink out of his room.
Henna shut the door behind her, shooting him a reproachful look. Of course she had listened to every word of his harangue. She would rake him over the coals for it later. So be it. He could handle Henna much more easily than the other one, the beautiful, lonely, needy one with the pale blue eyes. He sat on the edge of the bed, tried not to remember how charming she looked curled up in the middle of his bed. Her arms had been wrapped about his pillow as if she embraced it. As if she embraced him. He imagined embracing her, taking her in his arms, parting her legs and plunging deep inside—
Gods, it was farcical. Not only was she innocent as a newborn, she also obviously had no inkling of what went on in the marriage bed. But maybe...maybe he could use that to his advantage. How was she to know that the things he wanted to demand of her were not what every man demanded of his wife?
No. She would instinctively know his requests were unnatural, just as Lenore had known even though she’d been virginal as a nun when she came to him. Women knew. He couldn’t bear to have those
innocent, beautiful eyes turn on him in condemnation. Better to leave things as they were. Her tears would dry. Life would go on, somehow, some way. But God, if he wasn’t a miserable fool.
* * * * *
Caitlyn was absent from the dinner table, and while Duncan wasn’t surprised, he wasn’t exactly relieved either. He had hoped to see her at dinner if only to reassure himself that her tears were gone, that she was all right. That she was coming to accept the way things needed to be between them.
Henna was only too happy to inform him of Cait’s demeanor as soon as she caught him alone, and her report wasn’t good.
“She cried for two hours, lad. I hope you’re happy with yourself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a loving display of husbandly care and concern.”
“Henna, please, I’ve just eaten. Be so kind as to not ruin my digestion.”
“You ruined hers! She’s so upset and hurt I couldn’t get her to eat one bite. What is this game you’re playing with her?”
“No game. I won’t coddle the girl. She can’t be expecting me to hold her hand all day and sing love poems to her and play pat-a-cake.”
“Oh, please, you don’t fool me for a second. This has nothing to do with her, and everything to do with Lenore.”
“Don’t.” His face grew hard. “Don’t, Henna.”
“Well, it’s not fair to her. It’s not. I can tell already this girl is nothing like Lenore. Nothing, and yet you treat her as if—”
“I treat her as if she’s an unwanted infringement on my time and patience, which she is.”
“How cold you are. The lass is lonely and confused. All she wants from you is a smile, a kiss on the cheek, some indication that you don’t despise her. Did you really tell her guard to keep her away from ya? How rude, how perfectly horrid for a husband to behave!”