He kissed her again, and she kissed him back. They came up against the bed, and Callum toppled her onto it, making her gasp. He tried to pull up Tara’s dress with one hand, for his need to touch her was overwhelming, and she seemed to like it. But the damned thing was huge, and he made no headway through layers of petticoats, vast swathes of silk and stiff panniers. He got as far as her knee, when she gasped, ‘No, you cannot.’
Callum barely heard her. ‘You are so lovely. I can think of nothing but this, holding you, kissing you. What it is to touch you now.’
‘No, no, you should not. This is wrong,’ she cried, giving him a hard shove. Tara scuttled off the bed, keeping her eyes on him like wary prey as she rearranged her clothing.
‘Lass, what is wrong.’
‘You are wrong,’ she cried, her chest heaving, face pink. ‘You are just like the others wanting to make me your whore. I will not shame myself for the pleasure of my uncle, or Hew, or any other man, Callum Ross. You all seek to use me for your own ends, and I am heartily sick of it.’
‘I did not use you. My regard is sincere, Tara, and I would never shame you.’
‘But you just did. You put hands on me when you should not have.’
‘So did Hew Gordon. And I did so with your consent. You joined in, lass. Admit it. If you did not want that, why did you not tell me?’
She looked him in the eye and trembled. 'Because I was frightened you would be angry. Because I have seen your temper tonight.'
‘You have no need to be afraid.’
‘I do, and you are just like Hew.’
Tara could not have hurt him more if she had taken a knife and sliced his heart to ribbons. Her rejection set an ache in his chest, a rumble of anger deep in his belly, to war with unrequited lust still burning in his loins.
‘I am nothing like Hew Gordon. Bryce is his cousin, his own blood, and even he cannot speak well of that maggot. I cannot believe this is how you see me, but thank you for being so direct. If I over-stepped just now, I beg forgiveness, but it was with your blessing. You urge me on and then reject me. And you do not fear me, Tara. You merely fear what I bring out in you.’
‘And what is that?’ she spat.
‘Your true nature, which is every bit as passionate as mine and brings you nought but shame, when it should be something to relish.’
‘As if being fondled roughly by a brute is something to relish,’ she said.
Callum took a step towards her, and she flinched. Perhaps she was afraid, and he was just a brute. Or maybe she was a cold, teasing little bitch who liked to lead men a merry dance. Either way, his desire was well and truly doused, and his anger had risen.
‘I thought we had come to some kind of understanding and sympathy between us.’
In reply, she shook her head.
‘Forgive me for having seen something that was not there. I will go now and never trouble you again.’
When he got to the door, Callum hung his head and said, ‘You have no reason to fear me, ever. I would never have dishonoured you, or done anything against your will, although I see you are determined to think ill of me.’ He looked up at her. ‘So hate me, despise me, Tara, if you will, but mark me. You must be wary and do not trust in your uncle, for it is he who will be the ruin of you, not I.’
As he walked away, she called after him. ‘I suppose you will delight in telling everyone about what you saw at Machrie now.’
‘I have too much honour to say anything about that indiscretion.’
‘It was not my fault, and you will not believe my side of it. You wilfully misunderstand me.’
‘Oh, I understand you all too well, lass,’ said Callum.
Chapter Eleven
Sleet stung Callum’s face as he emerged from one of the more disreputable taverns in Inverness and bundled his plaid about him for warmth. Bryce shivered and blew on his hands.
‘Damn this cold.’
‘Aye, winter clings on this year. I am for home as fast as may be,’ said Callum with little enthusiasm at the thought. It had been weeks since the gathering, but a strange melancholy had settled on him like a fog, refusing to relent. Going home to a dark castle and a cold hearth would only leave him room to brood as feelings he had worked hard to bury clawed their way out.
Callum’s eye was drawn to a crowd gathered near the market cross. Muttering ran through it, growing louder. ‘What’s amiss with them?’ he said. ‘Is there a new unfortunate in the stocks today?’