Delighting Her Highland Devil (Time to Love a Highlander Book 7) by Maeve Greyson

Author:Maeve Greyson [Greyson, Maeve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2023-07-10T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“I brought ye some tea,” Amaranth said. “To help with that hoarseness plaguing you this morning.”

Jovianna pulled her attention from her bowl of parritch and narrowed her eyes at her mother, willing the woman to behave.

Amaranth’s smile only grew wider as she returned to her seat.

“Ye feeling poorly this morning, Mistress Jovianna?” young Tildy called out from her place farther down the long table in the main hall.

“Dinna fash yerself, Tildy,” Mrs. Gibb said before Jovianna could answer. “Sometimes shouting can leave ye with a bit of hoarseness even though ye’re in good health.” She placed a platter of fried bread on the table while quietly chuckling to herself.

“Mrs. Gibb.” Tobias glared at the housekeeper until the woman bowed her head and meekly returned to her seat.

Jovianna pushed away the bowl of boiled oats and concentrated on sipping her tea, hoping it possessed enough caffeine to keep her awake until she could steal a nap. Last night had resulted in very little sleep but had been thoroughly worth the sacrifice. She flashed hot all over again at the memory of finally stumbling from Tobias’s bed in time to wash her face and dress for breakfast. After several fortifying sips of her tea, she offered him an expectant smile. “I thought I could help with some chores. Is there anything, in particular, you’d like me to do for you?”

Across the table, Donnor choked, coughing and wheezing for air while Fitch snorted with mirth and pounded him on the back.

Tobias stood and brought his fist down hard on the table, rattling everything on it. “Never in all my days have I witnessed such crudeness among my own. I am ashamed of the lot of ye. No wonder the English consider Scots to be uncivilized beasts. Ye’ve proven them right.”

Jovianna reached toward him and patted the table. “It’s all right—”

“It is not all right.” He held out his hand and motioned her forward. “Come. Stand at my side, my own.”

Even though she didn’t want to, she did as he asked, wishing he would just let it go. They meant no harm. Did he not realize he’d just make them resent her? She took his hand and turned so the others couldn’t read her lips. “It’s all right,” she whispered. “Please don’t scold them. They don’t mean anything by it.”

He turned her to face everyone seated in the hall. “I dinna intend to scold them even though they deserve it.” His voice boomed the length of the long formal room that had gone uncomfortably silent. He ripped off his neckcloth, bound her wrist to his, then lifted them for all to see. “This woman is my wife, and ye will treat her with the respect she deserves, ye ken?”

Jovianna bit the inside of her cheek to keep from asking him if he had lost his mind. Such a drastic reaction was completely unnecessary. Because of the irregular marriage laws of Scotland at this particular time in history, if she agreed—well, even if she didn’t—she was legally his wife.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.