Malcolm jammed his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching for her. “Enough! My wager, madam wife, is to be allowed back in your bed until you bear the fruits of that endeavor. I shall have my son. One way or another.”

Fiona’s hand tightened about the back of her chair, tears threatening. “I know what happens to marriages once a child is born. My own father—”

“I am not your father. I would never leave you.”

“He didn’t leave, either. Not physically. Once he had his heir, he was just more interested in other things.”

Malcolm raked a hand through his hair. “Fiona, I will not—”

She took a step forward, her gaze almost pleading. “Malcolm, can you promise me that your feelings for me won’t change? Not even when we have a child?”

He opened his mouth to say the word, but then it happened. Could he care for a woman forever? She saw it in his eyes, a flicker of his uncertainty, dark and fearful. Fiona’s heart sank and it took all her pride to keep her head upright. She’d been right to deny him. Right to worry that his feelings for her were not immune to change.

She steeled her heart once again. He was angry with her decision not to have children. But she could stand his anger better than his absence. One day she might agree to have a child, just not now. Not while she was still desperately in love with her own husband.

Malcolm shook his head. “Madam, I await your answer. Do you agree to our wager?”

She hoped her lips didn’t tremble as she resumed her seat and reclaimed her brush. “Yes, I agree. And I hope with all my heart that I win.”

His jaw hardened. “We are settled then. I won’t burden you with my company any longer.” He spun on his heel and left, slamming the door behind him.

Fiona scarcely waited for his footsteps to fade before she dropped the brush, jumped up and threw herself across her bed, where she cried until she could cry no more.

Chapter 6

A man will vow to his dying day that he hates being chased by a woman. But let him meet one who will not chase him, one who barely knows he is alive, one who acts not only disinterested, but disgusted as well, and he will do everything in his power to fix her interest.

Earl of Stempleton to his neighbor Mr. Poole, while sharing a glass of port after dinner at His Lordship’s London house

After riding Thunder another two hours, over hill and through valley, Devon returned to Kilkairn. His disposition had not improved on the ride. That was twice now he’d been rebuffed by Kat Macdonald, and it was twice too many.