He should deny her, send her to the keep where she could be kept safe but if he did that his father would believe his bargain with her a failure and issue orders for her sisters to wed, not that he should care. So why did he?
“We stay here until I say otherwise,” he ordered. “My father can continue to believe that you are working to fulfill the bargain.”
“I am grateful for that. Thank you. It will keep my sisters safe,” Bliss said, relieved for at least a short reprieve.
“Now tell me what you truly told Lawler when he was here.”
She kept her word, speaking only the truth to him. “I told him you did not know I was your wife, and he asked if there was any news, and I told him it was too soon.”
“Meaning he wanted to know if at least there was a chance you were with child.”
Bliss nodded, though it had not been a question.
“That is what you will continue to tell him when he returns until I decide otherwise,” he ordered with a firmness that left no room for debate.
“And will you confide in him the attempts on your life?” she asked.
“Not until the time is right.”
She would ask what he meant by that, but she didn’t think he would explain, so she said nothing… for now.
“It will be difficult for us to find out any information about who wishes you dead being secluded here,” she said.
He disagreed. “Not so.”
She went to dispute his response, then realized his intent. “You will wait for the next attack and—”
“Keep one of them alive long enough to convince him to tell me what I need to know,” Rannick finished.
Giving it thought, she said, “By now surely whoever is responsible for the attacks will have learned that it will take more than two men to see the task done.”
“Two men at a time tells me that whoever is responsible is having a difficult time getting not only a sufficient number of men to see to the task but proficient men as well. There are also two different reasons that the men who attacked agreed to the task. The first two men were mercenaries hired for coin. The man today said more would come, that he would not be the last. The mercenary was quick to bargain with me to save his life, not so the man today. He accepted he was dying and told me I was a dead man and did not know it. Each man attacked for a different reason; one for coin and one for a cause or belief.”
“That cause or belief is what we need to find out,” she said.
He glared at her. “I will not see you placed in harm’s way.” He shook his head. “Not that you aren’t already in harm’s way by simply being my wife.” He shook his head again, still trying to comprehend that she was his wife.
She recalled how she had gone to Lawler with her proposition, having considered all that went with it. “I was aware of that before I offered to be your wife.”
“Yet you still followed through with it, and what has it gotten you?” he demanded. “Nothing but misery from the start and a certain early death. You were a fool, a complete and utter fool.”
Bliss defended herself. “I have brought things to this marriage your other wives didn’t.”
“And what might they be?”
She squared her shoulders. “I brought a willingness to wed you, hope of a good marriage, the willingness to couple with you, and the pride to carry not only one child of yours but more if agreeable with you.”
He would not let her know how her heartfelt words had impacted him, chiseled at his frozen heart, and tempted his passion. Instead, he told her what she needed to hear. “Give it time and the curse will destroy every one of them.”
With that said, he had had enough and walked out of the cottage. His rage with the news that Bliss was his wife had abated, though it still rumbled around inside him. It shocked him to find out his father had arranged another marriage for him, though truth be told, it was Bliss who had proposed it. That had never happened with his other wives. He had learned that all three had protested the proposed union. But his father had offered a hefty sum to seal the marriage arrangements and the clans greedily accepted, selling their daughters to the cursed lord.
Bliss had been different. She had chosen to wed him out of love for her sisters. That said much about her nature and had made him admire her even more, though she still had been foolhardy to do such a thing.
Surprisingly while anger still lingered, so did a sense of relief he should not be feeling. Bliss belonged to him now and try as he might to understand it, he was glad that she did. A foolish thought on his part. She would only suffer being his wife and yet he selfishly wanted to keep her, though it was lost to him as to why.