Seducing the Ruthless Rogue

by Tammy Jo Burns

  “I see.”

  “McKenzie, she is going to test you every way imaginable. She is headstrong and willful. You’re going to have your hands full with her.”

  “She will ken what she can and cannot do by the time I’m through with her.”

  Sir Graham’s laughter was accentuated by another thunderclap.

  “What do you find so hilarious?” Mack questioned.

  “If you take that attitude with her, one of you will likely end up in a grave by the other’s hand,” her father predicted.

  “Perhaps we will do away with each other at the same time.”

  “There is always that. Perhaps I did not think things through as well as I thought,” Sir Graham mused.

  “Do you mean you somehow planned this?” Mack asked, incredulity and anger lacing his voice.

  “Let’s just say that when an opportunity presented itself…” he let the comment drift off.

  “I can’t believe you,” Mack growled just as a lightning strike lit the interior of the carriage. The light and shadows played off his face, making him look like an angry monster. “I hope you have not told your daughter this news.”

  “I have.”

  “No wonder she’s so angry. I think you should go in there and beg Cassie for forgiveness.”

  “You’ll still marry her?” Sir Graham asked, a tinge of worry in his voice.

  “It’s too late to do otherwise. Goodnight, Sir Graham.”

  “McKenzie.”

  Mack watched the older man enter the house as the first fat drops of rain splattered followed by a lightning bolt and a clap of thunder.

  “Take me home,” he instructed the driver. “This is not a night for man or beast to be out.”

  “Yes, sir,” the driver called and the coach began to move briskly through the streets. When they arrived at Mack’s house a short while later, the heavens had truly unleashed their fury. The rain poured, quickly filling holes with water and causing flooding.

  When Mack stepped out of the carriage, the rain covered his shoe. He bit back a curse. “Would you like to come in?” he called up to the driver.

  “No tellin’ when this storm’ll stop. I best get the team back.”

  “Be careful.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Mack raced up to the door and beat on it, his shoulders hunched. Bartlett opened the door, and Mack rushed inside.

  “How was your evening?”

  “Eventful.”

  “Oh? And how is that, sir?”

  “Well, Bartlett, it seems this will no longer be a bachelor household.”

  ***

  “What wrong with Missy Cassie?” Chang asked Sir Graham when he came into the house.

  “Where do I begin?”

  “I can tell you where you can begin,” a frosty feminine voice interrupted.

  “Cassie,” he groaned.

  “Chang, do you have my tea ready?” Her words were punctuated by a crash of thunder.

  “Yes, Missy Cassie. Tray all ready for you.”

  “I’ll get it,” she halted his progress when he made a move to the kitchen. “I’ll let Papa tell you how he has single handedly ruined my life.” She spun on her heel and left the men staring after her.

  “She very angry.”

  “That is an understatement, Chang.”

  ***

  Cassie took the tray and went into her room. She shut the door in an effort to shut out all that had happened to her this evening. It had started out so perfectly, how had it all gone so wrong? She poured the tea that Chang had fixed for her so it could cool some before she drank it. Cassie didn’t know what all was in it, only that it soothed her nerves and helped her sleep on nights like this.

  She stood in front of the mirror and studied herself one last time. She had felt like a princess at a ball. Now she didn’t know what she felt like. Cassie began pulling the pins from her hair and allowed it to tumble to her waist. A lightning strike lit up her room and she braced herself for the accompanying sound of thunder. After it sounded, she walked across the room and pulled the drapes closed, blocking out the elements as much as she could.

  Cassie began undoing the buttons up the back of her dress. She reached the top few buttons and the bottom few, but regardless of what she did or how hard she tried, she couldn’t reach the middle buttons. She was trapped in her dress. She dropped heavily on her bed. Goosebumps came to life on her skin after another flash of lightning and clap of thunder. Flashes of the past came to her.

  She and her mother were outside lying on the beach, watching the stars above. A storm had been building off of the coast and looked far out to sea. The longer they lay there, the closer the storm rolled in, but the sky above them remained clear. Her mother stood up and that was when it had happened. The air around them seemed charged. The next thing Cassie knew, a blinding flash of light caused her to roll away from it. The sound of distant thunder rumbled on the air. When Cassie rolled back over she found her mother crumpled on the ground.

  “Mama,” Cassie said, holding out her hand to her mother. She just lay there, unresponsive. Cassie crawled across the beach, the shells cutting into her palms and knees. “Mama,” she tried again. As she drew closer, she saw her mother’s dress was shredded. There was a burn mark around her finger where her wedding ring was. The air smelled of scorched hair. When she rolled her over, blood trickled out of her ears and no air came from her mouth. “Mama!” she screamed, pulling her mother into her arms.

  Cassie shook herself free of her memories. She stood, crossed the room, and quickly downed the cup of tea she had poured. She poured another and drank it as well. Cassie kicked off her shoes and paced the room. She began to feel her muscles relax.

  “Chang!” she called. The door opened just as she was about to call for him again.

  “Yes, Missy Cassie?”

  “I need unbuttoning.” She presented her back to the man. “This is why I wear those serviceable dresses that Mack seems to complain about all the time. I guess you know now, don’t you? I am being married off.”

  “Your papa love you.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” She felt the dress gape open where it had been tight. “Thank you for your assistance, but your tea is going into affect.”

  “Yes, Missy Cassie,” Chang said softly.

  He shuffled out of the room, and Cassie shut the door behind him. She let the dress slide down her body to the floor before stepping out of it. Cassie picked up the beautiful red dress and gently laid it across the chair in her room. She smoothed her hand over the material, enjoying the feel once more, before turning towards the bed. The storm had developed into a ferocious one, but it no longer bothered Cassie. She crawled beneath the covers and let the tea soothe her nerves. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 18

  Cassie woke the next morning to the sun shining cheerily through the small slit in her drapes. She stretched, feeling refreshed as she always did the morning after drinking Chang’s tea. She pushed up to a sitting position and saw the red dress draped across the chair. It had not been a dream after all, it had been a living nightmare. She was betrothed to Stuart McKenzie.

  The sound of heavy pounding could be heard at the front door. Cassie rolled her eyes in irritation as she thought that it could only be one person. She considered crawling back in bed when a light knock sounded on her bedroom door. Cassie stared at the door as if by doing that alone could make whoever stood on the other side go away. She did not want to talk to anyone, not Chang, her father, or her betrothed. She still had faith that she could talk sense into Mack and make him see this proposed marriage was ludicrous.

  The light knock sounded once again. Deciding that she could not hide from whoever stood on the other side of that door forever, she stood up and crossed the room. She took her robe and pulled it on over her chemise, cinching it tightly at her waist. Cassie opened the door and was shocked to see Mikala standing on the other side, holding a dress and slippers.


  “What are you doing here?” Cassie demanded.

  “Is that any way to greet a friend?”

  “Are we?”

  “I had hoped so. There was a time not so very long ago that I did not have many friends. I find that I value the ones that I have all the more because of it.” There was a pregnant pause as the two women silently studied each other.

  “Come in,” Cassie held the door open and her arm out to indicate that she should enter the bedroom. Once Mikala entered, she shut the door.

  “Thank you,” Mikala said.

  “What is that?” Cassie asked, nodding to the items in her hands.

  “Your wedding dress.”

  “I’m not marrying him. I don’t care what was said or announced last night. He doesn’t like me, and I don’t care for him.”

  Mikala lay the dress on the bed and dropped the slippers to the floor. Then she took a seat on the unmade bed and patted a spot beside her. “Come and sit.”

  “I’d rather not.”

  “My, but you are a hard case.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that you are much worse than I was.” Mikala leaned back and braced herself with her hands behind her on the mattress. “You do know that you must go through with this marriage.”

  “I do not have to do anything. In fact, I could dress and slip through that window, and no one would ever see me again.”

  “You’re not being sensible.”

  “Sensible? I am being forced into a marriage because of some kissing. How is that sensible?”

  “I was forced into a marriage because Gabe was trying to protect my life.”

  “That’s absurd.”

  “But the truth. Cassie, both Mack and your father are respected men. If you do not follow through with this, their reputations will be forever tarnished.”

  “And why should I care?”

  “Because from what I have come to know of you in our short acquaintance, you are not cruel and heartless,” Kala’s raspy voice said softly. “I know you are hurt and you feel betrayed, and probably in some sense you have every right. But those two men out there, for all their faults, deep down are good men, and our country needs them.”

  “Are you saying that if I do not go through with this sham of a marriage, Ma…Director McKenzie could lose his position?”

  “Stranger things have been known to happen.”

  “But they need Papa and his inventions.”

  “There are other inventors,” Mikala shrugged negligently.

  “I need time to think,” Cassie said, rubbing her now pounding temples as she paced the floor.

  “You have ten minutes to decide.”

  “Ten minutes! When is the wedding to take place?”

  “As soon as you can get dressed. It is amazing what can happen when Prinny is involved.”

  “I need to be alone, please.”

  Mikala stood and crossed to the door. “Don’t even think about escaping through that window. If you are not going to see this through, at least have the integrity to stay and say so. Also, I wouldn’t mention the word bastard around your betrothed again. He is a bit sensitive when he hears it in reference to him.”

  “Why is that? He kept calling himself ‘The Scottish Bastard’ as if it should mean something to me, but I have no idea.”

  “It is his story to tell, not mine.” Mikala slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her. When she entered the hall, four sets of eyes of various colors looked back at her. Some were anxious, one was wary, and one was stormy.

  “Well?” her father asked anxiously.

  “I’ve guilted her enough that she’ll follow through with the wedding. Send for the minister. I’ve given her ten minutes to think it over.”

  “What if she escapes?” Mack asked, almost hoping she would.

  “She’s too proud. No, brother dear, within the hour, you will be a married man. Well and truly caught in the parson’s trap.”

  “Wonderful. I’ll return shortly.”

  ***

  Cassie paced the confines of the study. This was her favorite room in this little house. The room where she wrote her articles and spun her tales of tragic heroes and the heroines that love them. Now she found herself living out the life of one of her heroines. The dress that Mikala had brought was beautiful and fit her perfectly. It was a beautiful silvery blue and the material might have been silk. She did not want to think on it too much. The color almost looked like Mack’s eyes and made hers appear an even deeper blue than normal. Mikala had helped her arrange her hair in a beautiful updo, leaving her neck and collarbone exposed. She wore a pair of gloves to hide the ink stains on her fingers and hands.

  The small study was full of bodies and was heating up. Cassie took a piece of paper off the desk and began fanning herself. Her father, Chang, Mikala, and Hawkescliffe were all present. The only person missing was the bridegroom and the minister. But who needed a minister if there was no groom? It was an hour and a half since Mikala had left her bedroom to allow her to think about her decision. There had not been much to think over, not when Mikala had explained what could be ripped away from the two men. As much as she did not like Director McKenzie, she did not want to see him taken away from a position at which he excelled.

  When Mikala had threatened her not to slip out the window, she had been horrified at the thought that the other woman really thought she might do it. Truthfully, she had considered it, but only for a few seconds. She was made of sterner stuff than to run from a problem. Now she paced the small study and tried not to meet the pitying look that her father and Chang sent her. She also avoided the rage that glinted in Hawkescliffe’s eyes and the compassion and anger she saw in Mikala’s.

  “Perhaps someone should have had a discussion with my betrothed,” Cassie spat.

  “About what?” the man in question asked from the door of the study.

  “Do you realize how long we have waited for you to make an appearance? Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is for the bridegroom to be over a half hour late to his own wedding? Did it ever occur to you that I would have to endure looks of pity because my bridegroom did not even want to show up to his own wedding? Are you going to answer me, or just stand there looking daft like the village idiot?”

  “Are you finished practicing to be a fishwife?”

  She glared at him, fisted her hands on her waist, and cocked one eyebrow in anticipation of his answering her questions.

  “First of all, it took some time to find a minister available and willing to oversee a marriage by special license.” Mack stood aside and allowed the mousy looking minister to enter the study. “Reverend Thomas, this beautiful creature is my future wife, Cassie Graham.”

  Cassie nodded at the man. “And what was the other reason?”

  “I think I’ll make you wait for that one,” Mack said, his brogue thick and rich.

  Cassie walked over to the window as the others were introduced to Reverend Thomas. Perspiration began to bead on her skin. This was really happening. She would soon be tied to Stuart McKenzie for the rest of their natural lives, if they did not kill one another first. She fanned herself faster, but she could not cool herself at all. Cassie fumbled with the locks on the window, but could not make her hands work. What was wrong with her?

  “Allow me,” a familiar voice said behind her. Mack’s voice did something to her that she did not want to think about in great detail. He reached around her, undid the locks, and pushed up the window. “How’s that?” he asked, his breath caressing her ear.

  “Better,” she whispered, as the breeze cooled her skin.

  “Cassie, we do not have to go through with this if you don’t want to.”

  “Yes, we do. Mikala made it very clear what it could mean to your’s and Papa’s careers if we do not. I will not be the cause of England losing these wars we find ourselves in.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Mack, you are wanted
over there with the gentlemen,” Mikala rushed over. “Please send Sir Graham over here. I believe he and his daughter need a moment before the wedding.” Mikala patted him on his back and gave him a little shove towards the group of men standing by the desk. “How are you feeling?”

  Suddenly Cassie was petrified. “I can’t do this. You have to help me, Mikala. You’ve been through this yourself. Please.”

  “Stop this. Take a deep breath,” she instructed. “Now release it. Good. Another. Good. Cassie, you are a strong, courageous woman. You’re going to be fine.”

  Cassie had herself under control once more. “I’m ready,” she said just as her father reached her.

  “Cassie, you look beautiful. I wish very much your mother were here to see you.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I need to tell you something.”

  “Papa, not now, please. I don’t know how long I can hold myself together. I feel as if I am going to shatter into pieces at any moment.”

  “Not my beautiful Cassiopeia.”

  “Yes, that one. I just want this over with.”

  “That is not how you should feel about your wedding,” he admonished her.

  “No lectures, Papa. You’ve got what you wanted. I am ready to see this done.”

  Sir Graham hooked Cassie’s hand on his arm and led her to the desk, where Reverend Thomas and Ma…Director McKenzie waited for her. Remember, think of him as Director McKenzie. It will help you deal with this situation. Director McKenzie. Director McKenzie. You can do this, she told herself. Gabriel and Mikala stood to one side to serve as witnesses. Chang stood on the other and was joined by Sir Graham after he left Cassie in front of the minister.

  Cassie’s world changed forever in less than five minutes. The ceremony had been swift, and all the paperwork finalized. Both she and Mack were receiving congratulations. She held her left glove in her right hand, because at one point, Mack had forced her to remove it during the ceremony. He had placed a beautiful sapphire ring with two small diamonds on either side of the blue stone on her ring finger.