Free Destined for Doon by Carey Corp Page A

the head for you this time? We’re leaving. Now.” He reached down in the blink of an eye and pulled a wicked-looking dagger from his boot. So much for my delusions that he’d come to our dinner party in peace.
    Jamie addressed the table, “All of you, stay here until things die down and then get straight to your rooms. Sharron, give me five minutes, then let Mario and your boys know we’ve gone.”
    He turned toward the back of the restaurant towing me behind him, but I dug in my heels, my pulse pounding so hard I could feel it in my fingertips. He was doing it again — taking control. Had he only been playing at me being queen? Letting me be the figurehead while he still made all the decisions? I stabbed my fingernails into his muscled forearm, causing him to stop and turn around. “I’m not going.”
    “Aye, you are.”
    I set my jaw and met his blazing stare. I refused to cave to Jamie’s will like some stage-four clinger. Like Janet. “Last time I checked, I was the ruler of Doon. Not. You.”
    He dropped my arm and blanched like I’d punched him in the gut. I pushed aside a sudden wave of guilt and plowed ahead. “I’m ordering you, as your queen, to allow me to speak to these men. You’ve earned their trust, now it’s my turn.” Something in Jamie’s face shifted with understanding or maybe respect. I pressed on, “If you wish to accompany me, that’s fine. But I have to do this.”
    I spun on my heel and got about three steps before I was jerked around and swept off my feet.
    Jamie hoisted me onto his shoulder like a sack of flour, the air leaving my diaphragm with a whoosh . “We may notbe married yet, but when you chose me as your future coruler, you relinquished any authority over me,” he hissed, his arms clamped around my thighs like iron bars. “We’re in this together, whether you like it or no’.”
    It certainly didn’t feel like we were in this together . “Let me go you . . . you brainless Neanderthal!” I pounded my fists against the solid wall of his back, but he didn’t even slow. “I’m not a child!” Despite my statement, tears of helplessness and anger burned in my eyes as he carried me through the steamy kitchen.
    “Act like a baby and I’ll treat ye like one. There will be a time and place for you to address your opposition. But not if you’re dead.”
    The still-functioning part of my brain found the warped logic in that statement, and I stopped fighting him, which made the hard shoulder digging into my stomach marginally less uncomfortable. As we passed the huge stone ovens, whoops and cheers from the kitchen staff made it clear they thought we were off on some lovers tryst. Perpetuating their assumptions, Jamie raised his free arm in a fist pump of male solidarity.
    The blood that had rushed to my face burned even hotter. Obnoxious git. Using all my strength, I worked my legs against his torso, trying to give him a good kick-ball-change. But his hold was too tight.
    We pushed through the back door, and the angry chants reached us through the cool night air. From the sound of it, the small group had grown into a mob. I felt the thump of Jamie’s heart escalating against the palm I had pressed to his back. “Not our queen!” “Down wit’ the American!” “She’s brought evil here!”
    A hard shiver racked through me, causing Jamie to grasp me tighter and quicken his steps. These men didn’t even know about the deteriorating borders.
    Hearing the dissention and even fear in the protestor’s voices, I had to wonder what they would do when the truth came to light. Storm the castle and remove me from the throne? Tie me to a pole and dunk me in the loch to see if I would drown?
    The musky scent of horses mixed with sweet hay told me we’d reached the stables. Jamie stepped into the dim interior, and I could feel his indecision.
    “You can put me down now. I won’t go back.”
    He hesitated.
    “I promise.”
    Slowly, he guided my body down the length of his