it?”
At first she didn’t hear him, but when he finished speaking all good thoughts of him evaporated.
She raised her hand and slapped him. The snap of her hand across his cheek horrified her, and she clenched her hand into a fist to make the tingling disappear, but it only worsened.
She refused to look away from him, to lower her eyes or apologize. Even if she had been seeking an annulment, she would never hope to get it from Blaise. But then, William did not know that.
He looked at her with cold eyes, but did not raise his hand to her like she did to him. “Am I correct?”
She tried to shove him away but he would not be moved. “Of course not!”
“Then what did he say that has you turning red?” He pointed his finger at her nose, as if to show her, her own face, and when her eyes crossed to follow the tip of his finger, he couldn’t help but laugh.
Her eyes uncrossed. “You dare to laugh at me? After you accuse me of having…of having relations with another?”
Blaise had said inappropriate things to her, William was correct in that assumption. But there were many more hurtful things Blaise had said other than the ‘old pest’ comment, and it had naught to do with helping her get the annulment.
William promptly ceased his laughter, but there was a fresh sparkle in his eyes that Marianne found much safer than the angered stare he had presented her with earlier.
“You have said that you are not the lover of my son,” and his eyes turned serious once more, “but are you in love with him?”
“No.” Her answer had been immediate and free of doubt. If he did not believe her she did not know what she would do.
He exhaled deeply. Marianne sensed genuine relief in his sigh. He did not ask her if she was having an affair to be cruel.
Then, without reason she thought of Blaise and his face that was so similar to Robert’s.
She would not ask any questions just now, not while he was warming towards her.
“Good.” He said. “From now on I want you to stay away from him. You two are not to be near each other without an escort.”
“He lives here, am I to have an escort at all times?”
“If that’s what it takes, my dear wife.”
Marianne flinched. He made the word sound like an insult, and her stubborn nature reared its head again. “If you cannot trust me then perhaps we really should petition for an annulment.” She folded her arms.
His fingers grabbed her chin and pulled her forward. He smiled at her now. “I think it very endearing when you thrust that nose of yours in the air.”
Marianne’s whole body heated, and the flesh on her chin where his fingers held her seemed much more sensitive than usual. She rarely received sincere compliments and when she did they went to her head. “Do you truly?”
He nodded. “Truly. ‘Tis endearing how much you think you can intimidate others with that foolish act.”
She pulled her face away and touched her heated cheek with her hand. Willing the flesh to cool, she felt stung. The gleam in his eyes made it clear he was not laughing at her expense.
He stepped away from her, and suddenly he was her lord and not her husband. “Adam will be your escort. I trust him most of all my servants.”
“You would have to. He is the only one of your servants that actually works every day.”
William’s eyes narrowed, and she smirked when he had naught to say, so she continued. “I was making plans for your servants before I was rudely interrupted—”
“Before you decided to brawl with a man like a wild animal after its dinner.”
She clenched her teeth. “But now that we are both here and speaking, I might as well say that your order to keep the servants from obeying me is—”
“Choose your words carefully!”
“Unorthodox, I was going to say. And I wanted to suggest that when I give them orders to stop their miserable slacking, for the good of this castle, you do not go against what I tell them strictly for the sake of your revenge.”
He eyed her carefully. “And which commands would you bestow upon them?”
She shrugged, she was not sure what her exact words would be, but the orders would be clear.
Do your jobs or get out.
“I promised you a wife who can govern your household, I will deliver on that promise, as I