Lady Thief - By Rizzo Rosko Page 0,29

wishing with all her might that she had a weapon to wield against him since he was admittedly so untalented with them.

***

William allowed her to throw her tantrum, though he doubted his laughter eased her wrath. Finally, he wiped the moisture from his eyes before capturing her flailing fists and putting a stop to her petty attacks.

This was not supposed to happen. What had once been thoughts of taking her into his bed and having her with no concern to her own pleasure turned into thoughts of mutual desire. He had no visions that she could love him, but he did have vivid dreams of having her make love to him with her entire body and soul, willingly coming into their bed and giving herself to him while he showed her how to please a man and how he could please her in return.

He was not certain when it happened, but he knew that the need to humiliate and hurt her began causing an ache in his chest that reminded him of what it was like to truly care for a woman’s wellbeing. Something he had not felt in many years. He no longer wished to emotionally harm her for his own pride, but that wish also made him see that he did not wish unhappiness upon her either.

But young women did not love old men like him—he was nearing thirty-seven already—but he remained confident Marianne could become affectionate to him. Perhaps this spectacle of hers was proof of that.

“Nay my dear, as much as your fury amuses me I cannot say that I have been keeping a mistress since your arrival.”

Her eye twitched and fists remained clenched, she tried to pull away but he refused to release her, an act that angered her further.

She yanked her wrists with more strength and he let her free. “So you do have a former lover in this household.” ‘Twas not a question.

William sighed. “Whether or not I have kept a mistress is none of your concern. But I am no longer entertaining her.”

“What is her name?”

“Why?”

“I wish to drown her.”

William laughed again.

Marianne stamped her foot again. “There is nothing amusing about this!”

She tried to strike him again but again he captured her wrists and, despite her struggles, continued to laugh.

Marianne could only fight and fume until he abruptly pulled her chest to his. “This is why I agreed to wed you,”

Her eyes searched his for some island of sense in the sea of her confusion. “What are you speaking of? You agreed to wed me because I had Archer put a blade to your throat.”

“Nay, I agreed to take you as my wife because I love your spirit.”

Her body went lax at his claim, then, just as quickly, she tried to push away from him, her fury returning full force. “You’re mad!”

“Be that as it may,” he released one of her wrists and slid his arm around her waist, pulling her hips closer to his. “I enjoy it.”

He also enjoyed touching her and could feel her through the clinging fabric of her damp robe. ‘Twould be easy to remove it, and while he would not do anything harmful to her, ‘twould also be a simple matter of making her want him. She was young and inexperienced, a little patience on his part and she would beg him to take her.

As if suddenly aware of how loose her robe was becoming with their strange dance, her hair dripping onto his dry clothes, Marianne tensed.

“You are getting wet.” She said.

He dipped his mouth to her ear. “I hardly care.”

“Why?” She asked, swallowing as the hot breath brought a shiver and gooseflesh to every inch of her skin.

His mouth did not leave her ear, and she could scarcely stand while his roaming hands discovered every mound on her body. “Why do I not care for my clothes?”

“No! Why are you behaving like this?”

He removed his mouth from her tingling ear but his face remained close to hers, and even though he loosened his grip on her she made no attempt to escape.

“I seemed to have taken a liking to brash women,” He released her other wrist and trailed a finger down the opening of her robe, exposing her breast to the chill air.

He doubted the cold air had anything to do with its pleasing peak.

She could have lifted her hand to slap his fingers away, but he knew she wanted to see where those roaming fingers would lead her. ‘Twould not take much to show