his hands over his torn clothing, a smile hidden under his beard at the worry on her face.
Marianne looked at the clothes he’d been training William in. They hung loose on his huge body and smelled of filth. She wondered if he dressed like so all the time or just for the sake of their practice.
Marianne chided herself for being foolish and decided it was the latter.
***
After Bryce left, Marianne had completely forgotten about James and Olma, and would have continued to be oblivious of them had William not ordered them away.
“Is that the end of my punishment then?” She asked, crossing her arms as she turned and walked towards their bedchamber.
Her body flooded with warmth when he caught up and pulled her close, walking hip to hip with her with his arm snaked around her body and hand resting against her belly.
He walked as though his touch was commonplace, and he seemed not as affected by it as she. He sighed over her question, showing no symptoms of a flush in his cheeks. “‘Tis not meant to be a punishment. You know that.”
Marianne was about to respond that she thought he needed to stop having her followed until he leaned in and closed his teeth around the lobe of her ear, calmly, as though that were also commonplace behavior.
Marianne stopped walking, his action caused that familiar flutter in her chest and the feeling of being very far away from everything. “Wha—what are you doing?”
He pulled her closer and they stood no longer hip to hip but now her back was to his chest. Servants walked by, and Marianne squirmed under their stares as they passed, slower to get the entire scene, but William refused to acknowledge them or let her move.
His breath in her ear warmed her further, his hands trailing tingles along her body. “I have waited long enough to have my wife.”
Marianne shuddered and her body blazed with impatient fire. Finally! Finally!
Marianne forcefully turned and pushed her mouth up onto his.
When he kissed her with his entire mouth it caused such a delicious ache in her, a spreading warmth through her blood that had not been there before. She felt he would enjoy it if she did the same.
She could tell she shocked him by taking the initiative but he eagerly allowed her to do as she wished with him, and when she slipped her tongue into his mouth like he had done to her before, he welcomed it and suckled hungrily.
Marianne mentally damned the servants. Had it not been for them scurrying in and out of hallways she would have been delighted to allow William to take her where they stood, eager to discover how far these sensations he had been teasing her with could go.
“Thief!”
Blaise’s angry shouted statement jerked Marianne out of her lusty haze. She spun, ready to lash out for the interruption. He marched towards the both of them, fists clenched and his eyes boring accusingly into her, as though he wished to pierce her and draw blood with them.
William was immediately alert, whatever lust he had apparently vanished as he pulled himself away from his wife to give his son his full attention. “Who is the thief?”
Blaise stopped before them and thrust forward his finger. “She is!”
Chapter Ten
William’s eyes flashed. “Careful with your words!”
Color traveled up Blaise’s neck, as though just remembering he was accusing the wife of his father. Even so, the scowl remained.
“Several gold and silver plates are missing. The cooks and the sewing-maids have also informed me that spices and silks are gone as well.”
Marianne felt the rage from William burning as though she stood next to a blazing fire. She let it spread into her, consume her. This weasel was accusing her of theft!
The old feeling of wishing to claw his eyes out returned with a mad vengeance, and she forced herself to remain at William’s side. If she took one step towards Blaise she would do just as she wished. “What makes you think I would steal from my husband?”
His gaze on her was cold. “Your father is missing, and so are my father’s horses.”
The violent feeling inside of her intensified. “You pathetic swine! ‘Tis not enough that you insult me at every opportunity but now you try to drag my father in mud as well?”
Blaise’s face reddened like fire. “He drags himself in the mud!”
“How long has he been gone?” William demanded above their raging voices.
Marianne whipped her head around. He would not look at her.
“No