Lady Thief - By Rizzo Rosko Page 0,85
when her body gave hardly a hint to her condition. “Oh, I shall have to convince John to let me visit every week if I am to be satisfied with your education until the child is born. I have never seen William so happy.”
“Aye,” Marianne had to agree. William looked at her differently since her confession of her condition, and when confirmed by a midwife his cheer doubled. Hers did not.
“What saddens you?”
Marianne blinked. She had not meant to show her worries on her face. “Hmm?”
Anne took her hand, another small thing Marianne had to get used to with the lady so near to her. Lady Anne insisted on holding her hand, hugging, and planting kisses upon her cheeks. Since Marianne only recently began to receive these things from her husband and had only once been hugged by her father in years, Marianne hardly knew what to do with it all.
Anne turned away, as though deciding not to say anything at all, but Marianne squeezed her hand. “Go on.”
Anne sighed. “My lady, I hope you will not be insulted with my blunt nature, but since coming here I have seen that you are not quite as happy as my cousin.”
Marianne paled. Anne clasped both her hands.
“Have I said something upsetting? Forgive me, you should rest.”
Marianne shook her head and gripped Anne’s hands tightly before she could rise to bustle about and fluff her pillows.
“Nay, I am well. Your question did startle me, however.”
Anne looked pained. “Forgive me, ‘twas not my concern.”
And it was not. Marianne knew this, but keeping the secret only caused her to suffer more as the days passed. William only stared at her with those adoring blue eyes because she was carrying his child, completely oblivious to the misery she suffered.
Even Blaise ceased his bantering and began treating her with respect, though whether ‘twas because he spent most of his time training with Bryce, or due to his happiness at still being William’s heir, Marianne did not know.
Regardless, having no one to speak to about her concerns had drained her.
Marianne straightened herself. “May I tell you something, and have your word that you will say nothing of it to William?”
Anne looked into her friend’s eyes. “Of course.”
With a deep breath Marianne told Anne of her forceful abduction and wedding to William, how he rescued Molly and Hawisa and how she had slowly fallen in love with her caring husband. Wishing to spare her father’s dignity, she left out the details of his theft, though she did divulge Robert’s abduction of her and his plan to sell her to sir Ferdinand.
Lady Anne’s mouth was agape when she finished. She sputtered, still clutching Marianne’s hand, only much tighter. “To think, you could have been killed by that awful man!”
“Aye,” Marianne nodded, the reminder of Robert’s gruesome murder bringing a shiver to her.
“I have heard rumors of how horrible he could have been, but never suspected him capable of such things.”
“Aye,” Marianne agreed again. How sheltered could Lady Anne be to not have believed Ferdinand to be capable of such evils? Granted, she had also been unaware of them until William told her, but she knew enough about Ferdinand to know she would rather stage a kidnapping than marry him.
Anne leaned closer, and Marianne could see her interest heightening with each question she eagerly asked. “And you are quite certain the grooms here are not dangerous?”
Marianne eagerly shook her head. “No, nay, Archer is the kindest of men, and he will see to it that the stables only have good men in them from now on.”
Though Lady Anne knew ‘twas not proper to be asking so many questions, she could hardly contain herself. “Is that what has your spirits so low? Those experiences would certainly ruin any of my happiness.”
Marianne shook her head. “‘Tis not that.”
Anne waited silently.
Marianne had to explain further, she could not bottle the rest in now that she was nearly finished with her tale. She wet her lips and trudged forward. “While I have been blessed to wed the most noble and generous of men, he still does not love me.”
***
“Of course I love her! What sort of question is this?” William was more shocked than angered, and John could only shrug his shoulders and turn to his wife helplessly.
Lady Anne blew air from her mouth and whispered into John’s ear again. Nicholas watched the spectacle eagerly, lifting his goblet to his lips and enjoying the entertainment.
William felt a pounding begin in his head with the