Lady Thief - By Rizzo Rosko Page 0,19

what made them so enjoyable was that they knew when to leave.

Naturally, other close friends remained and continued celebrating in the now calm great hall.

The grand room had been cleared and only William and his three guests drank at the one long table that had not been removed. The fire burned evenly in the middle of the floor while sewing maids pretended to ignore their conversation as they worked on the spinning wheel and repaired torn clothes.

William paid the sewing maids no mind as he contemplated whether he should reveal his growing displeasure with the topic of his guests conversation.

“Did ye get her with child?” Hugh kept a straight face and looked William in the eyes when he asked his question.

“Of course not, fool!” William clenched his fist around the goblet and struggled to keep from throttling the man with it.

He would gladly have admitted to having yet to touch her, but did not want to give them that information to use against him in this conspiracy of theirs.

Bryce, a man who carried huge muscle on his body, laughed in an open mouthed boom that vibrated the walls. “I’ll wager he went to her father’s and demanded to have her fer himself,” he nudged William suggestively with his overly large elbow. “Didn’t want the boy to have all the fun, did ye?”

William relaxed his hands, sat straighter, but could not keep the ire out of his voice. “Blaise refused her by his own will. I did not have to go around him.”

“I still cannot believe you let him refuse her,” Hugh shook his head and drank from his cup.

William shrugged, he also did not want them knowing that he was unaware of Blaise’s refusal until after it happened, after Marianne wed William instead. “He will marry eventually, it matters not to me.”

As long as Blaise chose someone who could bring some happiness into his angry heart.

Nicholas danced his fingers around the rim of his half full goblet while resting his head on his fist, dark hair fanning his shoulders. He had a look in his equally dark eyes that William recognized. He had women on his mind.

“She is a beautiful lady. I certainly could not blame ye for snatching her like ye did. I would have. Her lovely hair dances around her pale face like fire. Is she a wild thing?”

William’s brows flew to his hairline. “This conversation will end immediately if you are speaking of her skills in the bed.”

Nicholas released his cup and raised his hands, a somber expression on his face. “Nay, do not think so little of me. I was referring to her spirit.”

William said nothing.

She had been a wild thing on the morning he met her, but lately he was not certain of her at all. Then he remembered what Nicholas said before.

“You think Marianne to be beautiful?”

There was no doubt in his mind that he had come to notice her more and more with every day that passed, which made the nights more difficult to bear when he could not bring himself to sleep in the solar. It had not occurred to him that others would notice her as well. William was unsure of how to handle his spurting jealousy.

Nicholas downed the last of his drink and helped himself to another from the jeweled pitcher. The early morning sun shone through the windows, catching the sparkles in the jewels as well as in Nicholas’s eyes. “Ye do not often find a woman with that particular color of hair. I have seen women with hair similar to your son’s, but never blood red like that. It reminds me of the roses from my lady’s garden, an open flame, a—”

William shoved him. “Stop being an idiot. Romantic fool,”

Nicholas ignored the feeble attack and laughed. “‘Tis true! I would wager that should she have been born in time for it, she could have convinced King Edward to never look at Eleanor again.”

“And have his son cease his bed games with Gaveston.” Bryce muttered.

Hugh leaned back in his seat. “There is no proof of that.”

Bryce ignored him. “‘Tis a relief to see you’ve finally wedded again. We worried ye’d die without anymore sons to safeguard your bloodline.”

William nearly sputtered his drink across the table when all three nodded their agreement. He drank some more to disguise it. “My line is perfectly safe! Marianne will have my other sons, there is nothing to fear.”

And she would have them, he told himself, when he managed to woo her into his