The Most Powerful Of Kings - Jackie Ashenden Page 0,11
manage Ione and her demanding behaviour.
Sister Anna certainly had a few issues with authority that he didn’t approve of, then again she was here already, and finding someone else would take time. If nothing else, he could use it as a chance to prove that she meant absolutely nothing to him.
He eyed her, not agreeing just yet. ‘Is taking your vows really worth crossing swords with me, little nun?’
Why are you thinking about her vows?
He had no idea.
She lifted one fair brow. ‘I don’t know. What’s wearing a crown worth to you?’
A fair comment, and clearly time to leave.
‘Very well,’ he said. ‘I shall expect a report every evening on Ione’s progress and if her behaviour hasn’t improved in two weeks’ time then you’re going back to England with no argument.’ He fixed her with a very level stare. ‘Is that clear?’
‘Yes, sire,’ she said meekly enough.
But he didn’t miss the tiny spark that lit in her eyes.
He pretended not to notice.
CHAPTER THREE
ANNA BENT OVER her suitcase and dug through the limited items of clothing she’d brought with her, though what she was looking for she didn’t know. She hadn’t packed much, since she didn’t have much and clothing had never been important to her, so why she wished she had something more than a couple of plain dresses in her suitcase, she couldn’t fathom.
Tonight was her first meeting with the king to give her report on Ione and she wanted to wear something...different. For inexplicable reasons.
Perhaps it was nerves. She desperately hadn’t wanted to return to England and him granting her two weeks to make some difference to Ione’s behaviour had been a concession she hadn’t been expecting. She’d argued for it, of course, but he’d been so adamant it had felt like hurling herself at a stone wall and expecting it to break.
Snapping at him had been a mistake, but all that seduction talk had irritated her.
It wasn’t irritation you were feeling.
Anna scowled at the contents of her suitcase, not liking that thought one bit. She’d tried to ignore her own physical reaction to him, to ignore that he was half-naked, but then he’d started talking about how the Reverend Mother was meddling in his affairs—affairs apparently including her being sent to seduce him.
‘You’re round and soft and sweet. Just the kind of woman who would appeal to me.’
Heat crept through her, the way it had done all day whenever she’d thought of him saying those words, which she’d tried very hard not to do. Because they made her feel...strange.
He’d called her round, but it was obvious he hadn’t meant it in a bad way. In fact, the opposite. Just the kind of woman who would appeal to me...
She felt even stranger when she thought about that; appealing to him had never occurred to her. In fact, appealing to anyone at all had never occurred to her. The sisters always discouraged such vanity. Some of the younger ones had giggled a bit over one of the better-looking priests, but Anna herself had never thought about men or her own desirability. Once or twice she’d wondered whether she might like a husband and a family, but then had dismissed the idea. Romantic relationships had seemed fraught and dangerous to her, while the relationships she had with the sisters at the convent were much less complicated. There were clear rules for behaviour and you didn’t have to fit yourself around another person’s needs and wants.
It was less exciting maybe, but at least life at the convent was a known quantity. At least, she fitted there better than she fitted anywhere else.
You still liked the fact that you appealed to him.
Anna scowled and pulled a dress out from the depths of her case. It was fancier than her other dresses, in a silky ice-blue fabric with a demure scooped neckline and capped sleeves. The colour was pretty on her—or at least that was what Sister Mary Alice had told her, and Sister Mary Alice was known to have good taste.
She didn’t like that she appealed to him. Not at all. Round and soft and sweet, indeed. It made her sound pathetic and ineffectual and she didn’t much appreciate that. Nor did she appreciate that the Reverend Mother had perhaps had an ulterior motive for sending her here, either. Certainly, she’d never mentioned seduction to Anna.
Not that she should be concerning herself with such things. The Reverend Mother clearly had a purpose in sending her here and it wasn’t up to Anna