Before her, the baron crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Then why in God’s name can I not enjoy my wife on our wedding night?”
“Oh, Imusthear this,” Didier said, scrambling back onto the bed.
Simone took a bracing breath. “Very well. If you insist…”
“I do.”
“Little more than a year past, my mother and my younger brother were killed in a terrible accident, at our home in France.”
Nicholas nodded. “So I have heard. I am sorry for your loss, but—”
Simone squeezed her eyes shut. “We cannot be together this night because we are not alone.”
“What?”
“Mon dieu!” Didier shrieked. “I cannot believe you’re going to tell him!”
Simone straightened her spine and looked Nicholas in the eye, trying to ignore her brother. The baron glanced around the room suspiciously.
She lifted her chin. “Our every move is being watched by Didier’s spirit. He sits on the bed, even as we now speak.” She waved a hand toward the aforementioned piece of furniture where Didier watched the exchange, enraptured.
“Didier is—was—your brother?” Nicholas asked.
“Yea.”
“Yourdeadbrother.”
Simone nodded.
Nicholas’s eyes roamed the rumpled furs, and Didier waved cheekily to him. “Bonjour,Lord Nicholas.”
The baron’s gaze pinned Simone once more. “I see naught.”
“Yea, I know,” Simone admitted, fidgeting with her fur. “Only I can see or hear him, but you must believe me. I—”
“Youaremad,” Nicholas said, slowly backing away.
“Nay!” Simone stepped forward, reaching a hand to him. “I know that you must now think the rumors to be true, but I swear to you, I’mnotmad.”
“’Tis little wonder your betrothed refused you,” Nicholas muttered while gathering up his discarded clothing and dressing. “Your father should be whipped for this duplicity.”
“Nicholas,” Simone huffed, “hear me out—do you not think it strange that this chamber is frigid when the windows are shut tight and a fire blazes in yonder hearth?”
“’Tis merely a draft,” he replied, pulling his tunic over his head.
Didier giggled. “Adaftdraft!”
Simone shot her brother a stern look before once again turning her attention to Nicholas. She knew she must convince him that she was quite sane or ’twas very likely she, Didier, and Armand would be tossed out of London on their backsides. Her mind latched on to the one person whom the stubborn man might believe.
“Lady Haith!” she exclaimed.
Nicholas paused in belting on his sword. “What of my sister-in-law?”
Simone rushed forward. “Ask her about Didier—she can hear him as well!”
Nicholas seemed to think for a moment, frowning at her warily, before shaking his head and finishing attaching his sheath. “Nay, you’re mad alright.” He picked up his boots with one hand and headed toward the door. “Rest assured that I will speak to William on the morrow—I’ll not have a raving lunatic as the next Baroness of Crane. Good evening to you, Lady du Roche.”
Simone spun to face Didier, her panic nearly out of control. Should Nicholas persuade the king to dissolve their marriage, Simone would truly be ruined. All of England would hear of the night’s events and she would never marry.
