“What do you mean—in this together?”
Leah closed her eyes, her lips pinching as if silently praying for patience.
“We shouldnae speak in the open where any servant can hear.” She scanned the room. “Let’s go through to the study.”
With that, Leah turned and walked away.
This only further stoked Fox’s ire as he trailed her into the dining room.
This sense that Leah now needed to managehimjust as she was managing the castle, the workmen, Madeline, and well . . . everything.
Fox followed her into the small study off the dining room, shutting the door behind them. He looked around the small space with its white-washed walls, worn overstuffed chairs, and small desk beside a pair of dark cabinets.
Hadn’t he left a bottle of whisky in here, too?
He was capable. Hewas. He merely needed a drink to settle his head and soothe his parched throat and then he would be fine . . .
Damnation.
But before he could open his mouth, Leah whirled on him.
“For better or worse, ye decided to marry me, Fox Carnegie.” Her tone held a sharp edge now. “We both need to focus on learning to rub along together.”
Giving up the fight, he began rummaging through the left-hand cabinet.
Hah! There was a bottle of whisky. He uncorked it and took a gulping swallow. The relief was immediate, his body eagerly accepting the drink and clamoring for more.
He lifted his head to find Leah staring at him with too-seeing eyes.
“How do you propose we arrange that then?” he asked. “The rubbing along together?”
Her eyes flicked to the bottle and then back to his face. “Well tae begin, I insist on being treated as more than just another servant. I have the right tae opinions in your household matters and, yes, tae even give yourself direction when organizing such things.”
Fox took another swallow. “I didn’t marry you for your opinions.”
“Of course, ye did,” she shot back, refusing to be cowed. If he weren’t so annoyed, he would have found it admirable. “Ye married me tae settle your household, which is what I’m doing. The opinions are a necessary part of it. If ye hadnae wanted my opinions, ye would have simply hired a housekeeper and a steward.”
“Bah! A housekeeper and a steward. Two more people who can quit my service whenever they wish!” Fox flared his nostrils. “I married you to avoid such a fate.”
Deathly quiet followed his outburst.
Leah stood preternaturally still, as if his words had dealt her a blow.
Fox’s harsh breathing filled the air between them. He licked his lips, tasting the whisky there.
“I see,” she finally said, expression shuttered. “Ye married me because ye wanted a servant who couldnae leave. Someone bound by the law to stay beside ye, no matter how cutting your words or dark your mood.”
The starkness of her tone knocked the breath from Fox’s lungs.
He had just said so, had he not?
But for some reason, thinking of her as a companion who couldn’t leave him . . . well, it had sounded much better in his head.
He most certainly had never thought of it in the terms she so baldly described.
And yet . . .
Hehadforced her to belong to him.
