He was surprised when Alienor tossed her work aside abruptly and stalked toward him with intent in her eye.“Indeed?”she mimicked.“Do not jest with me.Do I truly seem so slow in intellect that I would fail to note the entire company holding me in disdain?’Tis more than clear that all of you know the slight my lord endured last night and there is naught that I can do to make amends.”She flung out her hands.“What curious fascination you have in this keep with matters so intimate that should be shared only by husband and wife.”Without waiting for his reply, she pivoted and faced the window.She folded her arms across her chest and Dagobert thought he heard her catch her breath.“Would that I could take back that word,” she murmured.
’Twas all Dagobert could do not to fold her into his arms and console her.But he held fast, determined to be certain.
“What word?”he asked softly, and earned himself another glare.
“Do not make me say it,” she whispered fiercely.
“I would hear it from your own lips,” he countered, undeterred by the way she pursed her lips in dissatisfaction.
Was it possible that she did not know the truth?
If so, why would she have called the goatherd’s name?
He was tempted to believe that Alienor had some tender feelings for him as a man and not just a lover in the night.’Twas almost too good to be true.
She studied her toe as if ’twere of great interest, then suddenly took a deep breath and met his gaze.“Surely you know that I called him by your name,” she confessed in a rush.
Dagobert wanted to kiss her breathless.
“Aye,” he admitted.
“You people and your curiosity!”she said with vexation.“Does your lord have no secrets from you?”
Dagobert permitted himself a grin.“But I know not when you called him by my name, my lady.”
To his delight, Alienor blushed scarlet.
“God in heaven,” she whispered, passing a hand over her eyes.“’Twas a most inopportune moment.”
Dagobert could not help but laugh aloud.
She glared at him again.“You are a fine one to be so amused at your lord’s expense.”
“I cannot lie.It pleases me that you might have affection for me.”
Their gazes locked and held in that moment and he made no effort to hide his admiration of her.She swallowed and caught her breath, dropping her gaze and turning her back upon him.“You will make naught of this.You will forget it,” she said, but he heard the yearning in her voice.“I will not see him insulted by my actions.”
She was not only right but Dagobert admired her sense of honor.
He could not bear for her to be unhappy and wished only to make her smile again.
“I take it my lord was...vexed?”he asked in a teasing tone, lingering on the last word as if he could not choose one.
Alienor glanced over her shoulder, regarding him with astonishment.“Vexed?”she echoed softly, then her cheeks suffused with color.“Aye, my lord husband wasvexed.”
“Did he raise a hand against you?Is that why you would hide this day?”Dagobert demanded with quiet heat, taking a step closer to her.
“Nay, nay, naught like that.”Alienor showed concern that he had apparently misjudged her husband and Dagobert admired her anew.“He would never lift a hand against me, I am sure of it.He is kindness itself.”She bit her bottom lip then, her hand rising to her lips as her next thought overcame her with emotion.“He merely left the chamber,” she admitted, her voice uneven.She took a breath.“He slept in the antechamber, alone, naked and without comfort, because I rewarded his goodness so poorly.”She fixed Dagobert with an imploring glance that shook him to his core.That expression alone would send him scaling mountains and fighting dragons.
“I fear he will not return to my bed,” she added quietly.
Dagobert almost proved her wrong then and there.
She sighed.“I fear I have injured his pride and will have no opportunity to make amends.”
“Perhaps you should speak with him,” he suggested and the hope in her glance made him continue quickly.“I believe you did thus once before and I trust all went well.”
Alienor smiled and her cheeks stained with a gentle flush.“Aye,” she admitted.“It did indeed work well enough.”
