The lady did not aid in the endeavor.She stood motionless, waiting, fists clenched at her sides.Quinn knew that he would have to initiate this embrace.He stepped closer and the softness of her scent caught him by surprise.Did she wear perfume?He had forgotten such feminine charms.Something tightened within him, but she did not so much as meet his gaze.
Curse her!They were both beholden to Tulley and it would be simpler if she met him halfway.Riding into battle was less of a challenge than this.Quinn hoped that she mustered some enthusiasm for his touch by the time they met abed.
In truth, it mattered little.
He would not sacrifice his inheritance.
He took a step closer and heard her catch her breath.Still, she stared fixedly ahead.He lifted his hand and gently touched two fingers beneath her chin.She shivered, but did not otherwise move.He coaxed her chin upward so that he might meet her gaze, but she closed her eyes.No doubt she wanted to leave him ignorant of her thoughts.
Would she defy him in every matter, every day?He began to suspect as much.
Would she vex him with such vigor for the rest of his life?Quinn already wondered.
But he would not be deterred.Quinn bent and brushed his lips across hers.He felt the lady shiver again, though there was no other change in her posture.
It was after his hand had dropped away that he saw her single tear.It shimmered as it slipped through her lashes then over her cheek and she did not wipe it away.
Quinn felt like a knave, although he did not truly understand her response.Surely one light kiss could not be so burdensome as to cause a tear?
Tulley cleared his throat.By the time Quinn glanced to his overlord and back to the lady, that tear might never have been.Melissande exhaled shakily and opened her eyes.
Still she did not so much as glance at him.
What manner of woman had Quinn agreed to marry?A maiden of ice or one of unexpected fire?A woman who dared to challenge him, and to vex him, yet one who stirred his blood as never before.A woman of keen wits, to be sure, and one with the tongue of a viper; one who believed naught good of him at all.
He wondered how he would survive this match.
He wondered if he could win her, with time.It would be a challenge, to be sure, but to have this lady fight on his side, by his side, would be an achievement of merit.It could be the kind of marriage his mother had told him about, when she had shared those old tales of chivalry, the kind she had urged him to seek for himself.
Quinn was skeptical of his success with this lady as his wife, but he was determined to try.
“I would suggest you both summon some enthusiasm in short order,” Tulley said, then left the chamber.His boots sounded in the corridor and Quinn heard him call for his châtelain.
Perhaps in this moment, he and Melissande could reach a detente.
Chapter 2
Melissande was humiliated.Not only was her pledge ignored but she was compelled to wed Jerome’s son within the hour.Worse, Tulley himself would check the linens in the morning for evidence of the match’s consummation.Her agreement was not sufficient to appease him and that irked her beyond all.
If only Jerome’s son had not returned with such haste, she might have found Arnaud herself.She did not believe that he had betrayed their vow and wed Marie instead.Why else would Tulley insist upon both haste and blood on the linens?Obviously, he feared that Melissande would learn the truth and demand an annulment.Tulley had a plan and meant to see it brought to fruition before either she or this warrior could choose otherwise.Once their match was consummated, they would be compelled to remain wed.
Until death did so part them.
It said much for her frustration that she wondered how soon that moment might arrive.
“This is your fault!”she said, turning her frustration upon Jerome’s son.“Could you not have remained abroad?Or lingered in some city to delay your return?”
“Me?”he echoed.“What man would not make haste to claim his inheritance?”He lifted a brow.“And truly, it has taken a year to ride from Palestine.I could not be expected to linger more than that, lest Tulley change his mind.”He pushed a hand through his hair.“I already feared I might come too late.”
It seemed he did know Tulley sufficiently well to recognize that their liege lord could be changeable.“Aye, why not hasten home, when you gain Annossy in the bargain?”
His eyes narrowed slightly as he surveyed her.“I came for Sayerne.”
“And you are welcome to it.”
“It is a fine holding.”
“It is a ruin.”Melissande folded her arms across her chest, feeling that the chamber was too small with this large and masculine man beside her.She was aware of his attention and his mood, and even of the heat of his skin.“Sayerne is neglected beyond hope of repair and you are a fool to even imagine it can be rebuilt in a lifetime.”
