He smiled, ever so slightly, and the sight made her heart skip.The expression softened his features and weakened her resistance with dangerous ease.“Perhaps I am a fool when it comes to matters of holdings and administration.Perhaps I have need of your counsel.”
“No woman finds it alluring to be considered useful.”
Quinn’s smile broadened and her heart skipped again.“That is a harsh summary, my lady.Do you not think a man and wife should confer together to decide what is best for their holdings?”
How could Jerome’s son know about a good marriage and how it might work?
“I do not think that the affluence of Annossy should be used to pay for the rebuilding of Sayerne.”There, she had said it aloud.
His expression turned thoughtful and she wondered if she had given him an idea.“When we are joined in marriage, the holdings will become one.”
Melissande closed her eyes at that prospect.
“And be administered as one,” he continued.
“Just as your father desired.”
“Perhaps.Of greater import is Tulley’s desire in this matter.”
Tulley.Melissande gritted her teeth in vexation.
Quinn took a step closer and lifted her hand in his, unfurling her fingers with a stroke of his finger.God in heaven, it was persuasive for such a powerful man to touch her so gently.“My lady, I think we have little choice but to cede to Tulley in this, and endeavor to make the best of a match neither of us anticipated.”His tone was yet more persuasive.
“Or desired,” she added.
“But it must be so.And perhaps there is advantage to be found in our union.”His words were compelling and his voice low.Melissande had a difficult time catching her breath.Quinn de Sayerne had a charm about him, to be certain.Having that amber gaze fixed upon her disturbed her more than she would have liked to admit, never mind having her fingers caught in the warmth of his hand.Her gaze lifted to the firm outline of his lips, but she glanced away before he could make more of her reaction than was justified.
Quinn de Sayerne had accepted her hand only to obtain his inheritance.
He needed Annossy’s wealth to restore Sayerne.
And what would be left of Annossy when he was done?Both she and her parents before her had labored too hard to lose everything at Tulley’s whim.
She tugged her hand from Quinn’s grasp.To her surprise, he released her fingers without a fight.
Melissande shuddered to think that Jerome had triumphed after all.
“Surely you cannot find my presence so loathsome as that?”Quinn asked.“We scarce know each other.”
“But I know your goal.How do you imagine that you will make Sayerne prosper again?”she asked.“The estate has been mismanaged for as long as I can recall.Where will you find the coin to do it?Do you have any notion of the cost?You would be better off to pledge your blade elsewhere and move on.You do not even have a villein to call your own.”
Color rose on Quinn’s neck.Melissande wondered whether she had pushed him too far, although she had done no more than state the truth.What was this man like when he was furious?She had a strange desire to know, to see his composure shattered, to know the truth of him in a temper.
She wished she could see his worst before they wed.That was the truth of it.Then she would know better what to expect.
“Undoubtedly because they have all moved to the richer abodes,” he replied more harshly than he had thus far.His gaze bored into hers and Melissande took a step backward in trepidation.“Might I guess that some of them have moved no farther than Annossy?”
Melissande flushed.“I did not steal them, nor did I tempt them away.A villein of good sense will seek out a place where he might see his belly filled and his family sheltered.Your father ensured that most on his lands spent their nights in hunger.”
“Is it not an offense to harbor the villeins of another estate?”
He knew the law, against her expectation, and Melissande realized she would be a fool to underestimate him.“It is, but I merely showed charity to those in need of it.”
“Charity?”Quinn echoed and she felt her flush deepen.
“They were being abused.How could I turn them away?”
“And so your compassion was shown and appreciated.And now that they are no longer in peril, I will expect their return.”
