She was lovely, certainly, exceptionally so, but he had known too many lovely women for beauty to make a difference. And he might need a woman desperately, or so his body kept trying to tell him, but Lida’s hair was not sun-kissed gold, her voice did not remind him of the north countries and home—she was not the woman he wanted.
And you are the greatest fool to want your own wife when she happens to be Erika No Heart.
He could not recall the exact day he had given up denying to himself that he wanted her. What else he felt didn’t bear close scrutiny, for the anger was still there and came at the oddest moments, particularly when he brooded about a future with a woman who didn’t possess any tender emotions. Did he want them, then, tender emotions from her? Certainly not. Just her body would do. Then why, when she ignored him as she had done since he had brought her to his home, did her attitude cause him such frustration?
After a week had passed, Selig reached the conclusion that he would simply have to brazen his way out of the bargain he had made. He could worry about the rest of his problems later, but this main one had to be eliminated.
He waited until the hall had quieted down for the night, hoping that Erika would think twice about starting a shouting match that would wake the servants. Golda had been allowed one of the rooms abovestairs; Turgeis had been given another. Yet he found Turgeis asleep on a pallet outside the door his wife was behind.
Selig had not been abovestairs himself this week to know if this was a typical arrangement or not. He was simply infuriated that tonight he would have to go through the giant to reach his wife. There was no thought of turning around and forgetting about it.
He nudged Turgeis awake with his boot. “If you think to keep me from my wife—”
“Be easy, man,” Turgeis cut in as he sat up, then stood up. “I am here to protect her as I have always done. If her husband slept with her, then he could protect her and I could find my own bed.”
Selig was amused by what was clearly reproach. “Just who do you protect her from?”
“Anyone who would do her harm.Anyone.”
Selig flushed at the implication. “I have never harmed her.”
“So she also claims, but there is harm that is not physical,” Turgeis replied, then shrugged. “Your mother asked me to give you time, saying all was not as it might seem between you and my lady. But Erika is not happy here. If you can change that, do so and quickly. Otherwise—”
He left that threat open, to be interpreted however Selig liked. But he also gathered up his pallet and entered a room down the hall.
Selig watched him go with some disgruntlement. So he was to be trusted? He doubted it. If Erika called for her giant, Turgeis would come running, and he’d already had a taste of what the man’s fists could do.
Without further thought on the matter, he entered his chamber, expecting to have to wake his wife. But the men’s voices had disturbed her sleep. She was sitting up in bed, wearing a chainse for modesty, just as she had done every night they had spent at Wyndhurst. He would have to see about having some comfortablesleeping robes made for her. Nay, that was a stupid thought. He would prefer she slept in nothing at all, just as he did.
She seemed surprised by his appearance. “What do you here?”
“Is this not my room?”
“I have not noticed that it is.” The dryness in her tone grated, but the indifference that followed was much worse. “But if you wish to use it as such, I will, of course, sleep elsewhere.”
“Nay, you will sleep here as well.”
She thought about that for a moment, before her expression turned mulish. “Then you can make use of the floor this time. I have grown used to the bed.”
That brought a smile to his lips. She didn’t understand yet why he had come. He was pleased to explain. “And I have yet to try the bed. We will share it.”
He took a step toward the bed. She threw back the covers and jumped out the other side of it. “Just what do you mean by ‘share it’?” she demanded.
“You will sleep on one side, I will sleep on the other, and occasionally we will find ourselves in the center of it—together.”
She didn’t grasp his meaning immediately, but when she did, she gasped. “Nay, we will not!”
“You married me,” he reminded her.
“With an agreed bargain,” she reminded him back.
“That bargain has been satisfied in full.”
Another gasp. “My part has, but yours has not. You would break your word?”
He sighed in exasperation. Brazening was not so easy against such stubborn tenacity.
“Recall your own words, wench. Your demand was that I not touch you afterward. You did not sayforeverafterward. Afterward was only directly after the wedding and not a day more than that, yet have I given you much more than that. But no more.”
