“So that is the tick got under your skirt today.” He grinned suddenly, then furthered her outrage by laughing. “And I told her you would not be that silly.”
“You told…silly?” she sputtered. “Aye, then I must be, to think my husband would not shame me so openly.”
He shook his head at her, still grinning. “My lady, you were in nowise shamed—”
“And the pigs will fly on the morrow,” she snorted. “Best you inform the falconer to prepare for this wonder.”
“—nor have you reason to be wroth.”
“So I am to wonder daily whose bed I will find you in next, but never to say aught about it? Is that what you are telling me?”
“Did you find me in bed with the wench?”
“I found you with your hand stuck to her breast. Discussing the rent, my lord?”
Her sarcasm was getting more deadly. He had forgotten that she had appeared at Red Alma’s door at just that moment.
“Actually, we were discussing you.”
“Certainly.” Her tone turned dry.
“The door was open, if you will recall.”
“Which only proves what you told me was true. You do not care whether you have privacy or not. In the woods, in a whore’s hut with the door wide open, what difference?”
Shewouldhave to remember that just now. “You know, little general, you could have saved yourself this jealous grief had you just answered my question yestereve. If you do not want me to lust after anyone but yourself, you should have said so.”
“So you admit it?” she asked with little triumph.
“Do you?” he countered.
“Since you cannot be discreet, I suppose I must, though ’tis pointless after the fact,” she replied bitterly. “And I wasnotjealous. I was appalled and humiliated, but not jealous.”
“Very well, you were not jealous,” he allowed, though his smile said he did not believe it. “You still could have avoided any upset at all by simply asking me what I was doing there.”
“There is only one reason a man visits a whore.”
“Then why did I only talk to her?”
“Talk?” she snorted. “As in putting your hands on her breasts?”
Instead of squirming in abashment, he chuckled. “How else was she to determine whether or not my touch would bruise you?”
“Me? You expect me to believe you caressed her for my sake?” she sneered. “Do you try again.”
At last he frowned. “Was I in need of a woman, I would not have had to go to the village to find one. There are plenty here who would not tell me nay, including yourself. What I was in need of was an answer that only a woman of vast and varied experience might know. That is the only reason I sought out Red Alma, and that is all I got from her. Even when her answer aroused me, I did not stay to take advantage of her profession. But had I found you waiting outside, lady, you can be sure you would have had proof that you assumed wrongly.”
She did not mistake his meaning, which brought color to her cheeks. And she believed him, unwisely or not, because she wanted to. Only that meant she had made an utter fool of herself with her accusation. She should be grateful he had not lost patience with her completely. But he was still frowning, which added to her present discomfit.
“Will you—” She had to clear her throat, nor could she meet his gaze just now. “Will you tell me what answer you sought?”
He took a step closer, and his voice was a low, husky rumble. “How I might pleasure you without hurting you.”
Reina’s head snapped up, hot indignation rushing back to the fore. “You asked herthat?”
“Aye.”
“But you have never hurt me.”
