“Did you think we would never meet again? I always knew we would.” She stepped closer to whisper, “You cannot imagine how often I have thought of you, Ranulf, remembering the passion we shared.” Her hand came to rest on his chest. “Is there not somewhere we can…speak alone?”
It was a seductive offer. At one time it would have had the power to inflame his senses and make him mad with lust for her. All it did now was make his skin crawl with revulsion.
He looked about him at the servants in the shadows, fast asleep. “For all intents and purposes, we are alone.”
“I meant—never mind.” She pouted. “You must have forgotten how often we sought dark corners.”
He was growing tired of waiting for her to get to the point of what she wanted. He knew ’twas not him, so it had to be something he could do for her.
“I am a man now, Anne. I prefer a warm bed.”
“I have one in my chamber.”
“Which brings to mind the question of what you are doing here.”
For a moment her carefully controlled expression wavered to show her irritation with him. “Is that all you can think of? We were in love, Ranulf.”
“I was, or thought I was. You chose a different path, however.”
“For which I have been punished ever since!” She then stated her plea with appropriate feeling. “Oh, God, Ranulf, you cannot know the monster Montfort gave me to.” She stabbed a finger toward the hearth, where a candle was lit and Roghton could be seen sprawled on a bench. “There, that is my husband, and his soul is as grotesque as his body.”
“The man did not matter, as I recall,” he replied coldly. “Only his wealth.”
“Can you not see I am trying to tell you I was wrong?” she cried. “He is wealthy enough, but all the wealth in the kingdom cannot make up for the hell he has made of my life all these years. Do you know he trains falcons to attack people, then sets them loose on his poor villeins for sport? That is the kind of man he is, and I cannot bear it anymore.”
Whether that was true or not, Ranulf was unmoved. “Then leave him.”
“Do you think I have not tried? I am kept as a prisoner—watched, followed, locked in my chamber whenever he is not about.”
Ranulf looked again at the sleeping man. “Go now. I see no one to stop you.”
“He would only find me and drag me back as he has done before.”
As Ranulf had thought, this was not what she was after. “Why do you tell me all this?”
“You could help me, if you would.”
“How?”
She moved closer again, this time to brush her breasts against his forearm. “Kill him for me,” she pleaded huskily. “He has told his men that does he die by suspicious means, I am to be tortured to death. And they will do it. They are as mean and vicious as he. He could choke to death on his food and they would kill me. He must be challenged fairly, die by the sword. Please, Ranulf, free me from him.”
So there was justice after all. He almost laughed aloud. She wanted him to free her from a hell she well deserved? Not likely, but he did not tell her so just yet.
“For what reason would I challenge him? I see no marks on you to show you are mistreated. In fact, Anne, I find it hard to believe the man does not cherish you.”
“He did, at first, but I could not stomach his touch and he knew it, and came to hate me because of it. Then he found me with a—with a lover, and he killed him with his bare hands.”
“But he did naught to you?”
“He—he waited until my grief had lessened. He wanted me to grieve. He was glad of that. He did naught as long as he thought I was suffering, but as soon as I began to heal, he beat me. He wanted me to remember, you see. He thought my grief was so strong at first that a beating would not have mattered in comparison, so he waited. That is the kind of diabolical man he is. And now he beats me if I even look at another man. Oh, please, Ranulf,” she begged, throwing her arms around his neck. “I cannot live like this any longer. Can I not be free of him soon, I am like to kill myself.”
“You think I would care?”
She leaned back slowly, frowning, but disbelieving his meaning. “You loved me once,” she pointed out.
“Now I love another.”
“Who?” When he did not answer, her eyes widened incredulously. “Certainly not that little mouse you married!”
