“So you really don’t want to take anything from me, but earning it in your own mind is different?”
She had gotten what she wanted from him, nonetheless, it didn’t seem to calm the tempest within her. At that moment, she wanted to slap him with every ounce of strength in her. But again she controlled her temper. Sabrina wasn’t here yet.
She stared up at him furiously. “Have I earned it?”
“A down payment, at the least.”
Temperance lost out. She gritted her teeth, striking out, then ruing the action because he had goaded her into it, and far too easily he caught her wrists, bringing them back to her sides.
He arched a taunting brow as he stared down at her; for the moment, she almost wondered which of them he mocked.He spoke somewhat harshly. “A man’s wife is entitled to his resources,” he said.
Startled by his words and manner, she felt again the tug of wounded pride. “I will be all right on my own,” she told him. “Once you’ve sent for Sabrina, there will be nothing I want, and there really isn’t anything I need here at the house.”
“Umm. You’d be happy as a lark with me out of it?”
“I didn’t say?—”
“You didn’t need to.” He suddenly rose, picking her nightgown up from the floor, offering it to her. “I do, however, insist you dress before going back to your own room.”
She took the garment from him. Then she inched back on the bed, realizing that she was shaking as she tried to shimmy quickly back into it. But he wasn’t watching her. He was pulling his pants back on.
“You’re free to escape,” he said lightly. “You’ve done what you came to do.”
She flushed deeply, dismayed to feel that she was being dismissed.
“You can be very cruel,” she told him, rising with as much dignity as she could muster.
“Can I? Well, you can be very secretive.”
“You’re a stranger.”
“One you accidentally married for the sole purpose of coming here. And taking over Mayfair.”
“Well, then, I suppose, as you have suggested, I will revel in it in the days to come!” she said lightly, turning to leave.
He laughed softly. She was startled by his hand upon her arm, swinging her back to face him. “No, I don’t suppose!” he informed her.
“What do you mean? If your trip was so important?—”
“It is.”
“You mean that you’re not going?”
“I’m going.”
“Then—”
“My love, you’re coming with me.”
She stared at him, then gasped, pulling free from his touch. “But you’re riding out into the true wilderness for days. You’re riding out to spend time among the Sioux. You?—”
“Right. You’re forgetting something I keep telling you. I met you as a Sioux. There was no charade in that. I am a Sioux. Just as you are Lady Douglas, mistress of Mayfair, you’re also wife to Thunder Hawk, warrior of the Oglala Sioux. You’ve spent some time at Mayfair. Now you’ll get to see a bit of the other half of the life you have chosen.”
She continued to stare at him, convinced he wasn’t serious.
“But—”
He put his hands upon her shoulders, this time prodding her toward the door.
