His eyes narrowed. Not muck, she thought, a bug under a rock. A silly, foolish, inconsequential bug. “What are you accusing me of, Christina?” His voice was low and even, but she was not fooled. He was furious. This was not a subject a wife should bring up. She was supposed to ignore such arrangements. Pretend they didn’t exist. Pretend she didn’t care. But she did, and the thought of him being with another woman ripped her in two.
“It’s not an accusation,” she said, her voice quivering with the tight ball of emotion in her throat. “Merely an observation.”
“Rest assured,” he said, with a long drag of his gaze down her body. The heat in his eyes incinerated the thin linen sheet that covered her nakedness. Her traitorous skin flushed with awareness, her nipples hardening to a taut peak. “Seeking another woman’s bed has not yet crossed my mind.”Yet. Her heart tumbled, skewered by a fiery arrow of pain. “Thus far, I’ve been well satisfied in that arena.”
“Is that supposed to reassure me?”
His mouth tightened. “Reassuring you is not required.”
Christina sucked in her breath. He’d put her firmly in her place. She should have known better. She could not force the declaration from him that she wanted. A wife had no claim on her husband’s fidelity. If he wanted to have a leman, he would, and there was nothing that she could do about it. She could not force him to do anything. His will was implacable. The more she pushed, the colder and harder he resisted. But if she didn’t push, how else was she going to break through?
“But—”
“Janet is none of your concern. None of this is any of your concern.” The cold steel in his voice cut her off as decisively as the blade of the sword he wielded with such brute force. “Stay out of it, Christina. I mean it.” His gaze softened just a little. “I have no wish to hurt you, but I will not tolerate interference. Attend to your duties, leave me to mine, and all will be well. Interfere and you will only bring trouble down on both our heads.”
And with that ominous warning ringing in her ears, he turned on his heel and left.
