Price of Desire (24 page)

Still, maybe it was better this way
.
She had indicated her own desire, shown that she would not even pretend indifference in the privacy of their chambers
.

His grin spread.

Maybe she’d planned this, sought to entrap him in to marriage, never realizing she was the one caught in her own web
.
Should he let her play it out, see where her maneuvers would take them
?
It might be fun to let her reveal the next step in manipulations, let her think she was the one managing the affair.

No
.
He would begin in the manner he intended to continue
.
She was a lady
.
He would put her firmly in her place now, let her know he allowed no resistance
.
She was his and it was time she realized that
.
He had survived the bloodiest of battles – he would force her to his will, be clear he was the master.

He turned on his side, facing her, wiping all expression from his face
.
He would let her know he acted only from duty and honor
.

He inhaled deeply and prepared to say the words that would set his future, ensure his commitment
.
He prepared for his belly to clench in protest, his mind to shirk from what he knew he must do.

Rose opened her eyes and gifted him with a full sleepy smile
.
Her eyes shone softly in the candle light, and for a moment he thought he saw tenderness and care flash across her features
.
Then with a start, she opened her eyes full and jerked
to sitting
.
She just sat there
staring at him, confusion spread across her face.

Maybe she hadn’t planned it after all
.
No, that was nonsense
.
She’d come to him, she was merely a better actress than he’d remembered
.
He must remember she was a lady
.
She’d never admit to physical desire and longings.

She opened her mouth to speak, then stopped and thought again
.
He took advantage of the pause
.
It was now or never
.
He’d show her who was the master here.

“I’ll talk to the vicar tomorrow
.
The banns can be called Sunday and we’ll be married in three or four week’s time
.
I trust that meets with your approval.”

There, it was done
.
That had been easy
.
He sprang from the bed and made for the wash basin.

A crystal bud vase flew from the bedside table to crash into the wall beside him.

Rose stared in amazement as the vase shattered against the wall
.
She could not remember, in her entire life, acting in such a manner
.
She wasn’t even quite sure why she’d done it
.
He was clearly insane, but was that any reason for her to act like a child, and a petulant one at that
?

She was calm and controlled
.
She always thought before taking any action
.
She was never impetuous.

Which of course explained why she was sitting nearly naked in Wulf’s bed having just tried to behead him with a bud vase.

“You are crazy.
”
Wulf’s word’s echoed her earlier thoughts about him
.
He stalked towards the bed, his previously smug expression wiped clean
.
His eyes flashed for battle.

“I am crazy
?
I am not the one who just proposed
.
Well, actually, you didn’t propose, you ordered.”

“Is that the problem
?
Did I do it wrong?
”
His voice rang cold
.
“I didn’t realize you were the bended knee type
.
It seems a little much for a second wedding, espec
ially when we’ve already . . .
but if it’s what you want.”

He knelt down at the edge of the bed
.
She was tempted to brain him
.
What was the man thinking
?
Luckily this time she managed to gain control of emotions before bringing a candlestick down across his skull.

“Why would you think I’d want to marry you
?
What possible reason could you have for thinking that we’d suit?”

His eyes roved from her over the mussed sheets and back again.

She drew a deep breath
.

“That’s not a good reason and you know it
.
I didn’t hear you propose the last time or for that matter four years ago.”

His eyes clouded and his expression became more difficult to read
.
He didn’t say anything, but just kept staring up at her.

“Why on earth would you propose now?
”
She let her question hang.

“I overheard you say you were looking for a husband, a father for Anna.
”
He rose to his feet until he towered above her as she reclined on the bed, his demeanor allowing no resistance
.
“I tell you this now, my lady, you will not give my child to another man
.
She is mine, no matter what you say and I will not be denied.”

“No.
”
She let the stark word answer
.
She would not show any weakness now
.
He was a warrior born and bred and he would charge through any vulnerability.

“No?
”

“No.”

“I was not aware I was giving you a choice,” he sai
d
.
“The child is mine, and, e
vidently
,
the lady is mine as well
.
We will be married as soon as the banns can be read.”

With the most dignity she could manage, Rose
pulled her skirts down
and slipped from the bed
.
“I think it is you who does not understand,
Major
Huntington
.
I would not marry you if you were the last man on earth
.
You are everything I seek to avoid in a husband.”

“Evidently
,
not everything.
”
His gaze moved over the rumpled bed again.

“That counts for nothing
.
It is singularly unimportant in marriage.”

“You would think that
.
I remember well just how important it must have been in your marriage
.
Did you tie him in knots too, refusing his rights because they were singularly unimportant?”

“You shouldn’t talk about what you know nothing of.”

“I would say I knew plenty about it . . . Lady Burberry.
”
He made the name an insult
.

Tugging her bodice higher
, Rose strolled to the window
.
She stared out at the stars, wishing for an inner calm
.
“No, you know nothing
.
All you know is that I seem prone to madness when in your vicinity.”

“I know that your husband evidently couldn’t satisfy you
.
Wasn’t he man enough for you?”

She turned away from the window to face him.

“Listen, and listen well
.
John Burberry was as good and great a man that ever lived and I won’t hear you say differently
.
He was all the man I would ever want.”

“That’s not . . .
” he bit off whatever he had been going to say
.
She watched as his jaw tensed and released, and then some of the fight went out of him
.
“I cannot argue with you
.
Lord Admiral Burberry was a great man and I do not mean to
diminish
him
.
I have never heard a negative word about him, and my own experience fulfilled all I heard.”

“It is me you have question with
.
Me, you find to blame.”

“I did not say that.”

“You did not speak the words, but
,
yes
,
you said it.”

“I would never speak so to a . . . lady – no matter what the truth.”

“You say ‘lady’ as if it were a curse.”

He moved from behind the bed and for the first time she was reminded of his nakedness
.
She closed her eyes and turned back to the window
.
A cloud had moved across the sky and all was black
.
She pressed her forehead against the cool pane and tried to shut out the godlike perfection of his body
.

“I apologize if you took my meaning so
.
I meant no offense.”

“Yes, you did.”

She could feel the heat of his body as he moved to stand behind her
.
The musky odor of their joining still clung to him.

“Yes, I did
.
I was angry at your refusal to see reason, to understand there is no other option.”

“There is always an option
.
I will not marry you.”

“She is my child.”

If only the coolness of the windowpane could cool her heart
.

“We have been through this too many times already
.
Burberry claimed her
.
She is his.”

“I don’t care about legality
.
She is mine.”

Her heart beat faster as he moved closer
.
“Why did you have to come
?
Why could you not just let things be?”

She felt him still at her question
.
His heavy breath stirred the hair at the back of her neck, but he did not come closer.

“My reasons are my own
.
They do not concern you.”

“Then just go
.
Leave my home.
”
She hoped she didn’t sound as desperate as she felt.

“Now that I have seen her, talked to her, I cannot
.
Don’t you understand
?
She is mine, part of me
.
From the moment I looked into those eyes so like my own
,
I have been lost
.
I am powerless to leave her.”

“But, you must
.
There is no place for you here.”

“Do not push me
.
I will claim her publicly if I must
.
Let everybody know the truth of her birth
.
I may hold Burberry in the greatest respect, but I will not let that keep me from my daughter.”

He was playing for keeps, but so was she
.
She turned back to him
.
Her eyes felt like an endless ocean
.

“What will that get you
?
You claim to care for her, but your love will brand her a bastard
.
Is that how you show your caring
?
Once you speak the words they can never be taken back
.
Even if you should persuade me to marry, and you never will, she will still bare the stigma forever
.
Even our marriage would not remove the stain
.
She will be treated as a bastard
.
Is that what you mean?”

He turned from her and stalked back to the bed
.
He leaned against the post
.
She could see the tension play against his shoulders and the rippling muscles of his back
.
His head bowed forward.

“No.
”
She could barely hear the word
.
“That is not what I want
.
I would never do anything to harm her
.
You know that is not what I meant.”

“I do hear you and I even believe you, but that does not change the reality
.
Emotion may twist in my gut, but I cannot marry you.”