the reins, but calmly asked, ‘How so?’
‘Even after Eleanor ordered you from her sight, you ran away from me. I can only assume you went to seek refuge from the Queen. Why is that?’
‘I wanted her to stop this marriage.’ Sarah reached over and briefly touched his arm. ‘It was nothing personal, William. I simply did not wish to be forced into a marriage so quickly.’
He looked down at her hand just as she jerked her arm away. ‘Becoming someone’s wife is very personal.’
‘It need not be.’
‘Some marriages, perhaps. But this one will be.’
‘How so?’
William folded his hands atop the pommel of his saddle. ‘I knew what was said about you when I requested this marriage.’
‘Requested?’ She leaned slightly away and stared up at him. ‘You never requested that I wed you.’
He shrugged. ‘Regardless, I took you as wife, knowing you were the Queen’s whore.’
‘I tried to talk you out of wedding such a woman as I.’
Ignoring her, he continued, ‘In return, I expect little from you.’
‘Then that is what you will get.’
William tightened his fingers around the top of the pommel, holding his temper in check. For whatever reason, Sarah was itching for an argument. If she wasn’t a little more careful, she might get more than what she wanted.
‘You are alone in this world, Sarah. There is no one to take care of you, or to protect you, except me. If you desire that security, you need to learn to trust me. You have no other choice.’
He lifted his gaze to capture hers. ‘Tell me again, how can two people sharing a life, a home, a name and a marriage bed not be personal?’
‘We have shared no marriage bed.’ She held his stare, while adding, ‘Nor will we.’
‘Oh?’ Her direct challenge surprised him. Didn’t she realise he’d not ignore her dare? He wanted to tell her that one day she would be more than willing to come to his bed. But he fought to hold his comment back. Finally, he asked, ‘What makes you think we won’t share a marriage bed?’
All colour left her face at the mere suggestion that she couldn’t stop him. Sarah turned away, stiffened her back and stared out over her horse’s head. ‘You would not force me.’
He didn’t believe he’d have to force her. But why did the idea frighten her so? And she was afraid. He knew what fear looked like from experience. He could see her fear in the stiffness of her bearing, in the paleness of her face and heard it in the hesitant, less certain, tone of her voice.
The need to ease her worries prompted him to move closer, to uncurl her fingers from the reins and take her hand in his. William lifted her hand to his lips and dropped a chaste kiss on her knuckles. ‘I doubt if force would prove necessary, my lady.’
Sarah jerked her hand free. ‘You have a high opinion of yourself, my lord.’
‘Perhaps. But there is not a man alive who would dismiss your challenge.’
‘I issued no challenge.’
‘No? Do you truly think me that naïve?’ At her bewildered look, he explained, ‘Your ruse is as ancient as time. An experienced woman boldly tells a man that she will not share his bed, knowing full well that it will be a challenge he cannot refuse. You have no secrets in that regard. Every man knows she does it intentionally, Sarah, in expectation of eventually losing the chase.’
She parted her lips, then clamped them tightly together without saying a word.
Her reaction baffled him. He expected more of an argument from her. William moved away. His wife was a ball of mass confusion wrapped in beautiful finery.
He glanced sidelong at Sarah again riding silently beside him. A man in his position would never imagine himself wed to one as lovely as Lady Sarah.
She turned briefly to glare at him and he hid a smile of amusement. No battle to the death had made his stomach knot, or sweat bead on his forehead in such a manner. Yet, this little bit of a woman sent his body, and mind, reeling with nothing more than a glance his way.
And when she once again turned away, a cold wind swept over his body, leaving him strangely bereft of warmth. He sighed at this unfamiliar womanly nonsense teasing at him.
After once again surveying the area for someone following them, and finding nothing, William wondered if he’d imagined the feeling of danger.
Maybe their hasty exit from Eleanor’s court, combined with his even hastier marriage, had made his senses overwrought. His weapons were at hand, and Hugh was also well armed. So, for now, William would set aside his worry.
For a more pleasurable distraction, he concentrated once again on his wife. The women in the church were justified in their jealousy. Despite a crooked nose and a thin scar cutting across one eyebrow, Sarah was a vision of beauty.
Besides her blonde hair, the first thing one noticed when looking at her was the vivid blueness of her eyes against the unblemished paleness of her face.
He briefly wondered how many men had wished to drown in those eyes. As his attention retraced her nose and the scar, he realised that at least one man had not wished to lose himself in her gaze. Had that been the reason for her sudden fear of him?
‘What are you looking at now?’
‘You.’
‘Why?’ She swiped a hand across her cheek. ‘Is something amiss?’
‘No, everything is in place. I was just admiring your beauty.’
Sarah’s eyes widened before she schooled her features into a mask of contempt, then turned her face away. The forced look didn’t bother him. He’d witnessed her doing the same thing to others at Eleanor’s court. While they may have been put off by her contemptuous expression and left her alone, he knew exactly what she was doing and wouldn’t be intimidated quite so easily.
‘I cannot believe that none have commented on the fairness of your features.’
‘Aye, they have. When they either wanted something, or were so far gone in their wine that they knew not what they were saying.’
‘I know exactly what I am saying, and I already possess all I desire.’
‘And what is that?’
‘You.’
At his answer Sarah swung around to face him. ‘Me?’ Shock fired her cheeks before she shook her head in disbelief. ‘We just wed, and yet already you count me as one of your possessions?’
William cringed at the idea. He knew what being a possession entailed. ‘That is not what I meant.’
‘But isn’t that what a wife is?’ Her voice rose, and she paused to swallow hard
