grew heavy. “Ash . . .”
“Sleep.” His arm flexed, gathering her tight. “I’ll keep you warm and safe. I’ll keep you always.”
For the second time in her marriage, Emma experienced the pleasure of waking in her husband’s arms. And the joy of finding her hair matted in a nest. And the bliss of a receding headache.
But yes, the arms. Waking in his arms was lovely.
She rolled onto her other side, facing him.
His gaze was tender, and his touch even more so. He skimmed a caress down her cheek, then down over her shoulder. He didn’t seem to mind her matted hair. Then his arm went around her, and he gave her a kiss that was every bit as sweet and gentle as the previous night’s was fierce and demanding.
When they parted, he sighed her name. “Emma.”
She touched his cheek. “Good morning, my sunshine.”
He sat up in bed with a start. “Look at us. How did this happen? I thought we agreed that there would be no affection.”
“We did.”
“We had rules.”
“There were precautions.”
The left side of his mouth pulled into a smile. “Not enough of them, apparently.”
Emma sat up in bed. “I want to apologize for the things I said last night. I should have had more faith in you. And I suppose I should be more charitable toward Miss Worthing. If you hadn’t cared enough for her feelings to let her go, I wouldn’t have you at all.”
“I have to admit, releasing her wasn’t merely generosity. Perhaps not even mostly generosity. Pride was involved, as well. She was still willing to marry me, but only if I agreed to certain stipulations. I wasn’t willing to accept her terms.”
“Did she want a larger settlement?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Then I can’t imagine what she could ask for. I spent time with her. She cared little for anything besides money and appear—”
“Appearances? Yes. Precisely.”
Emma cringed, regretting the word. Would she never learn?
“On reflection, I don’t suppose it’s accurate to call them stipulations,” he said. “If we married, she demanded that I agree to certain rules.”
“Rules?”
He didn’t answer, but the look in his eyes spoke volumes. Spoke of pain and anger and a wound that went deeper than any of his scars.
Rules.
Oh, no.
She reached for her shift. “Surely you don’t mean—”
“Husband and wife by night only. No lights. No kissing. Once she bore me an heir, we would never share a bed again.”
At last, it was clear. It had never made sense to her that he would create such rules. He had all the power over her. Once they married, she was at his mercy. Why would he care about protecting her sensibilities? If indeed her sensibilities needed protecting, which they didn’t. They never had.
But he hadn’t been guarding her sensibilities, had he? He’d been protecting himself.
Emma found it difficult to speak for some moments. When she did find words, they were only three. “I hate her.”
He laughed. “You’re a vicar’s daughter. You can’t know what it is to hate anyone.”
“Oh, yes, I can.” Her hands curled into fists. She growled. “I could strangle the woman.”
“You could not.”
“Fine. But I would stick her with pins. A large number of pins.”
“That, I can almost believe.”
“I mean it. A great many pins. She would look like a hedgehog by the time I was through with her.”
Emma fumed. Her anger was no exaggeration. She might have envied or resented Annabelle Worthing in the past, but in that moment, she truly despised the woman. How dare she. She’d convinced a brave, loyal, decent man that he was a monster. A creature who deserved nothing more than scraps and shadows of affection, and even then, only in the dark.
“Do you know, this room is rather charming,” he said, in an obvious attempt to change the subject.
“Charming?”
“It has possibilities. All it needs is a few draperies, better furnishings, a coat of paint, a mattress stuffed with straw from this decade, a few dozen scrubbing brushes, and a vermin catcher. Where’s your imagination?”
She gave him a dry look.
“Of course, there is one thing in the room that requires no alteration.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead.
“Nicely rescued.”
“Are you hungry at all?”
“Not very.”
“Well, I’m famished.” He pulled on his trousers and shirt, then jammed his feet into his boots. “I’ll see about calling for some breakfast and a cab.”
When he opened the bedchamber door, however, a deafening clamor rose up. Shouts and cries from the public rooms below. Footsteps pounding madly up the stairs.
A man elbowed his way into the bedchamber and slammed the door shut behind him. “You don’t want to go down there. Trust me.”
The stranger wore a mask of black mesh and a similarly dark jerkin cinched over black trousers and a dark shirt. In his hand, he carried a slingshot.
Emma shook her head, bewildered.
Her husband, however, seemed to understand.
“What are you doing here?” He waved a hand at the newcomer’s strange attire. “And what is all that?”
“Like it? My old fencing kit, a bit of bootblack . . . and here I am.” The intruder pushed the mask back, revealing his face. He bowed to Emma. “At your service, Your Grace.”
With the mask dislodged, Emma could see that he was only a boy. Eleven or twelve years old, perhaps. Tall for his age, with jug-handle ears and a gap between his front teeth.
And this boy, whoever he was, seemed to be well acquainted with her husband.
She turned to Ash. “May I trouble you for an introduction?”
“This? This is Trevor.”
The boy jabbed his elbow in Ash’s side. “Ahem.”
Ash
