Caversham’s Bride

Chapter Eleven-1

Chapter Eleven

Ren ushered her into his cabin on Warlock, locking the door behind them. Once in the room, Lia darted to the other side of the table, thinking she was safe from his reach.

“How could you?” she hissed.

“How could I what?”

“Leave that poor girl there and not help her! How cruel can you be? What kind of gentleman are you?”

He turned away from her. “Do not cross me this early into our marriage, wife.” He stripped away his coat and tossed it onto the chair. He sat on the edge of the bed and removed his shiny, black boots, dropping them to the floor. Standing, he began to loosen his cravat and pull his shirt from the waistband of his breeches. “As to my ungentlemanly behavior—well, I’ve never been accused of being a gentleman, so I’d say my behavior was quite the norm.”

She watched him remove his shirt and cravat, letting them fall beside the bed. When he stood and began to unbutton his breeches, she asked, “What are you doing?”

“Getting ready for bed,” he told her. “So should you.”

“It’s broad daylight out.” Her knuckles turned white as her grasp on the edge of the table tightened and her breathing got deeper and faster.

“When has that stopped us before?” Then he had a thought, and his heart stopped a moment. “Don’t tell me that now we are wed, you’ve grown cold on me? I’ll not put up with it.”

“You ask if I have changed in the short time since the vows were spoken, but it is not I who is behaving abominably! What has come over you?” She stood her ground behind the table, out of his reach, and refused to undress. “You have become un diavolo. You separate me from my brother, and…”

“There are some who say I have always been evil,” he said, stepping closer. He watched the lump in her throat rise and fall as she gulped and retreated a step.

“Why do you act this way to me now?” Her voice trembled as she spoke. “Is it because of what I did last night?” Her eyes scanned over the room for another safe haven, but there was none.

“Yes, and no. I see it in your eyes Lia.” Ren reached out and stroked her cheek with a feather-light touch, which she knew hid his true emotion. “Even now, you look for a way out. Like a frightened animal. Why? What have I done to you besides give you the safety and comfort that comes with my name? I would think you’d be grateful that I brought you to Genoa to save your brother. But what do I get in return for his spared life? You try to escape me.” His fingers wound their way into the silky hair at her nape, forcing her closer. She was soon in his arms, and he could feel her tremble. “And I cannot think of a reason why. I fulfilled my end of the bargain.”

His lips came down on hers heavily. He wanted to both punish and cherish her at the same time, but she wanted nothing from him. She didn’t move, didn’t respond. Grabbing her head, he slid his fingers into her coiffure, holding her steady while he tried to coax her to passion. One by one, he removed all the pins from her hair, dropping them to the floor, freeing her waist length mahogany waves. When she didn’t return the kiss, he backed away from her passionless stance and said, “Until we arrived here, it seemed as though you were amenable to keeping your end of our agreement.”

Then he shook his head as he realized her game, and gave a disgusted half laugh when he understood he’d once again been duped. “Unless, of course, it was all an act.” She flinched and looked away. “That’s it, isn’t it? You were pretending to enjoy my touch. You were pretending so that I would agree to save your brother.” He walked away from her, stepping to the bank of windows and staring out into the Genoan harbor. “Seems I’ve been played a fool yet again. This time all the way to the altar.” He turned to her and saluted her. “Congratulations, Your Grace, the whoremaster trained you well,” was all he said.

“No” she whispered, shaking her head slowly. He saw a tear, then two, then more trickle down her face, falling unchecked. “I never…”

He went back to her. “Oh, I think so. And you know who the biggest fool is, Lia?” Again she shook her head. He stood directly in front of her now, and he reached for her, grabbing her about the waist and drawing her close. “I am. Because I felt something—an attraction maybe, the day you ran from the guard in the souk.” He stroked the hair at her temple, fighting the urge to kiss her, because to do so would only make him a boor. “The night we met in the palace garden, I wanted you to be different. From that night I wanted you to enjoy sharing my bed.” Lia pulled away from him, and opened her mouth, but he cut her off instantly. “Don’t bother. I will never again believe a word you say.”

She straightened, and wiped her face, saying “You accuse me of using you to get my brother back, but can you honestly tell me, that you did not plan to use me as well?” He quirked a brow wondering what she spoke about, when she added, “I heard you say as much.” He looked at her curiously. “Yesterday afternoon, when you spoke with your men in the room across from mine. You told them you would send me back to Italy after I presented you with your much-needed heir.

“I entered the agreement in good faith, Your Grace. I never intended deception. You did. All along you intended deception. Because it wasn’t a partner you wanted in this marriage. It was a ‘broodmare’ on which to beget your heir. When I think back to the sincere gratitude with which I agreed to the bargain, I feel ill. Because all along you were the one who intended to unload me as some insignificant baggage after you got what you wanted. I have to ask, Your Grace, were you going to have me killed, too? Because you must know how much I love my brother. Did you think I would so easily walk away from my own child?”

“Lia, you tread dangerous water. Careful what you say.” He reached out for her, but she jerked her arm from him.

“No. I never asked to be abducted. I never asked for you to purchase me. I never asked for any of this. All I ever wanted was to live in peace, raising my brother as my parents would have wished. I had dreams of someday marrying a man who loved me as my father loved my mother.

“But fate had other plans for me, Your Grace. What you see as my attempt to escape you, was me doing everything in my power to get back to that place in my life where I could control my destiny. For that I am to be punished for the rest of my life?”

She wiped her tears, and Ren reached for her again, and she backed further away from him, wanting nothing to do with him.

“I never asked for you to purchase me. If I had been unsuccessful in rescuing Luchino, it would have been because I had died trying. Then he and I would have been together, along with with our parents, in heaven.”

She turned away from him. Guilt overcame him as he realized what he’d done. Because if he had done as he originally intended, he would have returned her to her family untouched. But the attraction to her, the intense need he felt to possess and keep her, cherish her and protect her, took over and he’d been unable to let her go. He stood silent for several long moments before finally speaking again. And when he did, she seemed surprised at what he said.

“I am sorry.”

Her eyes grew wide and hopeful. “If you truly are, then tear up the marriage certificate and allow my brother and me to remain here. I have friends in Naples, and my mother’s family in Rome. We will make a new life for ourselves. I can find work…”

“That is impossible,” he interjected.

“Why?”

“Because, as I told the priest earlier, you could already carry my child.”

“I will never allow you to take my child from me,” Lia said.

“Regardless of what transpired in the past twenty-four hours, the bargain remains in effect.”

“Why are you doing this? Can you not see the futility of such a scheme? We would never suit. You want a wife to beget heirs upon. I wish to be my husband’s equal, con pari dignita.” She took a deep, slow breath and shook her head. “Will you swear to me that you will never separate me from my child? I warn you now, if I suspect you think to take my child away from me, I would leave you first, taking my child with me.”

“Lia, you are in no position to make demands. We entered into an agreement, and now a marriage. In any court of law, as your husband, I am now the legal guardian of your brother, and the father of any babe you conceive. You would never get custody of either should you try to leave.”

His voice grew more and more deadly with each word he spoke. “And know this, if you ever attempt to flee, I will hunt you down.”

She slapped him. “Bastardo!”

With a lightning quickness, he grabbed her, pulling her closer. Leaning back, he glared down at her. “I hate to disappoint you, but I look just like my father.”

Cursing him, Lia called him every foul name in English and Italian that she could think of. “I don’t care if your conception had witnesses. You’re still a…”

He jerked her closer, and kissed her. A hard, punishing kiss that was not meant to arouse, but to stop her from hurling those poisonous barbs at him as though she were the only one in the room with feelings. “You ran away. You would have left, probably carrying my child, to live on the street somewhere?” He stroked the column of her neck, then cupped the back of her head. “My child,” he growled. “You would have kept my child from me. And that would make you no better than her.”

“I’ll never allow you to take my child,” she repeated, pushing away from him and ducking under his arm, putting some needed distance between them. “I do not know who she was, and I don’t care. But, unless you threatened to take her child from her against her wishes, she and I have nothing in common.”

Ren shoved his feet into his boots, straightened and strode to the door of the cabin. Turning back, he gave her a frozen glare and left the room, locking the door behind him.

Her husband didn’t return to their cabin that night. The next morning she waited for his arrival, which never came. Not that it mattered, unless he promised he would never separate her from her children, she would have nothing to do with him ever again.

If she were to leave him, it would be easier with the inheritance as a means of supporting herself and her brother. But the man could have it. Before marrying the Englishman she stood little chance of getting it from her aunt anyway. Lia had resigned herself long ago to surviving without the money. She just needed to go find her mother’s family in Rome.

His second, Angus, appeared carrying a breakfast tray, behind him was a lad with a pitcher of fresh water for washing, and behind them two more men carrying a trunk she’d never seen before.

“These are the clothes from the Italian seamstress,” the older man said.

She thanked the men, and listened as the door was again locked from the outside.

Lifting the lid to the tray, she saw fish, fruit and bread, and dove into the meal with gusto. The Englishman who was her husband hadn’t seen fit to send her a dinner tray the night before and she was famished. Once done with the meal, she washed and changed clothes from the dress she married in to another, less embellished, frock. She paced the perimeter of the cabin, unsure of what to do. She wanted to go above deck, but the door was locked. Glancing at the limited selection of books in his bookcase, she drew one down, taking the bench seat beneath the windows and began to read.

This was how her husband found her several hours later. Upon entering the room, he stood between the door and table staring at her. Lia could have sworn he wanted to say something. But he didn’t. Instead, he turned and stalked from the cabin after he took a chart from the bench and tucked it under his arm. This time, she didn’t hear the key turn the lock as he left.