Page 77 of Come the Morning

“Please, please, don’t allow this!” she whispered.

“Ah!” he said softly.This, of course, was the king’s public addendum to the ceremony.

“Please.”

He’d never seen her so vulnerable, so elusively beguiling. He reached out, touching her cheek, smoothing a wild lock of golden hair from her face. He felt as if he stroked silk. He was tempted,God was he tempted, to reach out and drag her into the water with him, and there end the idea of anything public …

And his own determination.

Ah, but then again, the lady had put him through hell.

“The king is very angry,” he told her gravely, watching her.

“You can stop this.”

He hesitated, meeting her tumultuous eyes. “I’ll admit the concept has disturbed me. Especially since there is a question regarding your past. But then again, you see, I’ve stated my feelings regarding family. It is my own blood I want, my lady, and not another’s.”

“Is it revenge you want? You’ve agreed to this because you think you’ll be able to say at some later date that the marriage must be annulled because I was previously engaged and in another relationship? You want me to be humiliated, and then you wish to use it all against me!”

“I’ve not agreed to anything,” he said, still watching her intently.

She closed her eyes tightly for a second, then opened them.

“Don’t do it.”

“As I’ve said, the king is very angry. I think you hurt him, wounded his pride. Maybe he just wants the truth known. You mentioned that you’d taken a lover.”

“No, I did not. You suggested that I had.”

He shrugged, as if how the matter had been discussed was of little importance.

“It’s not true,” she whispered.

“What’s not true?”

“I’ve never taken a lover. I swear on my father’s honor.”

He watched her for a long moment, feeling every muscle in his body contract while he tried to keep his face impassive. She remained so distressed, and spoke with such desperate urgency.She hadn’t noted his touch, didn’t pull away as his fingers stroked her face.

“Do you remember what tomorrow is?” he asked her quietly.

“Indeed, how could I forget? The wedding.”

He shook his head. “Tomorrow night will be the full moon. Don’t you remember? The time when you promised to meet me—a stranger you barely knew—at the hunter’s cottage in the woods if I let you escape my room that night.”

She lowered her head. “Aye, I was desperate.”

“You swore that you’d be there.”

“I wasverydesperate.”

“I told you that you’d keep your promise.”

“Did you?”

“So you shall. There will be nothing public between us. What I want will be in private. The perfection of my bride proven to me alone. When the ceremony and banquet are done, we will leave. And you will keep your promises to me, sweetly, gently—and for the love of God—quietly, with no arguments, taunts, or disagreement at all.”

She tried to keep her temper, he saw. She had come here, meaning to do so. She simply couldn’t. “How dare you be so wretched—” she began.