Page 84 of Her Baseborn Bridegroom

“Well if it comes to that, Mason flung a goblet at my head yesterday and practically put a dent in the wall, so I suppose they’re well suited,” boomed Baron Vawdrey.

Linnet ignored them. After all, she was a Vawdrey now, so she may as well get used to their ways. In fact, she thought, narrowing her eyes, maybe she should join them. It must be nice to speak exactly what was on your mind without flinching. She turned to Mason and pointed a finger in his direction.

“That’s a ridiculous thing to say Mason Vawdrey!” she said loudly. “I was sheltered, not delusional!”

“Oh,” he answered acidly, turning to face her. “And pray tell me, what should I have declared to the entire world to keep you happy?” he demanded, his hands on his hips.

“Very well, I shall tell you,” she said, feeling a spark of anger. She folded her arms across her chest and took a deep breath. It was now or never. He would be disgusted, but she may as well take this opportunity to be totally honest. “What you should have said to the Queen was this: ‘I love this woman and I refuse to be parted from her, now or ever!’” Linnet’s chest heaved as the words flew from her tongue.

“And . . . and ‘I don’t care about her bringing me no dowry . . . or the fact she’s plain and little with no womanly charms and has ugly red hair and is absolutely covered in hideous freckles!’”

Her lip wobbled and suddenly it was all just too much. Linnet whirled on her heel and ran for the bedroom door as she felt the tears spilling over. She caught sight of Mason moving out of the corner of her eye, and desperately tried to get the door open before he caught her. Of course, she had no sooner wrenched on the door handle than he was upon her, his hands closing on her arms and spinning her round.

“I would never say anything so fucking stupid!” he snarled. “I don’t care about the dowry,” he continued in a low, angry voice. He slashed one hand through the air. “I admit, that was why I married you in the first place, but it’s not the reason I want to stay married to you now!” He cursed and rubbed his face.

“At least,” he hesitated. “I’m not even sure that I wasn’t affected even then—” he broke off in confusion. “Almost from the first moment I clapped eyes on you . . . I felt protective of you.” He halted again with a scowl. “I know that doesn’t make sense and I probably didn’t act like it. But it’s the truth. And I knew I wasn’t good enough for you. But I married you anyway. And then . . . ” he hesitated and screwed up his eyes. “You were so . . . sweet,” he said the word almost as if pained him. “And you’d been so cheated in life, and no one understood you and yet . . . ”

He swallowed and gazed down at his feet a moment before looking back up wonderingly. “You just gave me all that sweetness you’d stored up all those years as though I . . . as though I deserved it. And . . . almost in spite of myself, I found I wanted it. I wanted that sweetness so badly.” He looked up at her. “I still want it, Linnet. I want all of it. All to myself. And I’m having it. I don’t care what anyone else says. It’s all mine.”

Linnet blinked. Oh my gods. Was he saying . . .? He was. He was saying he wanted her. Linnet Cadwallader. With all her flaws and freckles and all. She collapsed back against the door, staring up at him.

“Well, I for one am heartily glad he never said that in front of everyone,” said Roland after a moment’s heavy pause. “He sounds like a fucking lunatic!”

“Shut up Roland,” said Oswald mildly. “He’s not mad, just in love.”

“So that’s what all this is about!” tutted Baron Vawdrey, his expression clearing. “Course I had my suspicions from the first. He was far too touchy about her. You could barely even mention the wench without him flying off the handle.”

With an exclamation of irritation, Mason reached behind her and opened the bedroom door, pushing her back through it. As soon as he’d secured the door behind them she threw herself into his arms.

“I love you,” she breathed fiercely. “I didn’t think you’d want to hear it, Mason but I do. I really do.”

His arms closed around her tightly a moment and then he hoisted her up.

“Oh no,” he said. “You’re not getting out of it that easily.”

He strode over to the bed and dropped her onto the mattress where he started dragging the coverlet off her. Once he’d wadded it into a bundle and hurled it across the room, he pushed her back flat on the bed.

“These freckles,” he said, running his hands over her skin. “I absolutely forbid you to try and get rid of them Linnet. I thought I’d made it clear to you that I love them. No more remedies, no more quackery, they’re part of you, and that makes them mine.”

“Very well,” she said weakly. “If that’s how you feel.”

“It is!” he snapped, swinging a leg over her waist to straddle her naked body. He ran his hands into her hair. “And your hair,” he said accusingly. “You fucking know I love your hair!”

Linnet stared. “No . . . ” she said slowly. “I mean, I know you said you weren’t unduly bothered—”

“Why do you think I hate it when you wear a veil?” he demanded angrily.

“Um . . . because . . . ” She frowned. “I actually thought you just hated veils,” she admitted.

“Because. I. Like. To. Look. At. Your. Hair. I like to touch it, too. Hadn’t you noticed?” He wrapped some of the silky length around his fingers and lightly tugged it so her face tilted up to his.

“Uh . . . ” Now that she thought about it, he did touch her hair a lot. “I suppose that was a bit unobservant of me,” she admitted shakily.

He nodded slowly. “And this body,” he said, his voice becoming richer. “I would not change a fucking thing about this delectable little body. I’m pretty sure I already told you this, Linnet.”

“Um, you mean . . . the size of my chest?” she blurted. “But—”

“Pretty sure I said I didn’t want one thing about you to change,” he growled.