Only Marriage Will Do. Jenna Jaxon

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СКАЧАТЬ her strip him naked and plunge himself into her sweet, hot depths? She had seemed willing enough.

      He moved restlessly in the water, searching for a comfortable position. His protective nature had asserted itself once more—this time to protect her against him. He could no more take her virtue than he could kill her. This lovely woman had become too dear, too sweet for him to dally with and leave a ruined woman, even if his conscience would allow it.

      To save her, he’d had to hurt her. Her infatuation with him seemed to run deep. In love with the idea of him being a “knight in shining armor,” she did not see the very real danger he presented. Knights had needs as well. His rebuff just now might have stung her pride, but it had been for the best. If only he could continue to keep her at arm’s length until the end of the journey. At least seven more days on the road. Not an easy task now that he regarded her as more than a friend.

      Much more than a friend, to be brutally honest. He admired her courage, her decisiveness, her determination to get what she wanted. He loved a spirited woman, the quality that had drawn him to Katarina. Juliet’s outspokenness did not rival Kat’s, but neither could she be called mealy-mouthed. Yet she seemed a perpetual “damsel in distress,” which had an appeal all its own. Not to mention her beauty into the bargain.

      He sat up and reached for the soap and a cloth, determined to erase the vestiges of his adventure in the mud from his body and the pleasures of Juliet from his mind. He would not take advantage of her vulnerability to get her into his bed, with or without benefit of marriage. She might believe herself in love with him, but that would certainly change when he left her at her brother’s estate. Out of sight, out of mind. A few days after he left she would count her escape fortunate. If they were to marry, there could be no escape for her when she realized she had tied herself not to a chivalrous knight from the Round Table, but to a flesh and blood man with real faults.

      No need to deny his desire for Juliet, but he had lusted after others before. Such a shallow passion hardly provided a good reason for marrying. His parent’s loving union had made him long for a similar married life. Unfortunately, the only woman he had ever proposed to had turned him down. He could assuage that fresh hurt with the devotion Juliet offered, although he doubted his heart had been touched again so soon after being rebuffed. Juliet would be only a substitute for the love he had lost.

      He continued to remove the soap and dirt from his body, washed and rinsed his hair, and at last stood up, cool water sluicing down him. He stepped from the tub, reached for a piece of toweling to dry himself, and set out to dress for dinner. Perhaps over dinner they could come to some sort of agreement about their behavior during the remainder of the trip.

      Just over a quarter hour later dinner arrived. Juliet did not. He waited ten minutes, his mouth watering while the chicken and vegetables became increasingly lukewarm. Finally, he tossed his napkin down on the table and went in search of his “wife.”

      He knocked on Glynis’s door and the maid answered, her face a puckered frown.

      “Is Lady Juliet ready? Our dinner is getting cold.” He tried to keep a pleasant tone, although the insolent look on the girl’s face made it difficult.

      “My lady says to tell you she is not hungry and will not be dining this evening.” Her frosty glare dared him to object.

      “I will be the judge of that.” Amiable shoved his way past her, much as he had done with the servant at Dunham House yesterday morning. He strode over to the still figure in a chair placed before the cold fireplace. She did not acknowledge his presence by word or movement, though she must know he stood right beside her, towering over her. She would have to be dead to miss him.

      “I have been waiting for you, Juliet. Our dinner has grown cold.” He tried very hard to keep his tone light. This wasn’t her fault.

      “As Glynis has just informed you, I am not hungry, Captain Dawson. You have my leave to begin without me.”

      Her flat, emotionless tone made him wince. Another battle to be fought.

      “As you reminded me a short time ago, I am not your wife, Captain. You need not pretend solicitude toward a casual acquaintance.” She stared determinedly into the dead fireplace.

      “I believe we passed casual acquaintance status approximately half an hour ago, my dear.” He smiled at the memory of her shocked expression. “Please come and dine with me, Juliet. We must keep up the fiction of husband and wife, you know.”

      “I suppose in the wide world there has been a wife who has not been hungry at dinner time and has refused to dine with her husband,” she said, still staring at the cold ashes. “Although, if such an occurrence has not actually happened before in the history of mankind, then I suppose I shall be the first.”

      “Juliet.” He hunkered down beside her chair and looked into her face. The flickering light of the room’s one lamp cast her more in shadow, but he read the hurt pride and anger on her face well enough. “I am sorry if my words earlier offended you, my lady.” Perhaps it would help the situation if they reverted to the distance of formal address. “But they were true. We are not wed and I cannot in honor act as though we are. I am here as your protector, not your debaucher.”

      “It seemed so right, so natural.” Her voice died away and her head dropped to stare at her lap.

      “Nevertheless, it was wrong.” Damnation. He cursed himself roundly for ever starting that little scene in their room. “I suppose we acted our parts as in a play, and the roles became real to both of us. But as much as we may become absorbed in a play on the stage, it is only a play after all. Once you have had time to reflect on it, I believe you would not want that particular role in truth.”

      She sat still, hands clasped in her lap.

      Amiable stood, his heart sinking. “I will summon a kitchen maid to come warm our dinner for us. I will then go back to the parlor where dinner is laid. I would like very much to have the honor of your company, my lady. I look forward to seeing you soon.”

      He left the room, passing the disapproving Glynis on his way out. After giving his orders to the kitchen, he returned to the chamber and, though he had not yet eaten, poured a shot of brandy, tossing it down his throat in a single gulp. Some days one could do absolutely nothing right.

      At a loss for what to do, he wandered the room, gazed at the two mediocre watercolors on the parlor wall then thumbed through a volume on horticulture until dinner returned to the table, piping hot. Again, he sat down and waited, then consulted his pocket watch. Five slow minutes later, he shook out his napkin and picked up his fork. He would not let good food go to waste even though he now had little appetite. Doggedly, he plowed through his plate, the hot food tasting like sand.

      The door opened.

      He stopped chewing and held his breath as Juliet seated herself across the table from him.

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