my new post as motherness entail?”
For what could be no less than the third time today this waif delivered a blow that robbed his lungs of the very air they contained. “Pardon?” he choked, his body fighting waves of hot and cold as tension, anger, alarm, and unease passed through him. He tightened his hands into fists.
“ I do believe you heard me correctly, my lord,” Juliet said airily, her smug smile still flawlessly in place.
Patrick ground his teeth and glanced at his three girls. They all three sat in their seats staring at him with wide, unblinking eyes. Their stillness was slightly alarming. Only slightly though. They looked worried. Good. They deserved to be petrified for letting that slip. “We’ll talk of your duties later,” Patrick said as smoothly as possible. “For now, I want to know what you knew and when.”
One of her delicate shoulders tipped up in a simple-lopsided shrug. “I don’t see the importance of discussing that. I should hope you not think I’m too dimwitted to realize what my real duty to you was when I was to be continually asked to assist the girls with their studies. Ah, but that is what I am here to do, now isn’t it? Therefore, you were being completely honest earlier when you said I was the one you wanted, not my sister.”
Patrick’s blood turned to ice. Devil it all, she’d been his wife for eight hours at most and had everything puzzled out. Not that it’d been a giant mystery. He’d been too excited and relieved at the prospect of finding a solution to his two largest predicaments, he hadn’t given enough thought to his plan or how it would all unfold. But no matter his underhanded behavior. He’d come in here to discuss hers, and just because his secrets were now out, didn’t mean she was granted a pardon. “Juliet, tell me about the veil.”
“ The veil?”
“ Yes, that heavy fabric from the dark ages you insisted on wearing today. I don’t believe I’ve ever witnessed a wedding where a bride wore such a thing.”
Juliet’s smile briefly dimmed half a second before gleaming again. “Just because you haven’t witnessed such an event, doesn’t mean women don’t wear them. In fact, I can give you a good example―”
“ I’m sure you can,” he cut in. “By my guess, you’re going to grab the Bible and direct my attention to the chapter in which Leah is heavily veiled to deceive Jacob. That sounds vaguely familiar. Is that where you learned such a trick?”
“ No,” she snapped, eyes flashing fire. Good thing they rested behind such thick glass or he might have been singed. “I know you’re lord of the manor and used to getting your way, my lord, but you have a few lessons yet to learn about how to treat people―”
“ And let me guess, you thought to show me the error of my ways,” he shot back, angry heat creeping up his face.
“ Absolutely,” Juliet said with conviction. “If you’ve been embarrassed today, it’s your own doing. Your problem, Lord Presumptuous, is you have this notion everything needs to be a certain way―your way. And when things don’t fall into place, your mouth starts working independent of your brain and you make a fool of yourself.”
Patrick cocked his head to the side, the events of the day cycling through his mind. He blinked. She might be rather confident now, but her demeanor at the wedding had not been so assured. She’d stuttered her vows and her skin had been ashen white when he had lifted that ugly veil. “You didn’t actually want to marry me, did you?” he breathed just as his mind made sense of it.
“ No,” she admitted, giving her head a slight shake. The fingers of her right hand idly brushed back and forth across the lacy cuff of her left sleeve. “I didn’t realize my mistake until it was too late.”
“ Your mistake?”
She nodded. “I knew you mistakenly affianced yourself to me the day you came to my cottage and―”
“ You what?”
Juliet rolled her eyes. “I
For what could be no less than the third time today this waif delivered a blow that robbed his lungs of the very air they contained. “Pardon?” he choked, his body fighting waves of hot and cold as tension, anger, alarm, and unease passed through him. He tightened his hands into fists.
“ I do believe you heard me correctly, my lord,” Juliet said airily, her smug smile still flawlessly in place.
Patrick ground his teeth and glanced at his three girls. They all three sat in their seats staring at him with wide, unblinking eyes. Their stillness was slightly alarming. Only slightly though. They looked worried. Good. They deserved to be petrified for letting that slip. “We’ll talk of your duties later,” Patrick said as smoothly as possible. “For now, I want to know what you knew and when.”
One of her delicate shoulders tipped up in a simple-lopsided shrug. “I don’t see the importance of discussing that. I should hope you not think I’m too dimwitted to realize what my real duty to you was when I was to be continually asked to assist the girls with their studies. Ah, but that is what I am here to do, now isn’t it? Therefore, you were being completely honest earlier when you said I was the one you wanted, not my sister.”
Patrick’s blood turned to ice. Devil it all, she’d been his wife for eight hours at most and had everything puzzled out. Not that it’d been a giant mystery. He’d been too excited and relieved at the prospect of finding a solution to his two largest predicaments, he hadn’t given enough thought to his plan or how it would all unfold. But no matter his underhanded behavior. He’d come in here to discuss hers, and just because his secrets were now out, didn’t mean she was granted a pardon. “Juliet, tell me about the veil.”
“ The veil?”
“ Yes, that heavy fabric from the dark ages you insisted on wearing today. I don’t believe I’ve ever witnessed a wedding where a bride wore such a thing.”
Juliet’s smile briefly dimmed half a second before gleaming again. “Just because you haven’t witnessed such an event, doesn’t mean women don’t wear them. In fact, I can give you a good example―”
“ I’m sure you can,” he cut in. “By my guess, you’re going to grab the Bible and direct my attention to the chapter in which Leah is heavily veiled to deceive Jacob. That sounds vaguely familiar. Is that where you learned such a trick?”
“ No,” she snapped, eyes flashing fire. Good thing they rested behind such thick glass or he might have been singed. “I know you’re lord of the manor and used to getting your way, my lord, but you have a few lessons yet to learn about how to treat people―”
“ And let me guess, you thought to show me the error of my ways,” he shot back, angry heat creeping up his face.
“ Absolutely,” Juliet said with conviction. “If you’ve been embarrassed today, it’s your own doing. Your problem, Lord Presumptuous, is you have this notion everything needs to be a certain way―your way. And when things don’t fall into place, your mouth starts working independent of your brain and you make a fool of yourself.”
Patrick cocked his head to the side, the events of the day cycling through his mind. He blinked. She might be rather confident now, but her demeanor at the wedding had not been so assured. She’d stuttered her vows and her skin had been ashen white when he had lifted that ugly veil. “You didn’t actually want to marry me, did you?” he breathed just as his mind made sense of it.
“ No,” she admitted, giving her head a slight shake. The fingers of her right hand idly brushed back and forth across the lacy cuff of her left sleeve. “I didn’t realize my mistake until it was too late.”
“ Your mistake?”
She nodded. “I knew you mistakenly affianced yourself to me the day you came to my cottage and―”
“ You what?”
Juliet rolled her eyes. “I
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