Taming the Beast by Heather Grothaus Page A

didn’t I? Ha! Children?”
    â€œNone.”
    â€œSickness?”
    â€œI beg your pardon?”
    Hugh sighed. “The clap, leprosy, weeping sores, lazy eye—are you ill? ”
    â€œOh. No. I’m quite healthy.”
    â€œWanted by the law?”
    â€œI should hope not!” she exclaimed as if horrified.
    â€œI must ask, you understand. You’d be surprised how—any matter.” Hugh lay down the quill and leaned back in the chair to scrutinize Lady Michaela Fortune. “The terms of the agreement, as you likely have already read—you can read, I assume?”
    Roderick saw one slender eyebrow raise. “A bit, yes.”
    â€œVery good. Ninety consecutive —that means all-in-a-row, one-after-the-other—days at Cherbon, while your suitability as a potential bride is determined. During that time, you will assume the duties of lady and evaluate the compatibility between you and Lord Cherbon. If, at the end of ninety days—which I must tell you I doubt highly you will endure—all the criteria have been met and it is agreeable to both you and the lord, you will be wed. Your prize will then be legally recorded and dispensed. Do you understand?”
    â€œYes, I—”
    â€œGood. Any questions?”
    â€œWell, may—?”
    â€œFine. Sign here.” He shoved the parchment and quill at the young woman who took them and quickly scribbled along the bottom of the page. Then Hugh snatched the items away once more before shooting from his seat and heading toward where Roderick still hid. “Come along, come along—I will show you to your chamber.”
    Roderick stepped from the stairs and ducked underneath the cubby behind them just before Hugh and a trotting Lady Fortune entered the corridor and swished above. The air behind the woman smelled like freshly mown hay.
    â€œBut my trunk—” the woman was arguing with Hugh’s back.
    â€œYes, yes, I’m sure there are many valuables in it. We’ll have it sent up. In the meantime you can make do with what the last one left about the chamber…”
    Roderick stood in the darkness, his heart pounding, pounding, while the fresh, green fragrance of Michaela Fortune hung in the shadows around him like a warning.

Chapter Seven
    The chamber was absolutely dreadful. Though sumptuously appointed with expensive fabrics and furnishings, Michaela felt smothered by feelings of despair and fear as soon as she followed Sir Hugh Gilbert through the doorway. She shivered so violently that she stumbled on her feet.
    Hugh Gilbert cocked a wry eyebrow at her before continuing in the lecture he’d begun in the hall below. “Meals are taken thrice a day. Lonely affairs, but the food is passable. Necessary rooms are down the hall past your door about three score steps. I’d use the one on the right if I were you. The servants slip into the left-hand one—as if I don’t know—and their diet leaves a rather unpleasant atmosphere to follow.”
    There was so much to take in, almost as if Michaela had landed in a foreign country and had only an hour to learn the customs of the natives. “Necessary rooms?”
    â€œOh, you know.” Hugh sighed, and rolled his eyes to the ceiling briefly before leaning forward and saying in a loud whisper, “Where you go to tinkle.”
    â€œOh. Oh!” Michaela flushed. “When will I receive Lord Cherbon?”
    â€œWhen will—” Hugh broke off in a rather loud and rude laugh. “You won’t receive him at all, poppet. When he is ready to assess you , you will be summoned. Until that time, simply go about your business.”
    â€œ Assess me? ” This man was grating on Michaela’s good graces. “Like a cow, you mean.”
    â€œOh, no, my lady,” Hugh said, appearing horrified by the suggestion. “More like a horse.”
    Michaela wished for a large rock to chuck at the