Read Online Conquering Passion by Anna Markland - Free Book Online Page B

to his ears, his words sounded inane, but he couldn’t seem to stop. He waited, knowing, hoping she would turn those disturbing eyes on him again. When she looked back at him, he held her gaze, wanting to make sure she knew he was determined. Their eyes locked. Could she tell a wave of heat had rolled over him? He could drown in those brown eyes.
    “We must talk about your mare.”
    She lowered her long lashes and looked away and he felt her tense beside him. Still he pressed on. “I can’t allow you to go riding alone all over the demesne .”
    She looked back at him, her eyes boring into his. “Why not?”
    Again she questions me! Keep calm.
    He took a deep breath. “You ride astride. It’s not seemly. And it’s not safe.”
    She stood. “Excuse me, milord . As you’ve said, I’m not a seemly woman. You wish to deprive me of my only pleasure. I can no longer sit here.”
    He shoved his chair back abruptly, and it toppled and crashed to the floor. “Mabelle—”
    But she’d flounced off, head high, back rigid, and he didn’t intend to embarrass himself further in front of his grinning brothers.
    Her only pleasure.
    The challenge in those blazing eyes held the promise of passion, and he wanted desperately to be the one to introduce her to many other pleasures.
    ***
    “ Milady , you seem upset,” Giselle observed a sennight later, as Mabelle stormed into her chamber yet again, slamming the door with both hands.
    Mabelle whirled around, shoulders heaving. “Giselle, you love my betrothed like a son, but he’s the most infuriating—”
    “He’s a man, milady .”
    Mabelle walked towards her bed, her fingertips pressed to her forehead. “But he wants to control everything I do. First he forbids me, forbids me to ride my mare. That’s not considered Comtesse -like behaviour. Then it was how I dress. Next he forbade me to express my opinion of the conflict with Anjou. When I dared to tell him what I overheard people saying about the Duke in the castle at Arques—what will be next?”
    She sank down to sit on the bed.
    Giselle sat down beside her, put her arm around her lady’s shoulders and took hold of her hand. “Rambaud wants to live up to what he sees as his father’s expectations. He believes his parents’ marriage was dominated by his father, and to the outside world it was. But I can tell you differently. The Comte loved his wife and never made a major decision without her. Rambaud’s view is women are for—well—obedience. And bedding—and the begetting of heirs, but he’ll change, as did his father.”
    Mabelle leaned her head on Giselle’s shoulder and blushed. “I don’t think the bedding will be a problem—I have to admit we seem drawn to each other that way. When he looks at me with those startling blue eyes, I want to surrender, to be obedient, to agree with everything he says. And he knows the power of those eyes to make a woman do foolish things. His voice is like the beat of a tabor drum rolling through me.”
    She blushed and paused, fiddling with the sleeve of her gown. Had she betrayed too much of her intense feelings? She rose from the bed and went to sit in a chair. “I long to bear a child I can love. But what Ram wants is dominance.”
    Giselle came to massage her lady’s shoulders. “He’s a soldier, milady . Above all else he’s a warrior. But he’s ambitious and such men believe they have to control everyone. His life has revolved around discipline.”
    Mabelle leaned her head on her hand. “But I can’t sit all day doing nothing. If I’m to be a Comtesse, I need to learn things about the castle, the estates, the world. Ram will let me do none of that.”
    Giselle came to kneel in front of her mistress. “Rambaud is a good man, milady . Sometimes, men rebel when they think they’ve been forced into a marriage, though their hearts tell them it’s what they want. They feel they have to assert their authority. Rambaud has never been cruel, or unreasonable.