Love Everlasting Read Online Free Page B

the worst of people, and you see subterfuge where
none exists.”
    “Really? How many spies have you known?”
    “A few.” She lifted her square chin and
looked down her nose at him. “Spying is a dishonorable trade.”
    “Some do think so.” He refused to acknowledge
her deliberate insult, so he kept his voice quiet.
    “I know men entirely too well,” she said with
chilly arrogance. “You are all alike. You want to seize a woman’s
dowry and take control of her mind and body.”
    “Is that what your late husband did?” Perhaps
she had been badly mistreated and that was why she was so angry and
so averse to remarriage. She did have a point; Royce had
encountered enough cruel noblemen in his lifetime to know that
abuse of a wife was not unusual. He opened his mouth to promise he
would not beat her or force himself on her in bed, but she spoke
first.
    “Which husband?” she asked.
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Of which husband were you speaking?”
    “How many have you had?” Royce asked,
appalled that King Henry, consumed with worry lest her properties
fall into French hands, hadn’t told him much about her past.
Appalled with himself, too, for being so unhappy at the need to
obey the royal command that he hadn’t asked enough questions and
hadn’t bothered to consult with his own agents about Julianna. Lack
of knowledge about one’s spouse was a perilous way to begin a
marriage. In this case, ignorance could prove lethal.
    “Two,” Julianna said. “Both of them were much
older than I. Forty years and more older, in fact. How old are you,
my lord?”
    “Forty-five,” Royce said. “And you?”
    “I have just recently turned thirty. Well, I
suppose your age could be counted as an improvement over the
others.”
    “Thank you, my lady.” He bowed with mocking
grace. “I am flattered by your good opinion.”
    “Don’t pretend to care what I think of you.
My property is all that matters. Isn’t it?”
    “Not entirely. I hold vast estates of my own,
so I don’t need yours. In fact,” he said, watching her closely to
see her reaction, “the prospect of holding still more land is just
a nuisance to me. Possibly, a dangerous nuisance, since I will have
to keep your properties in Normandy and Flanders safe from French
encroachment. But I dare to hope your estates in Cornwall and East
Anglia will present no serious problems.”
    “I do not wish to marry you,” she said.
    “I’m aware of that.” Interesting, the way she
swung away from the subject being discussed and then attacked from
a different angle. The lady was intelligent. She had the makings of
a skilled strategist. Or a very clever spy. Royce decided to test
her a little further. “I don’t want to marry you, either. But, as I
said at the outset, given your circumstances and my loyalty to the
king, we have no choice.”
    She stared at him with such apprehension in
her gaze that he knew she was involved in something disloyal to
King Henry and, therefore, dangerous to her - and to him, once he
married her. He’d been a fool to hope the king was wrong and that
all he’d have to contend with would be a younger and most unwilling
woman. He set his jaw and regarded her coldly, knowing full well
that she was the enemy.
    Yet some quality in Julianna, in her low
voice and her lovely, regular features that were currently pinched
with tension and in her frightened eyes, struck an answering chord
in Royce’s cautiously restrained heart. How odd it was that she
should affect him so profoundly, when he had remained immune to
female charms for so many years.
    “Is there no way for us to avoid this
marriage that neither of us wants?” she asked.
    “None that I can think of. I could refuse
absolutely, and perhaps in time Henry would forgive me. But you
must marry, and soon. If I do refuse, Henry may well choose a man
for you who is far more repulsive than I am.”
    “Repulsive?” She considered the word,
frowning, and moved her head just a bit. It