01 Dangerous Games by Amanda Scott

Author:Amanda Scott [Scott, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-07-22T16:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Cards on the Table

SHAKEN BY YARBORNE’S THREAT to apply to her husband for payment of her debt, Melissa could think of nothing to say to Nicholas during their return to St. James’s Square. They had scarcely spoken to each other in twenty-four hours, and now he sat beside her in the carriage, staring out his window, looking relaxed if rather bored. She wished Lady Ulcombe had not remained at the palace, because she could at least have chatted with her about the Drawing Room.

Exerting herself to put Yarborne’s threat out of her mind, she decided to concentrate on her husband and begin, as she had promised Charley she would, to try harder to be a more admirable wife. With that end in mind, she reached a hand toward him, only to draw it back before she touched him.

Glancing at him to see if he had noticed, she saw with relief that he was still staring idly out the window at the crowded flagway. Drawing a long breath and letting it out slowly, she placed her left hand gently on his right thigh, but when the hard muscles beneath her palm tensed, she nearly snatched it back again.

He turned and said, “Did you enjoy your first Drawing Room?”

“Y-yes, thank you,” she replied, adding hastily, “No one told me how old the King is, or how very fat he is.” Her hand quivered on his thigh. What on earth was wrong with her?

Nicholas seemed not to notice anything amiss. He said, “His Majesty eats too many rich foods, and drinks too much, and this last episode of the gout has pulled him about a good deal. He is sixty-one, I believe, but he does look much older.”

When he put a hand on hers and gave it a gentle squeeze, she felt another foolish urge to snatch hers away. Suppressing the urge, forcing herself to leave it where it was, she blurted, “Nicholas, I … I talked to Charley.”

He said lightly, “Yes, I know—in the carriage, earlier. I observed that you talked to several people at the palace, as well.”

“Yes, of course, I did. One does. But that’s not the same. I … I talked to her about what you said last night. About sending me to Owlcastle,” she finished in a rush.

His eyes narrowed. “You ought not to discuss our affairs, Melissa, not even with your cousin.” He seemed suddenly overlarge for the carriage.

She reminded herself that she had no cause to fear him, that a mere awareness of the fact that he took up more space than she did was no reason to feel overpowered by him. Remembering that Charley had suggested that her perception of his size was no more than an extension of the way she perceived herself, she wondered suddenly if that could be true.

“Do I seem small to you, sir?” she asked.

He looked confused by the change of subject—as well he might, she thought—but his stern expression relaxed and he said, “Your size is just right. ’Tis I who am large, not you who are small.

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