Nectar from a Stone by Jane Guill

Author:Jane Guill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2005-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

35

A Man’s Needs

Gwydion understood her. “Is it really your responsibility to advise me? She isn’t your daughter.”

Annora was glad they’d arrived at this juncture. Yes, she’d told Elise she admired the good sense he showed in keeping his distance. But she hadn’t mentioned the growing disquiet she felt when she beheld, more and more often now, the way his gaze followed the girl—and the way Elise tried to pretend she was unaware of it. Just that morning she’d caught them with their eyes locked, apparently unaware there was anyone else in the cottage.

Prepared for battle, she stood. “So you’ve decided she’s fair game for your grand attentions.”

“Your assumptions about my character are not flattering.”

“Forgive me. She may not be my daughter, but I love her as if she were. Whatever your intentions, you would do well to leave her be.”

“Your concern is understandable, but she’s not a child. She told me herself she’s a widow.”

“It’s true. But that doesn’t mean she has the experience to deal with a man’s needs.”

“I would have assumed otherwise.”

His detached conjecture about Elise’s likely proficiency as an intimate partner took her aback. Could he be so cold, and so unconcerned about the opinion of a respectable older woman?

Yes, as the world was such a wanton place and most rich men such selfish creatures, she supposed he could be.

She seized the honey bowl and the old bandage. “It’s odd you consider yourself entitled to speak candidly about such things. Who are you to speculate? We know virtually nothing about you and have only aided you because it was the Christian thing to do. Is this our repayment?”

“I never asked you to help me. You chose to do so.”

She paid him no heed. “And tell me, sir—if the subject isn’t awkward—would your wife be pleased to learn of any attempt you might make to seduce a vulnerable girl?” He obviously came from a privileged background and was well of an age. Such men were obliged to marry and beget sons, so he must have a wife. “How flexible is your union?”

“My wife.” He looked suddenly vexed. “I suppose she would be disconsolate.”

Annora pursed her lips.

He sung his legs over the side of the bed and came slowly to his feet. “If I had a wife.”

Annora’s discomfiture at being duped into unkind judgment was superceded by concern. She tried to take his arm. “Where are you going?”

He shook off her help and walked toward the open window. “To Hell soon enough, if your reading of my character is accurate.”

“I’m sorry.” She stood on the other side of Efa’s table, watching him. “But don’t commence tearing around the room to prove your pique.”

“This sorry hobbling could hardly be called tearing.” As he picked up a daisy and plucked a petal, his tone changed abruptly. “As we seem to be talking of sorry things, these are the sorriest excuse for flowers I’ve ever seen.”

“That doctor wanted to put petals in your wine to calm you.” She attempted a conciliatory smile. “I thought they’d make a good joke later.

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