Tamed by the Lyon by Chasity Bowlin

Author:Chasity Bowlin [Bowlin, Chasity]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2021-08-24T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

It was the scratchy lace at her neck that woke Madeline. Sitting up in bed, tugging at the lace-trimmed peignoir that had been part of her trousseau, she wished the garment to perdition. Outside her window, birds sang and chirped. Bees darted about, buzzing busily as they moved from flower to flower. The sun was bright and there was not a single cloud visible in the blue expanse of sky. In short, it was a perfectly glorious day as late spring hovered on the cusp of summer. But her mood did not reflect the beauty of the day. Far from it.

Perhaps it was the lack of sleep that made her irritable. Or it might have been her confusion. After all, she’d spent the first night of her marriage entirely alone. When she’d left the dining room after dinner, determined to return to her chambers and prepare herself for things she still had no notion of, she’d waited for hours. Seated first at her dressing table, then on the edge of her bed, and finally, she’d crawled beneath the covers as the candle on her bedside table burned down to little more than a nub. And her husband had never materialized.

She had thought that, based on what he’d said prior to their wedding, that theirs would be a real marriage. And perhaps it was nothing more than wishful thinking on her part, but she had believed that he found more appealing about her than simply the fortune she brought with her. But perhaps that was not the case. Did he revile her? Did he wish she were thinner or plumper or taller? Was there something about her appearance that displeased him? Something in the nature of her character that made her less than ideal for him as a bride?

Tears threatened. They burned behind her eyes and her throat ached from the efforts of holding back a sob. It was one thing to bear the indignity of her family’s disapproval for so long. In many ways, she’d grown numb to it. But for someone she barely knew to see so little of note in her, well, that stung her already battered pride.

She had been spared a terrible marriage to Edmund, a marriage where she would have lived under the rule of his vile and wretched mother and where he would have daily made her bear the brunt of his resentment because she was not Coraline. But had she only been spared that fate to find herself married to another man who detested her?

At that moment, Lucy entered the chamber. “Good morning, my lady. Your husband is downstairs for breakfast so I thought it a reasonable time to intrude.”

“What’s reasonable about it?”

Lucy blushed. “Well, I only meant that I knew I would not be interrupting.”

“There’s nothing to interrupt,” Madeline cried. “Lucy, why would my husband, on our wedding night, choose to sleep elsewhere? He never came to my bed, nor did he summon me to his. Have I made a terrible mistake?”

Lucy’s blush faded as her face paled.

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