“Pray, do not stop. Tell me more of this bride you have secured for me.”
She didn’t seem to catch his sarcasm. “She’s exactly what you want. She isn’t outspoken or independent. She’ll never defy you or even question you. Or argue. Or chatter.” Celine tucked in her chin. “And she agreed to wait.”
Gaston exhaled a sharp sound of disbelief. “This I must hear. How in the name of God did you persuade her?”
“It wasn’t all that difficult. I ... I told her ...” She looked up at him, and even in the gathering shadows he could see tears glistening in those stormy eyes he had come to know so well. “I told her that you don’t deserve the reputation people have given you. I told her that you’re ... a good man, and noble and compassionate and kind and—”
“You should not have lied.”
A peal of thunder roared overhead, and the rain began to fall, a gentle patter. “I didn’t lie.” She looked away from him, shaking. “I told her that despite your ... th-that beneath your ...” She raised a trembling hand to wipe the moisture from her cheeks, staring down into the fire, the flames hissing and steaming in the drizzle. “I told her that if she could look beneath that tough exterior, she would find a man worthy of all the love she had to give.”
Gaston felt like a rope had been closing around his throat all day, and her words had just tightened it one final notch, choking off what was left of his life. Words failed him. Strength failed him. He could not even raise his hood to ward off the rain. He struggled to regain the power of speech, fought the fate that was being forced upon him. “And if I do not wish to—”
“She’s perfect for you,” Celine said quietly. “She’ll make you happy. She’s everything you want in a wife.” With a pained little smile, she added, almost to herself, “I’ll bet she even plays backgammon.”
The anguish in her voice matched the feeling in him, a rending that left him numb and powerless, an unfamiliar, vulnerable sensation that sent him off-balance. Which made him angry. “Celine—”
“Sorry, I forgot you don’t know what that word means. Try ‘playing tables.’ Your favorite game. Avril showed me what it was.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I never really had a chance to ask you about that, not that it makes any difference now, but just out of curiosity, tell me—the whole time you were misleading me about what ‘playing tables’ meant, were you laughing at me behind my back?”
“Nay!” His anger slipped its tether at her bitter accusation. “I allowed you to believe what you wished to believe.”
Her gaze snapped up to meet his. “Spare me. There’s no need for us to be dishonest with each other, Gaston. Not anymore. Just so I don’t go home with any foolish, naive notions and spend the rest of my life wondering about how you really felt, I’d like to hear you say it. Just once. Tell me the truth. All I’ve ever been to you is an annoyance, or an amusement.” Her back stiffened and her eyes narrowed. “Or a one-night stand. Do you want me to define that for you?”
He pierced his maddening wife with a stare. She was doing this to him apurpose, making him admit what he did not want to admit. He spoke through gritted teeth. “I allowed you to believe what you wished because it made it easier, that is all. There is no time to waste on this foolishness. Though it may have escaped your attention, I am attempting to save your life.” He turned away, heading toward the spot where Pharaon grazed in the clearing.
“Made what easier?”
“I do not wish to discuss it.”
“Made what easier?”
He spun on his heel. “Made it easier to convince myself that you mean naught to me!”
She gaped at him. That clearly was not what she had expected him to say at all.
“You wished the truth, milady? That is the truth.” He was breathing hard. “I did not correct you about the meaning of ‘playing tables’ because I did not wish you to know that there have been no other women since I met you. I tried to use the game to distract my thoughts, but it was of no use. You are all that I could think of. I have bedded no other woman since we said our vows.” His voice roughened. “Because I wanted no other as I want you.”
“B-but ... “ she stuttered, pushing herself to her feet and wiping her wet hair out of her eyes. “But that’s not true! What about the day you followed me into the forest? You told me you had planned to spend the morning with several females.”
“Hunting falcons.”