Slowly, he turned to face her, his lids heavy with fatigue. “I slept for a moment,” he said softly.
She smiled at his closed eyes and stroked the hair at his temple. His lashes were thick, his nose finely cut, his skin dark and warm and as finely pored as a baby’s. His cheeks were stained dark with unshaven whiskers, but they didn’t take away from the relaxed softness of his mouth.
Her finger moved from his temple and down his cheek to his lips. When she touched his lower lip, his eyes sprang open and the greenness of them was startling. Now he will kiss me, she thought, and for a moment she held her breath as he looked at her.
“A blonde,” he murmured.
Liana smiled at him since her hair color seemed to please him. She put up her hand to pull off her headdress and all three feet of her hair cascaded out. “I wanted to save it for you,” she whispered. “I hoped you would like it.”
He picked up a strand of the fine, golden hair and curled it about his fingers. “It’s—”
He halted in mid-sentence and all softness left his face. Immediately he got off of her and stood, glaring down at her. “Cover yourself and go to that hellion of a stepmother of yours and tell her the marriage is consummated. Tell her there will be no annulment. And you can ready yourself, for we leave here tonight.”
Liana pushed her skirts down over her bare legs and sat up on the bed. “Tonight? But the marriage celebration goes on for two more days. Tomorrow I have planned dancing and—”
Rogan hastily straightened his clothes. “I have no time for dancing, and I have no time for back-talking wives. If this is how you plan to start, then you can stay here with your father and I will take the goods with me. My men and I leave in three hours’ time. Be there or not, it doesn’t matter to me.” He turned and left the room, closing the door loudly behind him.
Liana sat where she was, too stunned to move. He would leave her behind!
There was a soft knock on the door, then Joice entered. “My lady?” she said.
Liana looked up at her maid, all her puzzlement showing in her eyes. “He leaves here in three hours and he says I may go with him or not. He doesn’t care one way or the other.”
Joice sat down on the bed and took Liana’s hand. “He thinks he does not need a wife. All men think that. It is up to you to prove to him that he does need a wife by his side.”
Liana pulled away from her maid, and when she moved her legs, she felt pain. “He hurt me.”
“It’s always like that the first time.”
Liana stood and anger began to race through her. “I have never been treated like this before. He did not bother to even come to his own wedding feast. I had to sit there and endure the stares and smiles from the people. And this!” She glanced down at her skirt. “I may as well have been raped. I’ll let him know who he’s dealing with.” She had her hand on the door latch when Joice’s words stopped her.
“And he will look at you with hatred as he looked at Lady Helen.”
Liana turned back.
“You saw how he despised her,” Joice continued, and suddenly felt very powerful. Her young charge might be beautiful and rich, but she was listening to and obeying Joice. “Believe me, I know what men like Lord Rogan want. He will hate you just as he does her if you defy him.”
Liana rubbed the fingers of her right hand together. She could still feel his hair against her skin and she remembered that, for a moment, there had been softness in his eyes. She did not want to take that away. “What do I do?” she whispered.
“Obey him,” Joice said firmly. “Be ready in three hours. Lady Helen will no doubt protest your leaving, but stand with your husband against her. I have told you how men want loyalty from their wives.”
“Blind loyalty?” Liana asked. “Even now, when he is wrong?”
“Most especially when he is wrong.”
Liana listened to this, but still she didn’t understand.
Seeing that her young mistress was still confused, Joice continued. “Swallow your anger. All married women feed on anger that they keep to themselves. You will see. You will learn to swallow so much anger that it will become a way of living to you.”
Liana started to say something, but Joice cut her off.
“Go and get ready now or he will leave you.”
Feeling very confused, Liana hurried out of the room. She was going to do whatever she could to prove to this man that she could be a good wife, and if it meant repressing her rage, then so be it. She’d show him that she could be the most loyal of wives.
As Lord Rogan went down the stone steps, a frown on his handsome face, the first person he met was Lady Helen. “The deed is done,” he said to her. “There will be no annulment. If there is anything to be added to the wagons, then do it, for we leave in three hours’ time.” He started past her, but Helen put herself in front of him.
“You will take my stepdaughter away from her own wedding feast?”