Rogan’s confusion showed on his handsome face. “Iolanthe is a bitch. I’m sure she’s the one who planned this.” He motioned to the locked door.
“Why? In an attempt to get me to forgive you for telling me before your men that I was hideously ugly?”
Rogan sat up, his mouth dropping open. “I never said any such thing.”
“You did! You said you married me for my money, not for my advice or my beauty.”
Rogan’s confusion deepened. “I only spoke the truth. I didn’t even see you before the wedding, except when I didn’t know who you were, so how could I have married you for anything besides money?”
Liana could feel tears of frustration coming to her eyes. “I married you because I thought you…that you desired me. You kissed me when you didn’t know I had any money.”
Rogan had never made an effort to understand the female mind and now he knew why. “I also kissed you when I knew you were rich.” His voice was rising as he got out of bed and leaned over her. “I kissed you after you interfered between me and the peasants. I kissed you after you wheedled me into seeing a play that made me look like a fool. I kissed you—”
“Because I’m your wife and for no other reason,” she said. “You told everyone you thought I was ugly. Maybe I’m not as beautiful as Iolanthe or as pretty as your first wife, but there are some men who’ve said I was quite pleasing to look at.”
Rogan threw up his hands in exasperation. “You’re not bad when you’re not sniveling.”
Liana started to cry in earnest at that. She lay down in bed, her knees drawn up, and cried so hard her shoulders shook.
As Rogan looked down at her, at first he felt nothing but anger. She was accusing him of something, but he wasn’t sure what. She was making it seem that he was in the wrong for what he’d said. He had merely told the truth and he had said it to keep her from stepping between him and his men. What in the world did his words have to do with her looks? And desire?
Hadn’t he just proved this morning that he desired her? And damnation, he hadn’t touched another woman in two whole weeks. Two long, long weeks!
He knew he had every right to be angry with her. He should be the one being comforted, but as he watched her cry, he felt something inside himself soften. When he was a boy he’d cried just as she was doing now and his big brothers had kicked him and laughed at him.
He sat on the bed by her head. “Tell me…what’s wrong,” he said hesitantly, feeling awkward and embarrassed.
She didn’t answer but just cried harder.
After a moment he lifted her and pulled her onto his lap and held her close. Her tears wet his shoulder as he stroked her hair away from her face. “What’s wrong?” he asked again.
“You think I’m ugly. I’m not beautiful like you or Severn or Zared or Iolanthe, but the jongleurs have written poems to my beauty.”
Rogan started to say that for money anyone would do anything, but he wisely caught himself. “Not as beautiful as me, eh? Or Severn? I might agree with you about me, but we own pigs better-looking than Severn.”
“Better-looking than me, too, no doubt,” she cried anew.
“I think you’re prettier now than when I first saw you.”
Liana sniffed and lifted her head to look at him. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.” He smoothed her hair back. “When I saw you at the church, I thought you were a pale little rabbit and I couldn’t tell you from the other women. But now…” He looked in her eyes. “Now I find you quite pleasant to look at. I have…thought about you these past weeks.”
“I have thought about you every minute of every day.” She clutched him to her. “Oh, Rogan, tell me anything about me, tell me I’m stupid, tell me that I’m a great nuisance and a bother, but please don’t tell me I’m ugly.”
He held her close. “You should never tell your secrets to a person. They’ll use them against you.”
“But I trust you.”
Rogan couldn’t help but feel that her trust was a burden and a responsibility. He held her away from him. “I will tell you that you are the most beautiful of women if you will not unman me before my men.”
It was Liana’s turn to be shocked. “Me? Never would I do such a thing. Never!”
“You countermanded my orders for the peasants.”
“Yes, but you were flogging innocent people.”
“You tried to burn me in my bed.”