Marriage - Married In Haste Part 39

her.

Tess took a step closer to the fire where he worked. "Lady Merton?" she prompted. "Wife of Lord Merton?"

Recognition did not appear in his eyes. Maybe Brenn was wrong and Pughe didn't speak English. Not knowing what else to do, Tess continued, "I am here because I need to hire help to work at Erwynn Keep." She took her list from her pocket.

If the man understood her, he gave no sign. His sons also watched with the same slack-jawed look.

Perhaps they were not right in the head?

She didn't know what to do. "I need a cook," she said, talking loudly and distinctly. "Cook?"

The man frowned.

Tess wanted to grind her teeth in irritation. "Lord Merton said you spoke English. Do you understand

me?"

Suddenly, he seemed to snap out of his lethargic state. "Good morning, my lord," he called in a lilting accent.

Tess turned. Brenn was walking down the road toward them. He looked exactly as he had when she'd

left him. He wore the same clothes, his neckcloth was tied in a devil-may-care manner, and he was hatless. He hadn't even bothered to shave.

"Good morning, Mr. Pughe," Brenn said. "You have met my wife."

"I have, my lord."

"You are seeing to her wishes?"

Mr. Pughe turned to Tess, his expression matching that of the most toad-eating courtier. "What is it poor Pughe can do for my lady today?"

Tess was about to tell him exactly what he could do with his silly acquiescence but she had a household to manage and no time for nonsense. "I wish to hire a cook and a maid. Are there girls in this village who

are suitable?"

"Aye, my lady, my daughter. She can do both."

Tess hadn't considered having one person doing both jobs but it made sense, especially while she was

living in the cottage. "Very well. Please send her up to the cottage."

"Yes, my lady."

"Also," she said, consulting her list, "I need a length of fabric. Something with a floral print. Where might

I find such a thing?"

"Floral what?" Pughe asked.

Too late Tess realized the silliness of talking to a blacksmith about fabric. "I'll discuss it with your

daughter."

"Very wise, my lady."

Tess gave Pughe a sharp glance, fearing she was being made fun of. His expression was completely

innocent-as was Brenn's.

She frowned. She would not be deterred from her new goal. She turned and took a step. While she had

been talking, it seemed as if the whole village had turned out. A dozen or so women, children, and a few men now stared at her with unabashed curiosity.

Brenn stepped forward. "This is my wife, Lady Merton," he said by way of general introduction and then

repeated it in Welsh. "Mae hi, Lady Merton."Some of the villagers gave her a shy smile. The children stared."How do you say 'h.e.l.lo' in Welsh?" she asked Brenn in a low voice."h.e.l.lo."She made a sound of exasperation, her gaze still on the villagers. "In Welsh.""Tess, there isn't a person in the world who doesn't understand the word 'h.e.l.lo.'""But I want to say something to them that they understand.""Try Bore da.""What does that mean?""Good morning."Tess smiled. "Bore da."The villagers looked at each other before a few repeated the greeting back to her. Several frowned.

Their silent criticism only served to make her determined to win them over. After all, hadn't she once

ruled London Society? She decided that she'd been brave enough about taking charge of her life for one day. "Please send your daughter to the cottage at the first opportunity," she said to Mr. Pughe and then began walking toward Ace. She decided that attempting to mount him again held too much potential for making her look foolish -not to mention hurting her backside. Instead, she untied his reins and started leading him to the bridge.Brenn fell into step beside her. "Aren't you going to get on the horse?""No.""I'd help you mount."Tess stiffened. Something hard and relentless built up inside of her. She hurried her step.He quickened his pace, his long legs easily able to keep up with her. "Tess, let's go back to the way we were."

She whirled on him then. They stood on the fairy bridge; the happy sound of the water on the rocks below mocked her. "I won't go back. You make it sound simple, but it isn't."

"It is simple."

"No, Brenn. I loved you. And although you never said so, I foolishly thought you loved me." The words

sounded naked in their honesty.

"I do," he declared.

For a second, she stood in indecision. A part of her wanted to grasp his words close and believe. But

another part, the part that had lived in the center of Society, that had seen how jaded men and women

could become, knew his declaration was empty."Ours is a business arrangement," she said. "Nothing more, nothing less." With a strength she didn'tknow she possessed, Tess jumped up and hooked her foot in the stirrup. Swinging onto Ace's back, shekicked the horse into a canter for home.

Brenn watched her ride away.

Something had happened to Tess.

She'd changed. Almost overnight. Gone was the girlishness. The blind trust. The naivete.

In its place was cynicism, but not defeat. Doubt, but not hopelessness.

In its place was a woman.

Even physically she seemed to have changed. Her eyes had lost their starriness. The set of her mouth had

become firmer.

This morning she had been still confused but she was growing stronger. She would in time become self-sufficient.

He no longer considered theirs a minor quarrel. Something valuable might have been irrevocably lost to

him forever. Something he had not recognized until he no longer had it.

He'd wasted her love. Budding, untried, innocent...regardless, it was no longer his.

He leaned over the railing of the fairy bridge. The water winding and bubbling over the stones below

laughed up at him.

Over the next three days Brenn banked the silver.

He rode to Swansea carrying bags of eating implements and returned a wealthy man. He was even glib enough to establish a line of credit with the bankers using the Italian doc.u.ments as collateral.

He also found a length of floral fabric for Tess. She thanked him politely enough. The color added warmth to the cottage.

But it did nothing to warm her heart toward him.

When her mother's furniture arrived, Tess stored most of it in the barn but moved a bed into the house and fixed up one of the empty rooms for his use.

Brenn didn't appreciate her thoughtfulness. He wanted to sleep with her. He missed her. He missed her warmth, the little sighs she made when she slept, even the feeling of her cold feet against his skin!

Once before he'd insisted she sleep with him and the ruse had worked...but Brenn wanted something different now. He wanted Tess to come of her free will.

As the days turned into weeks, he began to wonder if that would ever happen.

Work began on Erwynn Keep. He and Tess made a good team. She was in the process of learning Welsh. She had started before he'd returned home from Swansea. Banon Pughe, Cedric's oldest daughter and their cook, was her teacher.

Brenn hired more villagers to till fields and prepare for a fall harvest. He was a month late planting crops, but the villagers a.s.sured him he didn't need to worry. As the first green sprouts appeared, he began to believe they were right. It gave him great satisfaction to walk along his fields watching things grow.

Meanwhile, Erwynn Keep's pitted walls were quickly repaired. A team of roofers was hired and in two weeks' time, a new slate roof reflected the morning sun.

Tess continued to change. She blossomed with self-confidence and self-reliance. The darling of fas.h.i.+onable Society soon overcame her first impression and made herself the favorite of the village. She used skills honed on the dance floors of Almack's to win over everyone, even the laundry woman. A people known to be reticent around strangers quickly accepted her as their own.

She'd started the habit of wearing her flaming hair down and tied back with a simple piece of muslin. It was not unusual to hear her laughing at some joke a shepherd had made or even a comment from the sweaty Pughe. But she had no smiles for her husband.

Every day, first thing in the morning, she wrote in her copybook. Brenn peeked in it once. She'd written about him only during those euphoric first days of their marriage, before they'd truly known each other. After their sharing of secrets, she had started writing about the land, the p.r.o.nunciation of Welsh words, making observations about daily life. He leafed through several pages and found the following pa.s.sage: At one time, I'd thought Brenn had everything I needed in the world to be happy. Now I know I must find happiness in myself.

It was dated only a week earlier.

He sat quiet for a long time, thinking.

In the first weeks, he'd selfishly hoped that his seed had taken root inside her, that she would bear his child...but that was not to be. It made him angry that she could be so indifferent to him-but she hadn't always been so.

He reread the words in her copybook.

If at one time he'd made her happy, he could do it again. But his present plan of waiting for her to cometo her senses was not working.He wanted his wife back. He knew how to fight in battle, but how did one fight for his wife's affections?And then the answer came to him. It was so simple, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before.