Page 60 of The Knight Who Loved Me
Margery winced. “Oh, James.”
“Forgive me, sweetheart, but you asked.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Where?” he said examining his hands and legs. There was a tiny cut across one thigh. “She has good aim.”
“But your wife tried to stab you…there!”
“What’s a little bloodletting between married people?” he asked, giving her a rakish grin.
“You are not fooling me, James Markham. What is going on? I hear rumors you’ve married some wild woman, and I think they can’t possibly be true. But when I arrive, you’re trying to kill each other!”
“She wasn’t trying to kill me, just to work out some frustration.”
“Why should she be frustrated? She’s married to you, she’s wealthy?—”
“She’s miserable. She’s doing her best to humiliate me.”
“Why?” Margery asked in confusion.
He sighed. “Revenge.”
“Revenge? Is that why she robbed you?”
“Well, she hardly needed the money—although I don’t think she yet realizes what a grand heiress she truly is.” He explained the feud between their two families, and the obsession of the Earl of Mansfield.
Margery gaped at him. “I cannot believe that man raised his daughter to kill you.”
“She was his only child. I don’t think she ever had a friend, besides the knights and squires she trained with. I’m fostering the squire who helped her attack me.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“No, he has nothing against me. He was only loyally trying to help his mistress. And I didn’t want to separate them. I have a hard enough time imagining how she grew up, let alone depriving her of her only friend in the world.”
“But James, don’t you worry she’ll try to harm you? When I talked to her earlier, she was very upset.”
“What did she say?”
Margery shook her head. “The words aren’t as important as the fact that she is miserably unhappy. I feel sorry for her.”
“You don’t feel sorry for me?” he teased.
She didn’t smile. “James, you have to talk to her, to come to some kind of compromise.”
His good humor faded. “Do not interfere. You know nothing about what’s going on in my marriage.”
“I want to know,” she said softly. “I want to help. You’re both so unhappy.”
“Listen to you, the expert on marriage,” he said, forcing a light tone. “Does this mean you’re ready to discuss a betrothal?”
She put up her hands. “You’re changing the subject.”
“People think I’m a fool to give you so much say in your future. There have certainly been enough marriageable men asking my permission to court you.” He suddenly paused. “Margery, is there a chance that my unusual marriage will interfere with your prospects?”
She hesitated, and that was enough for James. He swore softly.
Margery sighed and looked into the fire. “James, you’re wrong. What man would care who my brother was married to?”
