Page 46 of Harpy of the Ton
“Usually?”
He grinned once more and flicked his tongue out to lick his lips. “Sometimes, when we’re alone, you call me sir—ormaster.”
She suppressed a shudder.
“You’re abeast.”
He laughed, and she fought the urge to slap the crudeness from him. “Beast I may be, love, but I’m your husband, and there’s been enough nonsense for one day. If you catch a chill, I’ve not the time to tend to you and the children, so it’s best if you do as I bid.”
Whatdid he say?
“Ch-children?”
“Aye, that’s right. Perhaps you’ll remember your children, if not your husband.”
“I havechildren?”
“Yes, love.”
“H-how many?”
“Why don’t we keep the questions until we get you home?”
“So, a wife’s supposed to be silent while the men around her discuss her and her fate? How beastly!”
Rather than the flare of anger she’d expected, he merely chuckled.
“You’ll see, Bella my love,” he said. “You’ll see.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sweet heaven—this wasa nightmare.
Before her stood—ifstandingwere an appropriate term for something that looked as if it might blow over at any moment—what could only be described as a hovel.
A squalid little place with windows caked in dirt, rotting timber, a chimney that leaned sideways, and a gate falling off the hinges.
And she was expected to live inthat?
She glanced about, summoning a grain of hope that the building before her was a stable, or a gatehouse, and that the main dwelling was further along the track.
But there were no other buildings.
The only saving grace was the garden surrounding the building—a neatly trimmed lawn, borders filled with shrubs surrounded with fresh earth, as if they had just been planted…
She caught her breath at the flash of a memory—or perhaps a dream—of a man, stripped to the waist, sweat glistening on his bronzed body while he drove a shovel into the earth.
“Bella?”
A huge hand caught hers. Instinct drove her to curl her fingers around his and her fingertips over the callouses on his palm—the evidence of hard toil. A primal urge flared before she bit her lip to suppress it.
Whatever or whoever she might be, she wasnota wanton.
He gestured toward the building. “What do you think? I’ve made a lot of improvements.”
“You mean—it was onceworsethan this?”
“Don’t say that, love. It’s better than our last home. Don’t you remember?”
