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underestimate Jane. Beneath that mild, pleasant
    exterior beat the heart of a tenacious warrior. He would do well
    not to forget that in future.
    «But it is still my money. And as far as I remember, what’s
    yours is mine and what’s mine I keep. Isn’t that how marriage
    works?»
    «I believe it is.» She regarded him steadily for a long moment.
    «I’m not taking a single thing back, Blaize. Either allow me to pay
    the bills or pay them yourself. If marriage truly is about you
    owning me, and all my money is yours, then those debts are your
    responsibility, whether you use my money to pay them off or
    your own.»
    «I don’t believe it works like that. I decide which bills to pay,
    not you. Everything will be returned and your account canceled.»
    He held her gaze. «And seeing as you intended to use the
    allowance I gave you to pay your debts, some might say you did
    earn that money on your back after all.»
    She drew in a ragged breath. «Sometimes I don’t like you at
    all, Blaize.»
    «Good. Perhaps you should remember that and go home.»
    She turned on her heel and left his study. He frowned after
    her. It wasn’t like Jane to give up so easily. Had he really
    frightened her off or had she gone to find a pistol to shoot him
    with as he had suggested? He kept his seat, strained to hear her
    returning, sat back and pretended to be examining some
    correspondence when she reentered.
    «Here you are.» He tried not to flinch as she dropped a leather
    bag on his desk with a thump. «My money.»
    34 / Kate Pearce

    He stared at the leather sack, watched as she upended it and
    sovereigns poured all over his desk. Some rolled to the edge and
    down to the floor below.
    «If I was supposed to earn this on my back, I owe you, don’t
    I? You haven’t been near my bed for seven years. I’d hate to take
    something I didn’t deserve.»
    Minshom said nothing, just focused on the coins and her left
    hand that she’d planted on his desk. Her fingers were ringless.
    He studied the faint indentations on two of her fingers.
    «Where are the rings I bought you?»
    She snatched her hand away from under his nose. «Do you
    think I’ve pawned them?»
    «Perhaps.»
    «They are upstairs in my jewelry box. Would you like me to
    fetch it so you can rummage through and check your property is
    all there?» She headed for the door, looked back at him and
    curtsied. «I’m going out now. Perhaps I’ll see you at dinner.»
    Minshom stared at the bills and the money scattered over his
    desk. If she thought he was going to change his mind, she was
    mistaken. Her foolish attempt to shame him into giving her what
    she wanted was doomed. He had no reason to be guilty at all.
    He started to gather up the money, calculating as he went,
    surprised at the quantity of coin his wife had amassed. Once the
    coins were all safely in their bag, he took out his ledger, found a
    clean page and entered the amount on the first line with Jane’s
    name alongside it.
    He watched the ink dry, aware of an unusual sense of unease,
    as if someone had prodded his long dormant conscience. He
    jammed his pen back into the inkwell and slammed the book
    shut. Damnation, he was within his rights to take her money.
    Apart from the pitiful amount settled on her by her family in the
    marriage settlement, legally everything else she had belonged to
    him.
    SIMPLY INSATIABLE / 35
    And he had to get rid of her. She’d been here for more than a
    week and she unsettled him with her inability to listen to reason,
    to bow to his will like everyone else did, to leave. In truth, he was
    almost obliged to use any ammunition he could to get her to
    leave him in peace.
    No doubt she’d be back when she realized he wasn’t going to
    change his mind. He deposited the coins in a drawer and locked
    it. And when she came back, perhaps he could use the lure of a
    new wardrobe to finally send her packing.
    «He is insufferable!» Jane fumed as she sat opposite Emily in
    the luxurious