Love's Patient Fury (The Deverell Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

with me? If he compromised her, by God...”
    “She told me nothing,” Rhea assured smoothly over his tirade. She secured her needle in her tambour and rose from her chair. “I should check on Merry. She was less distressed when I left her, but she is very distraught by all that happened today.” She dropped a kiss on Lucien’s stiff lips. “You, my love, had best be in a better humor when I return. I will not have your temper ruining this happy day.”
    “Happy day.” That was repeated on a low growl.
    At the door, Rhea looked back at her scowling husband. “There is no point in arguing with you about this. You will see in the coming days there is no reason for your concern. Annulling this marriage is not a wise course for any of us.”
    Rhea passed through the door before Lucien could bite off a response to that. Stepping into Merry’s bedroom she found her daughter’s bed tussled and empty. It was the wee hour of the night and her daughter was gone from her room. It was no mystery to Rhea where her daughter could be found.
    Rhea returned to her bedchamber. Climbing beneath the covers beside Lucien, she snuggled into his warmth as his arm slipped around her.
    “Is she all right?” His voice was still tense, but there was worry in it as well.
    “She is well, Lucien,” Rhea assured. “She is well and where she should be. Go to sleep, my love. It has been a long day.” She kissed his lightly furred chest. “I love you, Lucien.”
    Lucien gently pulled Rhea’s tiny body atop of him. “Enough words, Rhea. Show me.”
     

CHAPTER TWO
    Merry tossed in her bed noting the chimes on her clock marked only twelve. It felt like she had been laying here a century. She was wide awake, her body limp with exhaustion and restless at once. It was torturous, the feeling of empty sheets and covers, no longer that flesh and warmth beside her.
    Where was Varian? They had not slept apart for months. The solitary bed was even worse than lying beside him ignored during the journey from London to Cornwall. Why had pride and bitterness goaded her to speak rashly to her mother? She could have saved her pride by having her mother fix this. It was not better to be apart from Varian. It was worse.
    Hating the anxiousness of her flesh and the never ending churn in her stomach, she knew she had no one to blame but herself for this misery. It would have been better to sleep next to Varian, hurt, than to be unable to sleep without him, hurt. It had been less than half a day without him and she was already hungry to be with him. There was comfort in being close to him. There was misery in being close to him. There was greater misery without him.
    Her father had separated them shortly before dinner and she had not seen Varian again, not even in the dining parlor. What a misery that had been. Everyone anxious and uncertain. Her mother had pretended happiness, and her father was in full stiff-neck fury. The tension had been palpable. She still didn’t know what had gone on between her father and Varian in the study. For all she knew, her father had sent Varian packing.
    Merry turned onto her side and fixed her eyes on the empty space beside her. She sat up. She climbed from her bed. Looking down at her gown, she debated changing it.
    She was dressed in a shapeless nightdress, prim and proper ruffles, and maidenly white. Varian would most probably be amused by it.  It looked like her body had been swallowed up by a circus tent. It had belonged to the girl she had been before Varian, because the nightgowns in her lavish new wardrobe had shocked Netta. Not wanting to stir any more speculation about them, Merry had pulled the circus tent on and gone obediently to bed at half passed ten.
    Opening her door, she looked into the hall. Empty. So, where did they put her husband? What would her father do with him?
    She started down the long corridor and knew in an instant. The blue suit by Uncle Andrew. It was the farthest room from her, but still in