Page 27 of Miss Vincent’s Vow

Jethro’s expression hardened. “She was gossiping with the chambermaid.”

Cassandra blinked hard and then again. “You dismissed her because you caught her chattering? Surely, a warning would have been more appropriate. If you had told me, I could have cautioned her and given her a chance to change. Wouldn’t that be a more Christian approach?”

Her words clearly made Jethro uncomfortable. He refused to meet her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it. Suffice it to say, I had a reason for letting her go.”

A reason that Cassandra was determined to find out.

“Please, tell me. I wish to understand what she did that required you to intervene, to dismiss my servant.”

He raised his gaze to hers, and Cassandra watched the struggle going on behind his eyes. Was it so unusual for anyone to challenge him?

At length, he spoke. “She was gossiping about you—about us.”

“And?”

The colour rose in Jethro’s cheeks, but Cassandra did not drop her gaze. Just what had the girl said?

“Very well. If you are determined to know, I will tell you. She hinted we had married in a rush because we needed to.”

She said what? No wonder Jethro had been so reluctant to tell her. To judge from the way heat coursed up her neck and into her cheeks, Cassandra supposed she must look as flushed as her husband.

With an effort, she overcame her embarrassment for one final attempt to defend her maid. However much the girl’s words upset her, she knew they hurt more because of the ludicrousness of the accusation, as Jethro had not come near her bedchamber—before or after their marriage.

“Please give her another chance. Encourage her to repent of her folly and refrain from gossiping in the future.”

The tightness around Jethro’s mouth did not relax. “She will learn the lesson far quicker by her dismissal. You may write her a reference if you feel she deserves it, but she cannot stay here. I will not have such disloyalty in my house.”

He held out his arm to her. “Shall we go into dinner?”

Cassandra wilted under the severity of his tone. She had pleaded with him to reinstate Sally, but she had failed. It seemed her opinion meant nothing.

The man was insufferable. Not only was he spying on her, but he had refused to listen to her plea.

To think she had defended him, refusing to admit to her sister it had been a mistake to marry him.

She swallowed her chagrin and took his proffered arm, though she had no wish to feel it beneath her own.

As she did so, she said a silent prayer. God, give me grace to love this stubborn, opinionated man that I’ve married.

It was a desperate plea, and she wondered whether there was any hope of her prayer being answered.

Chapter 14

Dinner was a painful affair. Jethro’s temper simmered just below the surface, and the strain of keeping it under control left him in no mood to converse with his ungrateful wife.

How dare she question his actions? The maid’s talk had been unforgiveable, and yet Cassandra—his wife, who had promised to obey him—had presumed to suggest he had acted harshly.

His employees never questioned his decisions. Crowley made suggestions, but when a thing was decided, it was fixed. Immutable. But they had not vowed to submit to him, and he could dismiss them if they disobeyed his orders.

Jethro would not alter his decision to dismiss the maid just because his wife was more sympathetic than he was.

He had been acting in her interests. Why couldn’t she see that? Such gossip over their marriage could take a long time to stamp out, and he didn’t want Cassandra to get hurt, as she undoubtedly would, if such rumours spread.

Jethro was relieved when the meal was over. The silence was becoming oppressive.

As they rose from the table, an unwelcome thought nagged at him. He should not let the sun go down on his anger. Humph. It was his duty as the head of the household to make peace with his wife.

If Cassandra would not break the silence, he supposed he must.