Page 55 of An Ill-Made Match

**

Eden woke on a gasp. She’d been under water. She flailed a moment in confusion, still half-asleep, before she noticed half of her was pinned underneath a big male. Roland Vawdrey was lay across her lower body. His face was buried in her stomach, his arms wrapped around her waist. She blinked down at him in consternation a moment, before the memories of the previous evening set in.

Roland Vawdrey must think himself married to a hysteric as well as a liar, she thought bleakly, after the tearful scene she subjected him to last night. She turned first hot then cold all over. What a contemptible mess. She felt heartily ashamed of her emotional outburst. What on earth had come over her? It just wasn’t like her to act in such a way. And really, she had no cause. Roland Vawdrey was not her friend. He was not her confidant. He was just someone that was trapped in this travesty of a marriage along with her.

In reality, she should be relieved that he had realized it was all her fault, she thought resignedly. Because she must have done everything he had accused her of. The fact she had been asleep when she had done it made very little material difference. What astonished her the most was that he must have thought this of her all along. It was extraordinary. He must despise her, have thought her character the lowest of the low. Yet he had not shown any discernible anger or resentment toward her. He had not flung blame in her face even once. She was frankly astonished by how magnanimously he had acted toward her all this time. When you consider he believed himself to have been duped at the outset, it was nothing short of miraculous.

Eden lay staring up at the plain wooden roof of the box-bed, feeling numb. This was to be her lot in life. Married to a man who thought her a schemer and a fraud. She closed her burning eyes again briefly. At least she had no tears left to cry. All would be well, she told herself firmly, once she managed to get back to court. Once back as part of the Queen’s inner circle, she would be back on firm ground again, and sure of her step. In the past, she had even had occasion previously to sleep on a truckle bed in the Queen’s dressing room. There may be no need for her return to her husband’s quarters at all, she thought perking up. He could hardly insist. Not when it was by royal appointment. Feeling him stir, she stiffened as he rubbed his brow against her stomach, then exhaled noisily. Was he awake?

“It can’t be morning yet,” he groaned, his words tickling her skin. “I’ve barely slept a wink.”

Eden held her tongue, wondering if she could slither out from under him, but his arms seemed to tighten on her, as if he’d heard her thoughts.

“If you’re awake now,” she said coolly. “Perhaps you’ll permit me to rise.”

He murmured something disparaging, that she couldn’t quite make out. “Back to this again, are we?” he asked, raising her head and looking up at her blearily. “As it’s your fault I’m so damnably tired, the least you can do is let me use you for a pillow.”

“My fault?” Eden blurted, before she could stop herself. Was he saying he had trouble sleeping after their altercation?

“Aye, yours wife!” he said belligerently. “Who else would be kicking at me, and trying to climb over me in the night?” Eden gasped. “You’re like a little eel, wriggling about.”

Without thinking, she answered tightly, “I can’t control my impulses when I’m asleep.” Of course, she thought afterward, he was wholly unaware of the magnitude of what she’d just imparted.

“You don’t need to tell me that!” Roland grumbled. “I’m thinking this box bed is a damned good idea for you. At least you can’t seem to find your way out of it.”

There was something in that, she thought. “My sleep is only disturbed in times of … upset,” she said dismissively. “It’ll pass. Can you please let me up?” She felt him turn his head and lay his cheek against her stomach, but gave no other sign of having heard her request. She was just wondering how to insist, when he murmured.

“This bed is too hard.”

Eden sucked in a breath. “Personally, I think Cuthbert did an admirable job with the materials at hand. The mattress is fine.” She paused. “I fancy tis the choice of bedfellow that vexes you rather than the bedding.”

He raised his head at that. “I’ve got no complaints on that score,” he said dismissively. “You can put that out of your head.”

She gave a short laugh. “You can scarcely expect me to believe that.”

His eyebrows rose, and his gaze narrowed. “And why the hells not?” he asked coolly.

“Because of your opinion of me!” she huffed. “My gods, I am astonished that you even thought to bring me home with you. I wouldn’t have, in your position.”

Roland snorted. Then abruptly, he levered himself off her, and hauled her down the mattress, until he loomed over her. His hands at her waist, anchored her beneath him.

His eyes roamed over her at leisure and Eden felt herself grow hot and bothered. “While it’s true I’ve never previously admired resourcefulness in a woman,” he said thoughtfully. “I find I’m not too angry that you decided to win me.”

Eden gaped at him. “I beg your pardon?” she spluttered.

“You heard me, wife.”

“Of all the egotistical…” Eden broke off distractedly. Resourceful? She stared at him as if unable to believe her own ears. “You astonish me!”

“I’m sure,” he said, running his forefinger across her collar bone. “That’s only fair, seeing as you astonish me too.” Eden gulped. What was that expression on his face? “I think Baxter may be partly right, and you’ve bewitched me,” he said huskily.

“Baxter’s mad,” she pointed out, wishing her own voice didn’t sound so breathy. “And so are you if you think that.”

“I don’t know,” he replied softly. The direction his finger brushed against her changed, and Eden swallowed. “Round these parts all the faery maidens are reputed to look like you. Black locks, soft skin as pale as milk,” he said. “And eyes like jewels, that bewitch a man.”

Eden frowned. Eyes like jewels? He made her sound much more alluring than she knew herself to be. “No-one has ever thought me bewitching before.”

“Maybe you’ve only just come into your powers?”