Page 13 of Her Baseborn Bridegroom

She stared at him in consternation. “You have no confidence in my accounts?” she asked slowly.

“I have no confidence in those that furnished you with its contents,” he corrected her.

“Oh.” She looked crestfallen. “I assure you . . . ”

“It’s not your sums I doubt.”

She swallowed. “You think . . . ”

“Let us see on the morrow.”

“Very well.” She all but whispered the words.

“Shall we back to bed?” he asked heavily. “It’s been a long day for both of us.”

“Indeed it has,” she agreed, almost in a whisper.

The bed had been discreetly remade as they ate their supper.

“I’ve dismissed the servant,” he admitted gruffly. “Do you need help to undress?”

She balked a little at this. “I’m sure I can manage as the dress is front fastening,” she pointed out, gesturing to her laces.

They both undressed speedily, and Linnet climbed under the covers as Mason banked up the fire. She snuffed the candles, plunging her side of the room into darkness. He followed suit a few moments later, and after a moment’s hesitation he put out the candles on his side of the room. Although he had felt tired, as soon as he lay on his back in the darkness, sleep simply refused to come. Linnet lay as still as a corpse and was throwing off about the same amount of heat. He wondered briefly if she really did have a circulation problem. He suspected she wasn’t asleep either. At least she had known that morning that she would be wed, he thought. He was still adjusting to the idea. A faint rustle alerted him to the fact she had turned on her side. He flung a pillow out of the bed in an attempt to get comfortable and she sat bolt upright.

“Wha—?” Her panicked voice rang out.

“That was me,” he said in a low voice. “Were you asleep?”

She sighed with relief. “For a minute I thought someone else was in the room,” she whispered.

His lips quirked into a smile. “Do you normally sleep alone?” he asked.

“Of course,” she whispered back, sounding faintly scandalized.

“I meant, I don’t know, a nursemaid or a female cousin or something?”

“I’m not in the nursery!” she hissed back.

This time he laughed at her chagrin.

“Are you teasing me?” she asked suspiciously.

He shook his head slightly even though she couldn’t see him.

“What about you?” she asked after a moment’s pause. “Don’t you sleep alone?”

“I rarely have that luxury,” he answered drily. “I’ve been in the battlefield. Remember?”

“Oh . . . do you . . . do you have to sleep surrounded by your men?” she asked curiously.

“Yes,” he answered shortly. It wasn’t something he relished.

“That must be strange. I can’t imagine sleeping surrounded by the household staff.” He felt her wriggle around a moment. “In truth, I’d hardly met any of them before today.”

He suspected as much. “Who had you met?”

“Cuthbert. He is my own personal page.” She fidgeted a moment. “I have not seen him since we came thither.”