Page 85 of The Consolation Prize

“You have the loveliest mouth, Una. I’ve thought so many times, and this is the first time it has occurred to me to tell you so.” He stroked her mouth with his thumb. “It’s this bottom lip that’s the culprit. It’s so full and plump and distracting.” Una laughed, but ended on a wince. “What is it?” he asked quickly.

She was forced then to admit to the scratches at her waist from the knife point. Many exclamations followed and Armand was roused to fetch a washing cloth and minister to it tenderly.

“It’s nothing,” Una protested, but Armand would not be consoled and desperate to distract him, she was forced to cast about for a change of subject.

“You did say it to me once before,” she confessed. “That you found me beautiful, I mean.”

He lifted his face from his solemn contemplation of the series of tiny red crisscrosses against her skin. “I did?”

“On our wedding night.”

She had caught his attention now. “Tell me.”

“You lifted your head off the pillow and said, ‘How did you make yourself beautiful?’ ” Una recalled as Armand flushed. “It was the nicest compliment anyone ever paid me,” she responded stoutly. “For you looked so surprised and sincere when you said it. It quite touched me.”

Armand was silent a moment. “Gods why am I so hopeless around you, wife?” he groaned at last, flinging away the cloth and stretching out beside her to adjust the pillows behind them. “I swear, my address is meant to be quite polished, but around you it deserts me completely!”

Una hid her smile against his shoulder. Strange to say, she quite liked that thought. “Maybe because for once, you are being genuine,” she teased. He did not look mollified, though one hand started to stroke up and down her thigh.

“Even drunk I must have noticed these long legs,” he murmured. “And how good they feel tangled with mine.”

“You like my legs?”

“Very much. I never appreciated tall women before you.” He squeezed her rear. “I noticed your nice plump thighs when I woke bleary-eyed the next morn, and your sweetly rounded backside. I was annoyed I could not remember our tryst.”

“Oh?” she was somewhat startled by this unexpected inventory of feminine charms. Why had she thought men appreciated things like dainty ankles and pretty hands, she wondered dazedly? Or perhaps Armand was just a different type of male.

“And I very nearly embarrassed myself at that first inn, when you bent over to wash in front of me.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “The only time I wasn’t attracted to you was on that balcony.” He frowned. “But that was only the get-up you were rigged out in. You didn’t really look like a woman. More like a ship.” Una gave a smothered laugh. “But if those strange garments meant you were preserved for me, then I guess they served their purpose,” he concluded with a sigh.

Una opened her mouth to agree, but he interrupted her. “You would tell me if you really weren’t recovered from what just happened, wouldn’t you, Una?” Before she could speak, he continued swiftly. “If you wanted us to remove from here, or if you would feel safer at court—”

“What? No!” she interrupted him quickly. “I love Lynwode above all places in the world! It’s my home.”

“Even if you wanted us to repair to Anninghurst for a while,” he started tentatively. “We could—”

“Anninghurst?” she objected. “Why would we? When Lynwode is superior in every way!”

“Anninghurst is surrounded by a moat,” he pointed out. “You might feel more secure there.”

“Armand,” Una adjusted herself beside him to face him full on. “Waleran was not in his right mind,” she said simply. “He couldn’t even rouse any followers to join him. He wanted us to fall to our deaths together as martyrs to the Blechmarsh cause.” Armand’s arms tightened about her, but she continued calmly. “We were never close, and he was not the spoiled young noble I remember, but a complete stranger.” She sighed. “Otho was always the best of my brothers, and thanks to you, I am blessed to have him in my life still.”

“Thanks to me?”

“Few husbands would tolerate so antagonistic a brother-in-law, at such close quarters.”

A brief smile touched his lips. “He’s a good steward, and truth to tell, I have grown used to having him about the place. I’m even growing quite fond of him.”

“Truly?” It was more than she’d hoped for.

“Yes,” he agreed. “Besides, even if I couldn’t stand him, I’d bear his company for your sake.”

“You see,” she told him encouragingly. “How truly considerate you are.”

He shrugged. “It’s still self-interest, Una. I mean to keep you contented by my side. That is all.”