Page 88 of An Inconvenient Vow

“Who?”

“The one who came before me!” he bit out with loathing. “Hendry.”

He was asking her if Miles had courted her with a passion that burned out? “Hardly!” Sabina spluttered. “Miles married me for convenience, and I found out afterward I was not even his first choice. He courted me with empty words, which I have no doubt he used a dozen times before me and after me. He did not think me anything special and, given time, neither will you!” The last few words choked her, and she turned away, to gaze unseeingly out of the window.

“Those tears had better be of self-pity and not for that bastard,” Jeffree said grimly.

If she weren’t so churned up and exhausted, Sabina would almost marvel at his unfortunate choice of words. Truly, if this was Jeffree de Crecy trying to make himself agreeable, she dreaded to think what his idea of disagreeable would be!

“It seems obvious, that my method of wooing is nothing like Hendry’s,” he continued in a surly tone. “So, it is hardly right that you should punish me for his missteps.”

His method of wooing? The gods preserve her! Only by the greatest of efforts, did Sabina prevent herself from retorting. She took a deep breath. “I should think your ‘method of wooing’ is unlike anyone else’s in existence,” she said quite honestly.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “So, tell me then, what it is you want from me?” he persisted stubbornly.

Sabina passed a hand over her face. “Did I not just say? I want you to treat me with civility and consideration, Jeffree, both in front of others and when we are alone!”

He frowned over this as though the notion of being called inconsiderate was a foreign one to him, which was absurd as up to this point Sabina was sure the man had lived only to please himself.

“I have been raised with impeccable manners,” he said in a surly tone as he moved away from the washbasin toward the bed. When she threw a speaking look at him, he had the grace to turn a little red. “Very well,” he conceded as he climbed under the covers. “I was angry and accusatory in the early days of our marriage, but I have not repeated any of those things in a long time. I told you early on I no longer believed you were in league with Alfred Hendry.”

She nodded. “Oh yes,” she agreed dryly. “You told me you forgave me for snaring you into holy matrimony.”

Jeffree’s mouth opened and closed again as she joined him under the covers. “My early misconceptions about you were soon dispelled,” he insisted, rolling on his side toward her. “I quickly realized the gossip about your reputation was unfounded.”

Sabina rolled her eyes. “So you no longer believe me shrewish, despite the fact you think I deliberately make things awkward for you?” Catching sight of his confused expression, she felt a strange flash of compassion for him. “Jeffree…”

“I am ill-accustomed to… this kind of talk,” he admitted. “My address is clumsy when it comes to… lovemaking.” Sabina’s eyes widened. Lovemaking? “You said yourself that I am nothing like Hendry,” he continued stiffly. “Will you not give me the benefit of the doubt and forget your prior experience, however bitter it proved?”

Sabina felt oddly touched by his words. “I did not mean to tar you with the same brush as Miles,” she said after a heavy pause. “That would hardly be fair. It is just…” She plucked at the covers. “I also am not accustomed to… such things.” She stole a look at him and found him still regarding her closely.

“My declaration of love, you mean?” he asked with a faint frown.

Sabina spluttered. “Jeffree…”

“What?”

Was he really going to bandy that word about from now on? It flustered her and made her skittish, but after all, it was just a word and she had a notion Jeffree was as clueless about it as she. Maybe she was worrying about this too much. Mayhap Jeffree thought words of love were just her due as his wedded wife?

She felt something almost akin to affection well up inside her for this awkward, trying man. Before she could change her mind, she leaned across the space between them and pressed a hurried kiss to his cheek. When she would have retreated, he reached out and caught her upper arm, holding her where she was.

“You accept it then?” he asked gruffly. “My love, I mean?” Sabina felt her face grow hot and she almost tutted. There he went again! What response could she possibly make? That she did not think he even knew what love meant? It was all so difficult, and truth to say, she did not wish to wound the man.

When she opened her mouth, he threw up his hand. “Do not make your reply. I already know I will not like whatever words tremble on those lips.” He turned his face away from hers, and from the tension in his jaw, she suspected he was grinding his teeth.

“Jeffree.” She softened her voice and shuffled closer, patting his chest. “We will be home tomorrow and—and—we—are becoming accustomed to one another’s ways. That is a very good thing,” she added soothingly. “I am growing fond of you too, in a strange sort of way.” She could not help the bewildered tone that had crept into her voice, and she felt him stiffen at her words.

Damn it. She had made things worse. He shrugged off her hand and rolled onto his side away from her, drawing the blankets up to his chin. Sabina sat hopelessly gazing at his back a moment, hoping better words would spring to mind. After a few minutes of nothing bettter occuring to her, she too lay down and consoled herself with thoughts of returning home on the morrow.

*

They both woke early the next morning but Sabina had to feign sleep for a few moments while Jeffree released her from his sleepy embrace and made haste to put some space between them. After hurriedly washing and dressing they were on their way. This time they did not tarry to break their fast. It seemed as though Jeffree could not get out of the place fast enough.

The rest of the day he barely looked at her. He barked out orders to Osborn and rode way out in front of them as though the mere sight of them sickened him. Osborn flashed her a resentful look which seemed to ask what have you done now? As for Sabina, she ignored them both.

She could not wait to be home to Ganfordshire. Being at the mercy of a husband was the worst fate that could befall a woman. Jeffree was a petulant child! She quietly seethed as she watched his figure in the distance. How dare he speak words of love to her, when he could not even treat her with common decency?

It was stupid of her to feel lingering guilt over his obvious disappointment that she had not responded in kind. Of course, he did not love her. He only thought that, as she was the first woman he had ever been intimate with. She chewed her lip. Mayhap now he would kiss every one of his uncle’s many servant girls and realize she was nothing special whatsoever.