Page 21 of Laird of Steel
“And?”
“Ye won’t like her.”
He barked out a laugh. “And how do you know that?”
“Well,” she allowed, unwilling to outright lie to him, “sheisbonnie.”
“Mm?”
“And sweet.”
“Aye?”
“And she has a gentle nature.”
“Sounds dreadful,” he said dryly.
“And she’ll likely give ye lots o’ bairns.”
He gave an audible shudder. “God forbid.”
“But she’s goin’ to bore ye silly.”
“Bore me?” He snickered. “Not if we’ll be making lots of bairns.”
“I’m serious. She’s…like a child.”
“Wait.” For the first time, he sounded concerned. “How old is she?”
“A few years older than me,” she confessed.
He gave a relieved sigh.
“But she thinks like a child,” she said. “She has no wit or wisdom.”
“I’m not choosing an advisor. I’m only choosing a wife.”
“Only?” she said. “Just what do ye think a wife is for?”
“Mostly to appease the king and continue the Rivenloch line.”
“That’s it?”
“What more is there?”
That angered her enough to make her whip around in the chair. She was only distracted for an instant by the recognition once again that, aye, his body was knightly perfection. Then she railed at him.
“A wife is more than a pawn or a brood mare. A good wife is a helpmate and a counselor. She must manage the keep while her husband is at war. Raise moral, respectful children. Defend her husband’s honor. And aye, advise him in uncertain times.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“I didn’t have to hear it. I see it every day in your own cousin.”
He scowled. “That’s different. Feiyan is…special.”
“Don’t ye want your wife to be special as well?”
She glimpsed momentary doubt in his silvery eyes before they flattened and he looked away. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, running the wet linen over one magnificent arm. “I’ll be away fighting the king’s battles most of the time anyway. And I can afford a steward and all the nursemaids a wife requires.”
