Page 71 of The Unwilling Bride
“And only you know the truth?” Merrick demanded with a scowl, hatred growing from his anger. How could he have been so trusting? So blind? Thank God he’d never told Henry his secret. “You know it all, don’t you? Well, you don’t know me.”
“No, Merrick, I don’t believe I do,” Henry said, slowly shaking his head. “Not anymore. And I wonder how well you know me, if you think I’d try to steal your wife.”
“I’ve seen you chase after other men’s wives. I’ve seen you catch them and heard you brag of your conquests, as if cuckolding another man is an accomplishment to be proud of.”
“I swore no oath of loyalty to those men, and the wives I won were willing—nay, eager—to join me in my bed.”
“Oh, it’s all their doing and none of yours?” Merrick scoffed. “A convenient excuse for a dishonorable man.”
“So that’s what you truly think of me,” Henry said quietly—too quietly—as he walked toward the door, mercifully leaving at last. He put his hand on the latch, then looked back at Merrick over his shoulder. “I’ll be gone before dark.”
“Good,” Merrick snarled as the door closed behind his former friend.
Then the lord of Tregellas sat in his father’s throne-like chair and stared at the door, unseeing, alone with his turbulent thoughts.
SOMETIME LATER, FOR MERRICK had lost all track of time and shouted at a quaking Demelza who’d come to tell him the evening meal was being served, he looked up and focused on the man who’d entered his solar uninvited. “Are you aware that Henry’s left Tregellas?” Ranulf inquired.
Ranulf…his friend…whom he’d made garrison commander…temporarily. He couldn’t trust him, either. He wanted to, but that would be a mistake.
“Yes, I told him to go,” he replied, finding it unexpectedly difficult to get the words out. Or to see Ranulf clearly. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“God’s wounds, you’re drunk!” Ranulf exclaimed, for once in his life completely surprised.
“Am I?” Merrick replied, dazed, as if he’d taken ahard blow to the head. He stared at the goblet in his hand. “I must be,” he muttered, shoving it away. “That would explain…That’s not good.”
Ranulf had come to the solar with the firm purpose of finding out why Henry had left Tregellas with barely a farewell. He still had that intention, but seeing Merrick like this, he resolved to take a slightly different course.
He picked up the silver goblet lying on the floor. “What happened to this?” he inquired. “Did you throw it at Henry? Or did it levitate over here and fall?”
Merrick’s only answer was a scowl.
So he had thrown it. Another surprise. Merrick was normally the most self-possessed man Ranulf knew.
“I saw no mark on Henry’s head, so I suppose you missed,” he remarked, setting the dented goblet on the table beside Merrick’s empty one. “Probably more because of your poor aim than lack of intent. I’ve never seen you throw anything except a spear, and that badly.”
“What do you want?” Merrick demanded. “Just t’annoy me and question my decisions?”
Ranulf raised a quizzical brow. “I haven’t said one word about any recent decisions of yours. Did Henry? Is that why he’s gone?”
“I don’t have t’explain myself to you, either.” Merrick pointed a wobbly finger at the door. “Get out!”
Instead of leaving, Ranulf perched on the edge of the table and crossed his arms while continuing to regard his friend with his usual sangfroid. “I daresay itwas about that woman who was supposed to marry the smith’s son. I gather the smith’s son and the Queen of the May have been intending to wed for a long time.”
Merrick leaned back and regarded Ranulf through bleary, bloodshot eyes. “I don’t want her. I never have.”
“More than one wouldn’t blame you if you did. She’s a pretty woman.”
Merrick stood up so fast, his chair fell over backward, and he had to hold on to the table to steady himself. “I don’t want her!”
He reached for the hilt of his sword and tried to draw it out, but the damn thing stuck. “I’ll kill any man who says so!”
Ranulf watched as his friend struggled for a moment, then gave up.
“I don’t want her,” Merrick muttered, splaying his hands on the table, head bowed. He drew in a ragged breath. “Why won’t anybody believe me?”
“I don’t think Henry would accuse you of wanting that woman when you’re married to Lady Constance,” Ranulf said.
Merrick went to sit down and nearly fell before he realized his chair wasn’t there. Ranulf hurried to right it, and when it was back in place, Merrick sat heavily.
