“But you were in bed with another woman,” she said indignantly.
“You seduce me away from my work with sweetmeats and music and pretty smiles.”
She smiled at him as his words convinced her of how right she was to have married him.
“And you disobeyed my orders before my men.”
“When?”
“The morning the Howards attacked.”
“I was merely—”
“Interfering,” he said sternly. “It wasn’t any of your business. If I hadn’t been drunk, you might have—” He stopped. He didn’t want to tell her that while he lay in a drunken stupor, the Howards might have taken her prisoner.
“I might have what?”
His face changed, and Liana could see he was hiding something. “What might I have done?”
Rogan moved away from her and got out of bed. “If that damned brother of mine doesn’t send us food, I’ll hang him after burning him.”
“If you hadn’t been drunk, I might have what?” She wrapped a sheet around herself and followed his nude form into the garderobe. Even as he began to use the urinal, she didn’t hesitate. “Might have what?”
Rogan grimaced. “If I ever capture a Howard spy and want information, I’ll send you to him.”
“Might have what?” she asked again.
“Been taken,” he snapped, turning back to the room.
“The Howards wanted me?” Liana whispered.
Rogan was angrily pulling on his braies. “The Howards seem to always want what the Peregrines have: our land, our castles, our women.”
“We could make them a gift of the Days.” Rogan did not find humor in her words. She went to him and put her arms about his neck. “You were so angry that morning because the Howards threatened to take me? Rogan, you do love me.”
“I don’t have time for love. Get dressed. Severn may come in.”
She let the sheet fall off her body so that her bare breasts were against his chest. “Rogan, I love you.”
“Humph! You haven’t spoken to me in weeks. You’ve made everyone’s life miserable. Even Zared’s room has rats in it. And I’m so light from lack of decent food, my horse doesn’t know me. My life was better when no woman said she loved me.” What he said did not agree with how tightly he held her.
“Severn has taught me something,” she said. “I swear to you that never again will I leave you alone. If you hurt me—and I’ve no doubt you will do so often—I promise I will tell you why I am angry. Never again will I shut myself away from you.”
“It’s not me who matters, but the men need decent food and—”
She stood on tiptoe to kiss him. “It is you who matters to me. Rogan, I will never betray you as Jeanne once did. Even if the Howards were to take me, I would still love you.”
“The Howards will never take another Peregrine,” he said fiercely.
“And I am now a Peregrine?” she asked, smiling.
“An odd one, but a Peregrine more or less,” he said reluctantly.
She hugged him and didn’t see the way Rogan smiled into her hair, the way he closed his eyes as he held her. He didn’t like to think how much he’d missed her in the past few days or how much her frivolous chatter had come to mean to him. He had lived his life without her and done very well, but she had entered his life meekly, then literally set him on fire. Nothing had been the same since. Pleasure, leisure, softness, had never been part of his life. But this snippet of a girl had introduced them all into his life and it was amazing how quickly he’d adapted.
He pulled away from her, her face held in his big hands. “I think my stupid brother locked us in here to get you to clean his room and to talk to the bakers.”
“Oh? And who is to persuade me to do what he wants?”