Defiant Surrender by Tamara Gill Read Free Book Online Page A

slammed down on the wooden table. “Those vows were only spoken because I did not have the authority to cancel our marriage arrangement. Only the church has such a right. And your parents made sure before their untimely deaths that their wishes and the king’s could not be overturned.”
    “Did you not want to marry Lady Madeline, then?” she asked him, clearly shocked by the venom in his tone. He paused and wondered why she would refer to herself in such a way. William tore his gaze away from her bodice that rose and fell with swiftness of breath.
    “No I did not.” Not that he wouldn’t bed the wench now that she was before him married or no. The delectable, outspoken minx she was turning out to be could prove a worthy bedmate and lifelong partner. William stepped back and ran his fingers through his hair, surprised by his own thoughts.
    Lady Madeline was a Vincent. To think in such a way brought shame on him and his family. He would never touch the Baron of Aimecourt’s daughter unless under duress of duty.
    “Good, then,” she replied, her eyes throwing sharp little daggers at him. “Because I wouldn’t want to sleep with you either.”
    “Then we are in agreement.” William stood to go and stepped around the desk.
    “I haven’t finished,” she said.
    William stopped. “No? Pray, what else is there left to say?” He sat on the desk, deliberately close so as to make her uncomfortable. She squirmed away.
    “I want to return to Aimecourt.”
    “Out of the question!”
    You cannot stop me.”
    He smirked. “I believe I can.”
    “Until this arrangement, as you call it, ceases, I refuse to live here with an adulterer,” she said, scowling at him.
    “Adulterer?”
    “Yes, an adulterer, a cheating arse if you prefer.” Maddie glared at him. “If this is the life you have planned with such precision with the Lady Madeline, then I want a divorce. This is no life, for either person.”
    “Why do you keep talking as if you’re not involved in this union?”
    He leaned toward her, and traced the neckline of her gown. Goosebumps followed his touch as he skimmed over the tops of her breasts before she slapped his hand away.
    “Who do you think you are? Some sort of sheik with dozens of lovers all clutching at your legs for sex?” Madeline glared at him. “I’m not one of them, so keep your hands to yourself.”
    He laughed and held his hands up in defeat. “Forgive me, my lady. I will endeavor not to offend again.”
    His new wife walked toward the hearth and stared at the fire. “Can you not see a marriage, no matter how advantageous, is doomed if the couple do not care for the union. I don’t want to argue with you about your way of life. We do not care for each other, so what a wasted future it would be if we kept to the current course.”
    William joined her. “If I take you to my bed, Lady Madeline, not even the church or the king’s influence could save you then.”
    “You would take me by force?” She fumbled at the mantle. “Are you serious?”
    William felt a wave of lust crash over him, then subside at the thought of bedding her. “It’s my right as a husband to consummate the marriage, Lady Madeline.”
    “How dare you throw the law of the church in my face?” She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “I want you to agree to some new rules.”
    “New rules?” he said, crossing his own arms.
    “First, I don’t want your philandering thrown in my face. Second,” she said, ticking off her fingers. “I don’t appreciate your mistress being rude and ignoring me. And thirdly, I request a guard.”
    William grasped her arm and turned her toward him. “Have you been threatened? Why do you need a knight?” More than a little surprised at the strength of his reaction to her statement.
    Madeline wiggled out of his hold. “Some of the men who walk the outer perimeter walls scare me. They’re not like my knights.”
    “I will assign my first knight, Sir Alex, to