Page 56 of The Cornish Bride

“Very true. Would you like me to tell her about my decision? I can couch it as a need for your skills down on the surrounding estate. I don’t want her feeling as though she’s been banished. Not that she doesn’t deserve it, of course, after all the trouble she’s caused us.” He put his hand up to his ear, which still retained the scab from the wound that had taken off a portion of the lobe.

Sam grimaced yet again. “No, I’d best be the one to tell her. I am her husband, after all. I’ll follow your lead though and tell her I have no choice… I think. She’ll have to accept it then.”

*

“You want meto leave Ormonde?” Ysella almost snarled. “You want me to leave Morvoren, who is my dearest friend? And baby George, who changes every day? You want me to leave Mama and Lochinvar and the dogs?”

They’d just had dinner and retired to the drawing room to take tea, and Ysella had been sitting on the chaise longue. As soon as she’d heard what Sam had to say she’d leapt up and was now standing with her skirts dangerously close to the fire, her hands on her hips and her dander up. How dare he take her away from everything she loved. How dare he suggest this.

“It’s not my choice,” Sam said, eyeing her warily.

She flounced. “You could have said no. Oh, how I hate Kit now.” She couldn’t bring herself to put it into words, but what lay behind her anger was the fact that after her adventure with Oliver, she’d thought herself home at Ormonde, the only place she felt safe, for good. Marrying Sam had reinforced that feeling, and now horrible Kit had undone all her feelings of safety. “I shan’t go.”

She eyed Sam to gauge his reaction. He’d been a pushover when she’d started spending more and more time at the Abbey, and she expected him to be now. Gradually, she’d come to take more and more from him, and had been considering suggesting that at least two nights a week could be spent in her old bedroom—alone, of course. That was very much her private territory.

“Well, I’m afraid you’re going to have to,” Sam said, his calm voice only serving to annoy her more. “Because I have to go where Kit sends me. He’s my employer as well as my friend and brother-in-law, and he wants me to work down at Carlyon Court for a while. But he suggested you might want to take Lochinvar with you. I shall be taking Hercules.”

Ysella stuck out her lower lip in rebellion, her foot tapping as though she were fighting the impulse to stamp it. “How long for?”

Inspiration seemed to strike Sam and his face brightened. “I don’t know, but if we’re there in winter I’ve heard there’s good hunting. And beaches to ride along.”

Ysella let out a squeal of shock. “Winter? Do you mean we might be down there for months? George will be running about and talking before I see him again.”

“Well, perhaps not that long. It’s up to Kit, Ysella. I have no say in the matter and nor do you. We are married now and you certainly can’t stay here while I go down to Cornwall. That would not be the done thing at all.”

Ysella compressed her lips. What was she to do? For once, Sam was standing firmer than he’d ever done in their short month of marriage. How far did she dare push him? “Well, I think I might stay here anyway,” she tried. “And pah to whether it’s done or not. I’m sure Morvoren will want me to, so I can help with George.”

He regarded her out of his gentle gray eyes. “No, Ysella, you won’t. You will accompany me down to Cornwall, and run the house. That is what a wife does.”

Good heavens. Nonplussed, Ysella was speechless for a moment. Not for long though. “Kit will let me stay here.”

Sam shook his head. “He most certainly will not. He particularly asked me to take you with me. He wants the house opening up properly, as no one has lived there full time since he was a child. Your father used to go down every summer, but Kit says he lived in only one or two rooms. He wants you to hire some extra servants and bring the house back to life.”

Ysella scowled. “But I know nothing whatsoever about housekeeping.” She was scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel here, as she did know quite a bit, just chose not to admit to it. And Mrs. Higgins had seemed very glad she hadn’t tried to interfere with the daily running of Sam’s house. If she didn’t let anyone know she could do it, they were less likely to ask her to try.

“I’m sure you can learn about it,” Sam said, far too kindly, his gray eyes set with annoying firmness and implacability. “It’s probably just common sense.”

Ysella bridled. “Well, you know for a fact that I have none of that.”

“Then it’ll be a good opportunity for you to learn some of that at the same time.”

She stamped her foot. It had been twitching for a while, and she’d been trying hard to control it, but now she properly stamped it. “What if I refuse to go?” How daring she felt. But he was being rude to her telling her she had to learn about housekeeping and common sense. She had the right to be rude and challenge him. He was only Sam, after all.

“If you should be so unwise as to do that,” Sam said, a look in his eyes Ysella had never seen before, “then I’m afraid I should have to put you over my shoulder and carry you down there myself.” He paused. “Even if I have to tie you up to do so.”

For just a moment, Ysella’s stomach twisted at the rather delicious thought of being slung over Sam’s shoulder and manhandled all the way down to Cornwall. Then the thought flew away. This was Sam she was talking to, not Oliver, not that she would ever feel like that about that dreadful cad ever again. And yet she’d had that stirring in her most private spot, just as she’d had when Oliver had kissed her and slid his hand inside her bodice. And she’d felt it about Sam. What was the world coming to?

“You would not dare treat me so disrespectfully,” she managed, chin tilted upward in defiance.

Sam smiled, and again Ysella experienced that fleeting sensation of excitement as she caught the look in his eyes. “Just you watch me,” he said. “Sometimes, Ysella, you behave like a spoiled child. And part of that is my fault. I’ll not let it go on. You will do as you’re told in this, and prepare to leave tomorrow.”