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“That’s it,” he said.

“What?”

“You said what I want.”

“I did?” Isidore struggled to wake up enough to remember what she just said.

“You said, whatever you want.”

“Umph.”

Simeon pulled himself to a seated position. “I had a great deal of time over the past years to analyze marriage. That’s really why I thought we should probably annul our marriage, Isidore: we don’t suit the pattern of successful spouses.”

“We don’t? Didn’t you tell me this before?” she said sleepily.

“Would you describe yourself as docile and meek in every way?”

She snorted.

“Biddable and likely to listen calmly to good advice?”

“Yes to the second part, no to the first.” But he was obviously going down the mental list he had been cherishing for years.

“Willing to allow your husband to command you on occasion?”

“Sometimes…” she said.

He eyed her.

“In bed?” she offered hopefully.

“What about if you’re in danger?”

“Ah.”

“I’m worried that unless we have a system of command set up, such as I had with my men, this marriage will founder or, worse, in a moment of crisis, I won’t be able to save us.”

“But Simeon, there aren’t moments of crisis in England,” she said painstakingly. “The things you likely envision—attacks by lions, sandstorms, marauding tribes—they simply do not happen here in England.”

“The Dead Watch had a remarkable resemblance to a mangy pack of starving lions.”

Isidore nodded. “If I encounter the Dead Watch again, or if there is an attack by a marauding lion, I promise that I will accept your commands.”

He smiled. “We have to know where the ultimate authority lies.”

Isidore didn’t like the sound of that. “If it’s not a moment of immediate physical danger, I would most biddably listen to the reasons behind the advice you’re offering.”

It was his turn to scowl. “I have to know that you’re mine, Isidore.”

“I am. According to English law, I am one of your possessions, just like a cow or a privy house.”

“You see? You don’t really accept it.”

“Well, I can hardly change the entire system of government in England. I’ve always known that once you came home I would have a husband.”

“It’s important,” he said earnestly. “I have to know you respect my opinions, that you’ll obey me without a moment’s thought. Otherwise our marriage will never work.”

She shook her head. “What if you said, pour that cup of coffee over my hand—and it was burning hot?”