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“What you said the other day about me sleeping with Janice,” Bernard growled. “She heard you, and you saw how it affected her.”
“So?” William shrugged. “She is a laird’s daughter. She must have heard worse things in her life, and she is a beautiful woman. I am sure I am not the first one to have made such observations about her.”
“You do not care how much you have hurt her feelings?” Bernard asked tensely, barely hanging on to his self-control. “You should apologize and explain to her. Tell her you were only making a bad joke.” His voice was bitter and throbbing with anger.
“Why?” William looked across at Janice and shrugged. “She is too busy to speak to me.”
“Later, then,” Bernard insisted. “I mean it, my friend.”
William looked at the fury on Bernard’s face. He suddenly felt ashamed, realizing that his friend’s feelings were deeper than he had assumed. He nodded.
“I will do it if it means so much to you.”
Bernard went up to William and stood a mere foot away from him, his hazel eyes dark with anger.
“It does. She thinks I am a lecherous fortune hunter who is trying to get my hands on her dowry.”
“I see.” William was mystified. “Are you in love with her, my friend?”
Bernard, with a supreme effort of willpower, kept his hands by his sides. “Not another word, William.” His voice was throbbing with anger. “Or I will not be responsible for my actions. Do you understand?”
For the first time ever, William felt a little afraid of his friend. Before, he had always been glad that Bernard’s muscles had been on his side. However, as he looked at all the condensed power held tightly underneath his skin, William knew that he had pushed his friend to a place he had never seen him in before. And it was a very dangerous place indeed.
William’s bags were being hauled downstairs, and he went away for a moment to oversee his servant loading the belongings onto the pack horse. When he turned to speak to Bernard again, he saw Janice flash his friend a venomous look, then, with a scathing glance at him too, she ran upstairs as if wild dogs were chasing her.
Bernard almost snarled when he saw William. His face was flushed, his eyes still black with fury, and his fists still clenched like clubs.
When Janice had said farewell to her last guest, Bernard did not waste a second. He strode across the parquet floor to her side before she had a chance to run away and stretched out to grab her arm. However, she anticipated his move and snatched it away before he could close his hands around it.
Bernard took a brief and desperate glance around to see if he could locate William but could not see him.
Janice looked at Bernard with absolute contempt and growled at him. “I have nothing to say to you. You sought to use my body to worm your way into my affections and ruin me so that I would have to marry you. You are a snake!”
She turned away, but just then, William came up to them and begged her to stay.
“Mistress—you misunderstood,” he said desperately. “Please let me explain.”
“No!” she snapped. “Get out before I have you both thrown out!” Her eyes were blazing with anger as she turned to sprint upstairs. “I have nothing to say to you, and you will never be welcome here again!”
“Janice, wait!” he called.
He put a foot on the first step of the staircase to follow her upstairs, but suddenly two burly guards seemed to appear from nowhere and stood in front of him, blocking his way.
Suddenly, William appeared at his side again, just a moment too late. The two men stood watching as Janice disappeared around the bend in the staircase, then Bernard’s shoulders slumped, and he turned away from his friend.
“I am sorry, my friend,” William said gently. “It was indeed my fault.”
Bernard nodded, trudged outside, and mounted his horse.
Laird Ballantine looked at him questioningly. “What has happened?” he asked.
“Later,” Bernard answered, urging his horse onward. “I don’t want to talk about it now.”
* * *
Janice watched them go, wondering how many times her heart could break before finally shattering as she watched the man she now was certain she loved disappearing into the distance. Was she happy that she had not given herself fully to him? No, she was glad. She truly only had a vague idea of what took place between a man and a woman during lovemaking. Moreover, once she had given him her virginity, it was gone forever, and she would likely become a subject for gossip and mirth amongst him and his cronies. Men were like that.
Sighing, she got to her feet and went to her father’s chamber, where she found him dozing peacefully with the village wise woman by his side. She looked up and smiled sadly at Janice. The laird’s breathing was wheezy but not labored, but as she sat down at his side, she could see by the white papery texture of his skin and the bulging blue veins underneath that the end was very close now.
