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“Thank you, my lord,” she muttered in a sullen voice, making her ungracious tone at odds with her gracious words.
His dark eyes looked daggers at her.
“I’ve given you a kind reprieve, but soon I shall cure you of your defiant ways,” he said grimly, and his words rang loud, for all to hear.
Judith strived to make herself ignore the deep feeling of shame she still harboured about the way he’d chastened her.
Chapter 2
Sheer relief coursed through Judith’s veins when later Tristram allowed her to go and look upon her mother in the solar. Judith did that without tarrying, knowing her mother would be anguished and would want to know what had occurred upon Redmore’s surrender. Yet the exhaustion of the day had obviously taken its toll, and Lady Fenice was already asleep at this early hour when Judith stepped in. Judith allowed herself a while to sit down on her sore bottom and simply gather her thoughts, ensconced in the privacy of her mother’s quarters.
It was plain Tristram now hated her, and he had cause for it, since she had indeed spurned and humiliated him by seeking an annulment of their marriage. And it was plain he meant to make her life an ordeal for it from now on, but Judith knew if she were to make her choice again, she would still sayayeto his offer. She loved Redmore and her people, and could not ever picture her life elsewhere. So she supposed she should give her prayers of thanks for having been allowed to remain in her home. She strived not to think at all of what Tristram must have in store for her tonight when she finally regained her bedchamber, where she already supposed he would be waiting for her.
Tristram was indeed there, and by his wet, darkened hair, and by the tub which still lay in the chamber, she understood he’d already taken his bath. He was now dressed in a fresh undyed undertunic, and one of his squires was already taking away the clothes his lord had worn today.
“I bid the servants to empty the tub and bring fresh warm water for you,” Tristram said, not looking at her.
“Oh, so now you’re to command me even when I should have a bath?” Judith couldn’t help saying.
He still didn’t look at her when he spoke again, in a voice which was hard and dispassionate, and Judith recalled that, until today, she’d never thought Tristram’s beautiful voice could ever sound hard.
“The water will soothe your sore bottom.”
Judith felt like strangling him.
“I thank you for your tender care. Would it that you had shown the same tender care when you were attending to the same bottom earlier in the bailey!”
“That was indeed tender care,” Tristram retorted with a cocked eyebrow. “The tender care of a husband for his miscreant wife.”
He’d always had a way with words, the fiend, Judith mused to herself, but she decided to take his advice. A warm bath was a gift which should never be refused, and perchance he was right, and it might soothe her reddened skin.
Yet she recalled he was in the chamber, and he had no plan of leaving it. She also distinctly recalled he’d told her he now expected her to share his bed. And she had saidayeto the bargain which he’d offered. Still, after the servants fulfilled their duties and made their retreat, Judith lingered in front of the tub. A serving girl had untied the laces at the back of her bliaut, and had helped her remove both hercorsand her longgirone. She was now standing only in her underdress in front of the bathtub, knowing that once she removed it, she would be naked in a chamber where she was now alone with her husband. Perchance she should strive to bathe in this garment, as she knew some of the ladies of her acquaintance usually did.
Tristram must have perceived her hesitation. He tossed out at her in a mocking voice, “I’ve never known water to bite anyone. But by the way you’re now staring at it, I’m certain you believe it can bite you.”
She didn’t dignify his mocking comment with an answer, but decided she had sealed her own fate when she’d agreed to stay on as Tristram de Brunne’s wife. There was no point in playing the shrinking, modest maiden now, so she decided not to care for modesty and to remove the shift. After she’d done so, she cast a furtive glance in Tristram’s direction to see if he was looking upon her, but Tristram seemed busy with the task of sorting out the bundle of his belongings which one of his squires had brought, and of settling them in one of the chests in her chamber. Judith told herself she should feel relieved he wasn’t looking upon her, but after a while she began to feel simply irked he was so pointedly ignoring her.
In all fairness though, Judith soon discovered the fiend had had the right of it. The warm water, which was tepid and not hot, was like a balm upon her scorched bottom, and after she was done bathing and drying herself, and slipped into a fur-lined robe, she started feeling better than she had the whole day. Once the servants took the tub away, she and Tristram were once again left alone in the bedchamber, and Judith became even more keenly aware of what he’d told her about their marriage.
She waited for a while for him to look upon her, but as he didn’t, she sighed and decided to break the silence. “What now?” she asked in a weary voice.
Tristram at last deigned to glance upon her. He said nothing though, just staring at her with those dark eyes of his. He strode to the bed and sat himself on it, but he made no other gesture.
“You said you now expect me to share your bed,” Judith said bluntly, knowing there was no return from what she’d agreed to. “I vowed to do so. And here I am.”
Still, Tristram said nothing and he did not make a single move to come to where she was.
“Fine,” Judith said in a relieved voice. “Then I shall sleep if you want none of me.”
It was perchance best he meant to spurn her. She did feel weary. And, in spite of the warm bath, her bottom still felt quite sore from his spanking.
“So,” Tristram said softly. “I see you’re still foresworn.”
Judith instantly bristled at the word.
“I mean to keep my word! As for betraying you before, I…”
He halted her with a gesture.
