The old man had the decency to look a little contrite. ‘I merely mentioned the need for a grandson and she took it badly.’
Aaron sincerely did not believe it was quite as innocent as all that. Knowing his father’s blunt way of speaking, he suspected he had probably been downright insulting. As usual, the stubborn old man started to bluster to cover his obvious guilt. ‘I know that she has denied you your conjugal rights since you married, boy. The servants have told me. Do not bother denying it. I was merely setting her straight. I told her that she needs to open her bedchamber door and her legs for you promptly. The girl has to do her duty!’
‘The poor girl has lost her family and her fiancé in one fell swoop, and been publically humiliated in the process. Do you not think that she might need a little time to adjust to her new situation first?’
This was met with belligerent silence.
‘Connie is not a bad sort when you get to know her, Father. Yes, she is a little quick tempered...’
‘And she’s a blasted Stuart!’
‘But she is also clever and I believe that she does have the capacity to be reasonable. Going forward, I must insist that you treat her with the respect that she is due—as your daughter-in-law. You can start tonight, at dinner, where I will expect you to be polite. And you will make no mention of conjugal rights.’
For several seconds his father stared at a spot just to the left of Aaron’s face before he nodded curtly. ‘Do you promise that you will get to work making my grandson?’
‘I shall get to it immediately, Father. In the meantime, I think you should get some rest before dinner.’
‘I am not a child, Aaron. I will not be mollycoddled.’
‘If you will not rest voluntarily, I shall have to fetch the physician.’
Aaron rose as he watched his father glare at him. He could just imagine him considering if the threat was an empty one or not. They would need to talk about the estate later, too, and the likelihood was that conversation as going to be equally as difficult, perhaps even more so. Aaron needed to show that he could not be cowed. For good measure he folded his arms across his chest and glared right back at his father until the old man capitulated.
‘Perhaps a little nap wouldn’t hurt.’
Connie was in grave danger of wearing a hole in the rug with her frenetic pacing, but she was so furious she could not stop. She was not entirely certain which Wincanton she was madder at, his father for being so utterly obnoxious or Aaron for dismissing her so curtly as if she were the one in the wrong. It was probably Aaron. She certainly expected a little more of him. He had not even listened to her complaint properly before he had sent her away. How typical. Hadn’t her father just done exactly the same thing? Well, if he thought she was going to take that sort of treatment lying down he had another think coming.
She spun around at the light tap on the door, ready for the fight, and watched it open barely a crack. Instead of Aaron, only his large hand squeezed in and it was waving a white handkerchief. The man was incorrigible! Surely he did not seriously think he could get around her with charm, not after he had so rudely dismissed her like that?
‘Oh, just come in, you fool!’ Already she could feel the sharp edge of her temper soften despite her determination to remain livid.
The door edged open slowly to reveal him standing there with the handkerchief of surrender in one hand while the other hand held a bucket over his head like a helmet. He surveyed the room with exaggerated wariness before he gingerly stepped inside, still holding his bucket armour about his head and looking, much to her utter consternation, quite delightful. ‘I come in peace, Connie. Put down your weapons.’
It was such an unexpected sight that her first reaction was to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. Fortunately, she held the bark of laughter back. She would not be charmed by him. ‘How dare you send me out of the room like that? I am not some servant that you can order around!’
‘I am sorry. It couldn’t be helped.’
‘Of course it could. You should have told your rude and ill-mannered father off immediately. He said the most outrageous things to me.’
Aaron nodded contritely. ‘He has a blunt way about him sometimes.’
The intense lustre in her green eyes reminded him of a stormy sea he had witnessed one afternoon off of the coast of Portugal. The water had been beautiful, mesmerising and deadly. A stark reminder of the force of nature. Now he was confronted by the full force of Connie’s temper, which showed no signs of ebbing any time soon. Her shoulders were thrown back and her delicate pointed chin was already raised, ready to do battle. The stance left the lily-white curve of her neck exposed and he wondered how she would react if he gave in to the sudden urge to place a kiss at the base of it rather than argue with her.
‘He said that I looked fertile! That I had birthing hips!’ Her voice had risen several octaves and she had started to pace again, using her demonstrative hands to punctuate her words. She was all fire and heat and Aaron found that even in a temper he enjoyed watching her. ‘He said that I had to open my...’ All of the air rushed out of her lungs in one fell swoop as she swallowed the last word in complete outrage. A small blush of indignation bloomed on her cheeks. ‘I have never been spoken to like that in my life!’ She stopped pacing then and turned to him. Immediately her expression changed from fury to exasperation. ‘Please take that stupid bucket off your head. I refuse to argue with a man who has a bucket on his head.’
‘Then if you don’t mind, I shall keep it on. I don’t want to argue, Connie.’
She hesitated then, before she slumped down on to the chair behind her. All the anger and outrage disappeared and she suddenly looked so very sad and lost. ‘I don’t want this marriage, Aaron. It is all wrong and doomed to make us both miserable. I am so very unhappy. I want an annulment.’
He had not expected that. The sheer misery in her voice brought him up short. Her eyes rose to his and he saw the suffering and torment swirling in their depths. There were no jokes or clever remarks that would diffuse this situation and his heart ached for her. He lowered the silly bucket to the floor. ‘I cannot agree to that, Connie. I’m sorry.’
Aaron’s own legs felt oddly unsteady so he sat heavily in the chair across from hers. The very last thing he wanted to do was make her miserable, but he could tell by the way her face had paled, and her posture dissolved, that he had just condemned her to worse than misery.
‘Why not? You do not want this marriage either. We were both forced into it. I could argue that my father used the safety and security of my mother as collateral to make me agree to the marriage and you could argue that you felt under an obligation to do the right thing as a result. It all happened so quickly. We have reasonable grounds, Aaron. It has to be worth a try. Please release me.’
Aside from the fact that the process was unlikely to be that simple, and there was a very good chance that it would be thrown out and they would be stuck with each other anyway, it could drag on for years, Aaron did not have years to do what he had promised. ‘Please, Connie, do not ask me to do that. I cannot.’
‘We both know that you would never have wanted to marry me under any other circumstances. You had your heart set on Violet. If our marriage was declared null and void, you could be free to marry whomever you wanted. I am sure Violet will wait for you.’ There was a pleading edge to her voice that tugged at his conscience. ‘And I know that your father would be pleased to see the back of me.’
And there, in a nutshell, was the rub. ‘You are quite wrong there, Connie. My father would be quite devastated if we started such proceedings now.’ Aaron realised that he had to be completely honest with her and had to hope for the best.
‘Can