King of Ashes. Raymond E. Feist

She had an uncommon bearing and, despite her age, a muscled and strong, lithe body. ‘And you?’ Declan asked. ‘Have you enough put by?’

      She laughed loudly, then turned towards Marius and waved for two more mugs. ‘Are you worried for me?’

      He shrugged. ‘You travel alone in dangerous times. Your husband is an old man, as you say. Things can happen.’

      ‘You’re a sweet man at heart, Declan. My husband never had a head for business. So when I married him, I made a bargain with Jack.’

      Declan said, ‘His name is Jack? I just realised in all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never spoken his name.’

      With a wry smile, Rozalee said, ‘I try not to. Anyway, I learned the business and after a few years convinced him to let me travel with him. A year later I was travelling without him. I built up the business, so it was easy to convince him he needed to stay at home and take care of things there. To this day I don’t think he realises that I only did it to spend as little time with him as possible.’ She stopped speaking when Marius brought over their mugs.