Free Love's Patient Fury (The Deverell Series Book 3) by Susan Ward Page A

“You have been hiding from me since breakfast.  I suggest you walk with me, Little One. We have much we must discuss today. I doubt Kate is up to the rigors of what I want to discuss with you.”
    Struggling to hold her temper in check, Merry stated primly, “There is nothing I wish to discuss with you, in private or otherwise. I want to spend the afternoon with Philip and Kate. I would appreciate your indulgence and your absence.”
    Merry sat perfectly still as Varian reached out to thread one of her long black curls through his fingers. “Do you really want to force Kate through the issues we have unresolved?”
    He touched the curl to his lips. Both his words and his gesture were a warning, no matter what pretty gloss he covered them in.
    She slowly lifted a brow. “I see no benefit to discussing anything with you. I remember too well our last discussion. I told you I didn’t want to marry you. But the deed is done and it pleasures me not at all to be your wife. Now go away.”
    There was a moment of tense silence when all the sounds around them became unnaturally loud. The hiss of wind through the grass, the jingling of harnesses in the fields, hooves against cobbles, distant mirth and chatter.  Then Varian began to laugh and his black eyes softened.
    Merry’s eyes narrowed into slits of rage. “Damn you. You know your laughter annoys me and that is why you do it. How is it possible never to lose your temper.”
    Varian silenced her by placing a finger across her lips. “I let my temper slip with you in London. I will regret it as long as I live,” he told her softly.  He had surprised Merry with that, but she disbelieved him and it sat in her eyes. He didn’t want to open that discussion, not now when they weren’t alone. So, instead he said, “It’s better we fight the way we usually do. With you in a temper and me charmed from beginning to end.”
    She sighed heavily in frustration. “You should return to London. There is not a single reason for you to stay here.”
    “I should settle one misunderstanding at the present, since it is tame enough to mention with company. I am not going to London. Not any time soon.  Stop trying to send me there unless it is your wish for us to go there together.”
    “I have no intention of going anywhere with you. I will not be played with for your amusements.”
    He leaned a breath into her and his fingers slowly slid through her curls to play at the sensitive flesh beneath her ear. Quietly, on a whisper that brushed her cheeks like a caress, he said, “You are a very stubborn girl, Merry, that you can think you have a choice in this. I am willing to give you time until you are ready to listen to reason. I am not willing to allow matters between to continue as they stand.”
    She pulled back from his hold. “If that is all you want, Your Grace, I would like to return to the house since you seem not inclined to allow me even the enjoyment of an afternoon with my family.”
    She sprang to her feet, kittens scattering. Philip’s gaze followed the quickly retreating form of his sister. He was about to push up to his feet when those black eyes stopped him with a lightly held command.
    Varian arched his brow. “Whatever is running through your head, lad, let it alone and you would do us all well not to take it to your father,” he said in measured tones, full of meaning. Philip flushed. “I am sure you’ve heard a thing or two about me, and it is understandable you should be protective of your sister, but I would never do anything to harm her and I didn’t today. My conduct was merely improper. She didn’t hit me over the head with the basket. That should tell you everything you need to know not to call me out for my behavior.  Or do you think I forced your sister into whatever it is you’re imagining. It’s a complicated problem, but it’s not your problem. Don’t put your oar in it.”
    Philip was unused to people reading him so easily, but then Varian