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

Deverell was unlike any man he’d ever known. There was not a thing about Windmere that did not warn caution.
    Still, Merry was his sister. “I don’t believe you’ve harmed my sister and I don’t believe you ever will. But I won’t tolerate you brow beating her, no matter how suavely you do it, into doing anything she doesn’t want to do. And I would ask that the next time you want to prove a point to my sister via flirtation, it would be advisable not to do it in front of Kate. These last months have burned Kate to cinders from the heat of her worry, guilt, and fear.”
    Varian liked Philip. The boy was cautious but he spoke his mind. The boy would act wisely.
    “If I hope to get past Merry’s current fury toward me in this century, I will have to settle for adding fuel to the fire any time I can find her without your father near. She’s angry with me and has good reason to be. It would be less complicated all around if Lucien would permit me to leave Bramble Hill with her or at least to share a bedroom so we could fight this out in privacy, but we don’t.”
    “My father is far from giving his blessing. A dangerous condition for you. My father will not support any change in Merry’s circumstance unless she wishes it.  You wouldn’t be able to take her on as much as a day trip to Falmouth if she were unwilling, let alone get her in a bedchamber to earn her forgiveness.”
    Philip had said forgiveness with just the right amount of disdain. Varian grinned in spite of himself.
    Kate, who had sat frozen and silent, said, “I for one am glad Merry is being cautious with you.”
    Much to Kate’s chagrin, Windmere laughed and playfully tugged her chin before he rose to his full height. In alarm she realized she had been left alone with this terrifying man and somehow Philip had gone after Merry without Kate being aware of this dangerous change.
    Reading Kate’s thoughts to precision, Varian reassured her with a laugh, “There is no need to fear, flower. At thirty-nine I can manage only one debauchery a day. You are very safe. After all I am ancient and...” arching a brow as the pause developed playfully. “...  as pretty as you are, I am  married to Merry.”
     

CHAPTER FOUR
    Merry came awake with a start. She had lay across her bed covered only in her shift, but somehow a quilt had been spread high over her body. As she rubbed her cheek against her pillow she wondered what had startled her from sleep. Wondered at the strange changes in her body which now pulled her into deep sleep at mercilessly frequent whim. Wondered who had come and put a blanket on her, and wondered what they had thought of finding her sprawled across her bed in mid-afternoon. Wondered what her family was making of all this, when all of a sudden a scent stopped her wondering.
    Wintergreen. Sitting up with a start, it was then she noticed the impression in the blankets next to her in the form of someone having sat with her while she slept. Wintergreen. Touch of Varian.
    Varian had been in her bedchamber. She had locked the door, but somehow he had gotten in. So the bolt on the door and the presence of her family would provide her no protection from him. He had come into her room, sat with her while she slept, and if there were a reason to it beyond him simply wanting to do so, she most probably would never discover it.
    The delicate china clock beside her bed chimed eight and Merry was shocked by the lateness of the hour. It had been early afternoon when she had quarreled with Varian in the meadow. She had only meant to lay down a few moments, but her body had been exhausted by her meager activity of the day. Her slumber had slipped away into hours. Hours in a deep sleep, so deep Varian had been in the room with her, had sat close to her body, and she had not stirred.
    Merry looked at the chair beside the bed and spied a delicate pale pink dressing gown draped over the back where she had carelessly tossed the mud and grass-stained