intolerable.
âIâve no need to âscrabbleâ, sir,â she assured him stiffly. âMy uncle left me a fine house in Hollowhurstvillage and his personal property. Didnât my brother inform you of the terms of his will when he sold you Hollowhurst?â
âHe said there was a fine line to tread between his great-uncleâs personal property and the goods and chattels that came with the castle. One you must have expected to walk if he brought a bride home.â
âI might feel more generous towards my brother,â she snapped, because she saw pity in his blue eyes and sheâd prefer anything to that, even a cold fury she sensed would freeze her to the marrow if he ever unleashed it.
âYet Iâve no intention of arguing about a few court cupboards and worm-eaten refectory tables, Miss Courland, so pray take what you like,â he countered coolly. âAnd I wonât ransack the place in search of my inheritance, Sir Charles. My house is already furnished and all I require will fit on the farm dray when it returns. Youâll find your bookshelves a little empty and one or two walls bare, but Iâm no magpie to be going about the place gathering everything I can.â
âI suspect youâd rather leave much of whatâs yours behind out of sheer pride, lest you be thought grasping. I give you fair warning Iâll send it after you if youâre foolish enough to do that.â
âThen Iâll send it back. I already told you Iâve no room.â
âPerhaps we should place the excess in a field halfway between our houses and fight a duel for it one morning?â he said as if their argument was mildly amusing, but in danger of becoming tedious.
Well, it didnât amuse her; she set her teeth and wondered why sheâd got into this unproductive dispute in thefirst place. Of course sheâd intended to be gone before he arrived, but heâd outmanoeuvred her and she suddenly knew how all those French captains felt when the famous, or infamous, Condottiereâs sails appeared on the horizon.
âDo you intend to fill the castle with daybeds in the Egyptian style and chairs and tables with alligator feet, then?â she asked sweetly.
âNo,â he replied shortly. âI prefer comfort to fashion.â
âThen youâll just have to accept that most of the furniture was built to fit a castle and would look ridiculous in a house less than fifty years old.â
âAnd youâll have to accept Iâm here to stay and have no intention of being cut by half the neighbourhood for throwing you out of your home at half a dayâs notice with little more than your clothes and a few trifles.â
âEven if you have,â she replied with glee, feeling almost happy she was leaving for the first time since he announced his purchase last night.
âNot a bit of it; Iâve just told your local vicar that Iâm away to stay with my family for at least a sennight in order to give you time to find a suitable chaperone and remove from the Castle. He and his wife thought it a noble act of consideration on my part.â
âBut they occupy a living bestowed at your discretion, do they not? And know you not at all, Sir Charles.â
âOnly by repute,â he said with a significant look she interpreted as a reproach to her for judging him on that basis herself. Heâd no idea how bitterly heâd disappointed her young girlâs dreams in making that rakehell reputation, and it was up to her to make sure he never found out.
âThen Iâm sure you have nothing to worry about,â she said stiffly. âA returning hero takes precedence over a wronged woman any day of the week. Witness Odysseusâs triumphant return from ten years of chasing about the Aegean after assorted goddesses and nymphs, in contrast to poor Penelopeâs slaughtered maids and all that interminable weaving she