The accidental groom

Chapter 8 Claiming My Independance

Claiming my Independence

Fury surged through Lizzie , mingling with other heady emotions that were already coursing through her . She was suddenly so violently angry that she could not speak . Instead she jerked open the heavy mahogany door and ran up the stairs .

She stormed into her bedchamber , startling her maid who was busy turning down the bed .

"My lady ! Is something wrong ?"

Lizzie took a grip on her anger and her reeling senses . She was breathing much too quickly ."No No Mary , I took the stairs too quickly , that's all . Please help me with my dress and I think I would also like some tea before bedtime , Mary , would you please have it sent up ".

"At once , my lady "

"Oh ,and Mary, have two cups on the tray". Lizzie took a deep breath ."The Marquis's will be joining me "

Mary's eyes widened with approval but she wisely held her tongue as she helped Lizzie into her dressing gown and quickly rushed out to tell the rest of the household the good news .

Lizzie began to pace the floor , her soft slippers making no sound in the dark , patterned carpet . The overbearing , unspeakable arrogant man she had married thought he only had to touch her and she would be succumb to his expertise . He would badger her and pester her until he had his way with her . She knew that now .Bedding her was obviously a matter of masculine pride for him .

Lizzie was beginning to realize that she would get no peace until Alexander had proven to himself that he was her master in the privacy of the bedchamber . There was little chance of working on the harmonious relationship she dreamed of while her husband was channeling all his resources in seducing her .

She halted her pacing abruptly , wondering if the Marquis's would be satisfied with a single night of conquest . After all he was not in love with her . At that moment she constituted a challenge because she was his wife and was refusing him the privileges he considered rightfully his . But if he thought that he had finally proven to both of them that he could seduce her , he might leave her alone, at least for a while .

She went towards he medicine chest and looked down upon the rows of tiny wooden trays and drawer’s .She was simmering with rage and fear and another emotion to which she could not identify with .There was not much time . In a few minutes her husband would come sauntering through the door connecting her bedchamber with his . And then he would touch her in the way he touched that ballet dancer mistress of his.

Mary opened the door and came in with the pot of tea. " Will there be anything else my Lady ?"

"No thank you ," Lizzie managed to say with as much normalcy in her voice as she could muster . She thought Mary's eyes were a little too bright , and she was sure she heard a muffled giggle outside her door . Servants seemed to know everything which went inside such big houses .It was quite possible her maid knew that Alexander had never spent a night in her bed.

Fleetingly Lizzie wondered if Alexander's impatience stemmed from the fact that he knew that the entire staff must be speculating on why he was not visiting his new bride in her bedroom .

Lizzie hardened her heart . She was not about to set aside from her goal merely for the sake of some male pride . She reached into her medicine chest and took out her most potent sleep inducing herb and stirred it into the pot of brewing tea .

Then she sat down to wait

She did not have long to anticipate the inevitable . The connecting door opened swiftly and her husband came in wearing a dark silk robe.