A Tale Of Two Secrets: A Steampunk Serial

Chapter 5

Temper and excitement certainly won't do to please a husband. Rather, young brides should comport themselves with sweet, smiling resignation.

- Temperance Brown, "Sound Advice for the Modern Married Woman"

William stepped further into the room and Olivia shrieked. Reacting instinctively, she grabbed up the heavy, sterling silver mirror lying on the night table next to the bed and threw it. William jumped aside just in time to avoid being smashed in the head and the projectile fell to the rug with a muffled thump.

"Bloody hell!" William stared at her. "What are you trying to do? Make a widow of yourself already?"

"I...I wasn't expecting you." It was true that she hadn't intended him bodily harm, but now that he was there, how would she get rid of him?

"Yes, well, I wasn't expecting to find you here, either."

He sounded cross, Olivia thought, biting her lip. "Marie showed me to this room. I thought it would be all right."

William put his hands on his hips as he surveyed her. His gaze fell to her bare arms and the swell of her breasts and his eyes widened. He turned his back abruptly, giving Olivia at least the illusion of privacy. "Put on a dressing gown or something, will you? I feel like a right fool standing here talking to the wallpaper."

"Perhaps we should discuss my room assignment in the morning," Olivia ventured as she pulled the bedclothes high enough to cover everything below her chin. "When we've both had a chance to rest after our journey."

"We came from London," William pointed out, "not the Americas. It was only a few hours' journey. And we'll sort this out tonight. I have no desire to make camp in another room."

"Very well." Olivia sighed and slid out of bed to wrap herself up in her dressing gown. If this was what marriage was like - some man you barely knew ordering you around - she was never going to do it for real. At least in service, you got paid for following orders.

"I'm decent," she said when she was fully covered from wrist to ankle.

William turned to look at her and a frown pulled down the corners of his mouth. He studied her unbound hair. "We won't be consummating our marriage tonight, if that's what you were thinking."

"We...won't be?" Although she was shocked by his plain speaking, relief flooded through Olivia too, strong enough to make her knees go weak. Oddly, she realized that she also felt a flicker of indignation. What made him think she was so eager to welcome him with open arms? And what was wrong with her hair that made him frown at it so fiercely? She lifted a hand to the long waves that fell around her shoulders, but let it fall again, hoping he hadn't noticed.

"I've no use for young girls fresh from the schoolroom," William informed her.

She raised her chin. "That will suit me perfectly." She did her best to peer down her nose at him, the difference in their respective heights not withstanding.

His frown deepened, joined now by a slight crease at his brow. Well and good! Olivia tossed her hair. Let him stew over her response. If he found her haughty and full of herself, that would only serve to keep him away from her.

She refused to acknowledge the slight queasiness she felt at the thought of William developing a low opinion of her. Why should she care what he thought? He was nobody to her.

She swallowed. Nobody but the stranger she had married.

"To be clear, it's not that I am disinterested in the company of females," William muttered awkwardly.