Lady Thief Read Online Free

into small men, horses,
and pack mules.
    For a split second in that church he felt a
swell of respect for the woman. The moment he discovered she had
erred, did not even know his true identity before marrying him, it
disappeared like the sun in those miserable grey clouds
outside.
    She throttled his head with the club of
stupidity.
    He should have known better, really. Perhaps
boredom could be blamed for his own faulty judgment that day.
    William’s fingers twitched. He wanted to go
down there and teach his new wife a few lessons about her brash
personality, something he craved since their wedding a fortnight
ago.
    That thought in mind, William descended the
stairs to greet his bride.
    ***
    ‘Twas finally happening. Now was the time to
reap what she had sewn and face her victim. Face her
punishment.
    Her husband.
    The entire ride Marianne twitched, itched,
and waited for the journey to end so she could put herself at
ease.
    Her father was no comfort to her apprehension
as he remained silent the whole way. Hardly sparing her a glance
but to tell her with his eyes what a disappointment he thought of
her.
    Marianne clutched her father’s hand as he
helped her descend from her mare, and when her feet were safely on
the squishing ground, she did not let him go.
    Regardless of her bundled nerves, her eyes
were not on him, they were on the line of servants at the front
doors waiting to greet her.
    Maids with their hands clasped together in
front of their worn gowns and men with their hands behind their
backs, all with their heads respectively bent, and none with the
air of delight at her arrival.
    They were just recently brought from whatever
task they had been doing. She could tell because some of the boys
had dirt smudges on their faces and bits of straw poking out of
their clothes.
    Occasionally they snuck their heads up,
enough so they might inspect their new mistress.
    Marianne could not see him anywhere.
Though which him would displease her more, Blaise or William
Gray—her husband—Marianne was not sure.
    She lifted her head to stare at the tall,
gray stone towers, matching the sky so well that for a moment she
thought they stretched into each other and became one. Would her
new husband lock her into one of those stone towers? She
shivered.
    Her home had never been a truly merry place
since the death of her final living brother, but ‘twas familiar and
held memories dear to her. This place, this castle that towered
above her like a prison, was hardly calling for Marianne to enter
its doors with a smile.
    She turned her eyes back to the servants and
saw them moving apart to give Lord Gray space to descend the
steps.
    He was the same man she had met and married
in that church, she knew, but his eyes were different, holding the
triumphant air of a man who had just been given what he wanted
most, but dark with anticipation for when he could play with it, or
break it.
    Marianne quickly lowered her face before he
could lock eyes with her, and her cheeks heated. Her shame too
great to challenge him just now.
    Her eyes pointing down, Marianne saw there
was something amiss about his step, a happy spring that had not
been in his eyes.
    The heat in Marianne’s face left her and she
was instantly alert. Something was not right. Happiness did not
exist in him at this moment.
    He had something planned.
    Her husband called out, but not to her. “Sir
Guy Holton,”
    Her father opened his arms to him. “Lord
William Gray.”
    Marianne watched with her mouth dropped as
the two men bowed to each other quite formally before embracing
like brothers, and much back slapping ensued.
    Marianne tried to mask her disgust with her
father’s behavior. ‘Twas difficult, however, so instead she
pretended that if she refused look at them, they would not see her.
Her attempt was unsuccessful.
    Her father put an arm about her shoulders and
forcefully pushed her forth, even as she resisted by digging her
heals into the rocks. “But of course you