“No.” She looked out the window again, not wishing to revisit her lonely childhood.
He seemed to sense her aversion to talking about that time and for once did not press. He was silent a moment before saying softly, “Actually, the cat was Richard’s.”
She looked at him, curious.
His wide lips curved into a lopsided smile as if he mocked himself. “Mother doesn’t particularly like cats, but Richard was sickly as a child, and when he took a liking to a kitten in the stables”—he shrugged—“I suppose she made an exception.”
“How much older than you was your brother?” she asked softly.
“Two years.”
“And when he died?”
“Not yet thirty years.” He no longer smiled. “He’d always been weak—he was thin and often had trouble catching his breath—but he took the ague while I was in the Colonies and never quite recovered. Mother didn’t smile for a year after I came home.”
“I’m sorry.”
He turned his palm upward. “It was long ago.”
“And your father was already dead, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
She looked at him, lounging so carelessly in the carriage as he talked about the premature death of his brother and father. “You must have found that hard.”
“I never thought I’d be the viscount even though Richard was always so ill. Somehow everyone in my family thought he would live to beget an heir.” He suddenly looked at her, the corner of his mouth cocked. “He might have been weak of body, but my brother had a strong spirit. He carried himself like a viscount. He could command men.”
“As do you,” she reminded him gently.
He shook his head. “Not as he did. Nor as Reynaud did, for that matter. They were both better leaders than I.”
She found that hard to believe. Vale might mock himself, might like to tell jokes and sometimes play the fool, but other men listened to him. When he entered a room, the very air sizzled. Both men and women were drawn to him like a miniature sun. She wanted to tell him this, wanted to tell him how much she herself admired him, but the fear that she might reveal too much of her own emotions held her back.
The carriage slowed, and she looked out the window to find that they were on Bond Street.
The door opened and Vale jumped to the ground before turning and offering his hand in assistance. She rose and placed her hand in his, feeling the strength of his fingers. She climbed down from the carriage, and Mouse hopped down as well. The street was lined with fashionable shops, and both ladies and gentlemen strolled by the display window Kdispeds.
“Which way do you fancy, my sweet wife?” Vale asked, holding out his arm. “You shall lead and I will follow.”
“Down here a bit, I think,” Melisande replied. “I want to visit a tobacconist first, to purchase some snuff.”
She felt him glance at her. “Are you a fashionable snuff-taker, like our queen?”
“Oh, no.” She wrinkled her nose at the thought before she recalled herself and smoothed out her expression. “It’s for Harold. I always give him a box of his favorite snuff on his birthday.”
“Ah. Lucky Harold, then.”
She glanced up at him. “Do you like snuff?”
“No.” His turquoise eyes were warm as he smiled down at her. “I referred to his fortune in having such a caring sister. If I’d known—”
But his words were cut off by a sharp bark from Mouse. Melisande looked around in time to see the terrier bound from her side and tear across the crowded street.
“Mouse!” She started forward, her eyes on the dog.
“Wait!” Vale grabbed her arm, holding her back.
She pulled her arm. “Let me go! He’ll be hurt.”
Vale yanked her back from the road, just as a big brewer’s cart rumbled by. “Better him than you.”
She could hear shouting across the street, a series of growls, and Mouse barking hysterically.
She turned and placed her palm on Vale’s chest, trying to convey her desperation. “But Mouse—”
Her husband muttered something, then said, “I’ll get the little beast for you, never fear.”
He let a cart pass and then darted into the road. Melisande could now see Mouse across the street, and her heart seized with fear. The terrier was in battle with a huge mastiff at least four times his size. As she watched, the mastiff shook off Mouse and snapped. Mouse skittered away, missing the gaping jaws by inches. Then he charged forward again, fearless as ever. Several boys and men had stopped to watch the fight, some yelling encouragement to the mastiff.
“Mouse!” She looked this time for carriages, horses, and carts as she dashed across the street after Vale. “Mouse!”
Vale reached the dogs just as the mastiff gripped Mouse in its huge jaws. The mastiff lifted Mouse and began shaking him. Melisande felt a scream build in her throat, but strangely no sound came. The bigger dog would break Mouse’s neck if he kept shaking him.
And then Vale brought both fists down on the mastiff’s snout. The big dog backed up a step but didn’t release his prize.
“Oy!” Vale yelled. “Drop it, you devil spawn!”
He hit the dog again just as Mouse twisted wildly in the bigger dog’s grasp. This must’ve been too much, for the mastiff finally dropped Mouse. Kdro ju For a moment, it looked like the massive animal might attack Vale, but her husband aimed a kick at the animal’s flank, and that decided the matter. The bigger dog took off running, much to the crowd’s disappointment. Mouse leapt forward to continue the chase, but Vale grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
“Oh, no, you don’t, you little idiot.”
To Melisande’s horror, Mouse twisted in Vale’s hold and sank his teeth into his hand.
“No, Mouse!” She reached for her pet.
But Vale held her off with his other arm. “Don’t. He’s mad with temper and might bite you as well.”
“But—”
He turned, one hand still holding the dog that was biting him, and looked at her. His eyes were a deep blue now and held only a certainty of purpose; his face was more stern than she’d ever seen it, dark and lined and with no trace of amusement. It came to her that this must be what he looked like when he’d ridden into battle.
His voice was as cold as the North Sea. “Listen to me. You are my wife, and I’ll not see you hurt, even if it makes me your enemy. There can be no compromise in this matter.”