Ellie followed. She didn't have much choice, really. He left the room in quite a hurry, and since her wrist was now attached to his hand, she went with him. She wasn't certain where they were going—probably to the first chamber he found with enough privacy for him to rail at her without anyone else hearing.

Blue room, indeed.

Chapter 8

Much to Ellie's surprise, the room Charles eventually pulled her into actually was decorated in blue. She looked around her—taking in the blue sofas, blue drapes—and then let her eyes slide to the floor, which was covered with a blue-and-white carpet.

“Have you anything to say for yourself?” Charles demanded.

Ellie said nothing, temporarily mesmerized by the interlocking pattern on the carpet.

“Ellie,” he growled.

Her head snapped back up. “I beg your pardon?”

Charles looked as if he wanted to shake her. Hard. “I said,” he repeated, “have you anything to say for yourself?”

She blinked and replied, “This room is quite blue.”

He just stared at her, clearly at a loss as to how to respond.

“I didn't think you were serious about taking me to the blue room,” she explained. “I thought you merely wanted to take me somewhere where you might yell at me.”

“I do want to yell at you,” he ground out.

“Yes,” she mused. “That much is clear. Although I must say that I'm not entirely certain why…”

“Eleanor!” he fairly roared, “You had your head in an oven!”

“Of course I did,” she replied. “I was fixing it. You'll be quite pleased once you start receiving proper toast for breakfast.”

“I will not be pleased, I could not care less about the toast, and you will never enter the kitchens again.”

Ellie's hands found their way to her hips. “You, sir, are an idiot.”

“Have you ever seen a person with his hair on fire?” Charles demanded, jabbing his finger into her shoulder. “Have you?”

“Of course not, but—”

“I have, and it was not a pretty sight.”

“I don't imagine it was, but—”

“I'm not certain what ultimately caused the poor fellow's death, the burns or the pain.”

Ellie swallowed, trying not to visualize the disaster. “I'm terribly sorry for your friend, but—”

“His wife went insane. Said she heard his screams at night.”

“Charles!”

“Good God, I had no idea having a wife would be this disruptive. And only one day into marriage.”

“You are being needlessly insulting. And I can assure you that—”

He sighed and rolled his eyes heavenward as he interrupted her. “Was it so much to hope that my life could continue as peacefully as before?”

“Will you let me speak!” Ellie finally burst out.

He shrugged in a deceptively casual manner. “Go right ahead.”

“You needn't be so pointlessly macabre,” she said. “I have been fixing ovens my entire life. I didn't grow up with servants and luxuries and the like. If we were to eat supper, I had to cook it. And if the oven didn't work, I had to fix it.”