I sat on the settee and watched his approach, hearing the strong cadence of his sandaled feet hitting the tile in a manner that was remarkably but oddly, in that moment, soothing.

He cleared the entryway, saying, “Excellent. You did not disrobe.”

I felt my head twitch and was no longer soothed.

Had he lost his mind?

“My king—”

He arrived at me and wasted not a moment pulling the pen from my fingers.

He tossed it to the table in front of me.

“Excuse me!” I snapped.

He pulled the book upon which was the letter I was writing out of my hands and the book landed with a thud on the table while the parchment floated there.

“Well!” I cried.

And then I went stone still as he planted a fist in the cushion on either side of my hips and he was all I could see.

“If you address me as ‘my king’ one more time, I will redden your arse to the point you will not be able to sit for a week,” he warned low.

Of all the…

“You are my king,” I retorted heatedly.

“Do not try me, Silence. My wife has denied herself to me for a week, and I am in no mood.”

He…

He…

He was in no mood?

And he was accusing me of denying myself to him?

He’d walked away from me!

“Well, by all means,” I hissed. “Take what is yours, husband.”

His anger wafted over me like a wave of heat.

“This is trying me,” he cautioned.

“Well, perhaps I should force you to have dinner with one of my old lovers so you will know the definition of trying,” I retorted. “No, wait. Strike that. There are none I could try you with.”

“Her clan is the most powerful of my realm, outside my own, and she has the eye of the eldest son of the baron, that being the man who will inherit the title. So, although she is venomous as sport, she is not someone I care to bother with right now.”

“But you did care to invite her to dinner,” I returned.

“It would be impolitic not to.”

“Regardless of the fact this meant your wife would have to sit opposite a woman who knows you as intimately as she does.”

“Ines is nowhere near knowing me as intimately as you do,” he growled.

“Truly, Mars,” I bit. “Although there is no possibility of this happening, I suggest you consider how it would feel with the shoe on the other foot. I mean, can you not understand how insulting it was for you to expect me to dine with that woman?”

“It is good we are talking about insults now for there is another one I prefer to discuss,” he shot back.

I felt my skin start to burn.

“I’m seeing you did not come up here to share your regret at your behavior toward me that set this off between us,” I noted.