A Flame Run Wild by Christine Monson

could also persuade her to like the part of him that was Alexandre, he might reveal himself entirely. Not bedding her gave him a valuable way to manage her. If he did not consummate their marriage she knew he could always get rid of her if she gave him too much trouble. She did not have to know just how much trouble it would cause him not to pull her into his arms—and into his bed. "Shall we go down to dinner?" he murmured. Liliane looked startled, then dismayed. Not for want of his attentions, he warranted.
    "Milord. If you will give me a moment to dress?"
    The robe dropped to the floor and his resolution almost went with it. She could not continue to bait him if he was to keep his hands off her tonight and the nights to come. His mind in a whirl, Alexandre adopted a tone of prudery. "Madame, if you know not modesty, pray learn its virtue or I will send you for instructions to the Sisters of Avignon!" Nearly driven to desperation, he swiftly left the room.
    With a low, heartfelt cry of frustration, Liliane kicked the bath bucket over.

Chapter 4
    ~
    The Intractable Lady

    Castle de Brueil
    Next day
    L iliane was up at cockcrow to continue her inspection of the demesne and to explore the beach. To her chagrin, when she went to the stable for her stallion, two castellans mounted to accompany her. An attempt to dismiss them would avail her little; they took their orders from Alexandre. By noon, she had completed her tour but refused to ruin her first enjoyment of the beach by towing a pair of burly bodyguards with her. Demurely pleading a call of nature, she directed her stallion into the small woodland bordering the village near the castle. In minutes, she emerged from the other side of the wood and galloped down to the shore.
    The castellans waited for some time before sheepishly reporting to Alexandre. They found him troweling mortar and resetting stones in an old byre, and their reception was blistering. Leaving them to finish the byre with its muck and stench, Alexandre rode off to find his errant lady.
    When Liliane looked up to see Alexandre pounding down the beach on his big sorrel, she knew she could outrun him on the black; but to do so would only be foolish. She wanted no one with her now, wanted to hear no human voice. For this brief moment, she had harkened only to the singing voice of the turquoise sea, the same sea that touched Malaga, her home with Diego. Across the shining black pebbles, Alexandre came surely and swiftly. The shore line was irregular, not so rocky as Malaga's, but with steep cliffs rising above calm inlets, protecting the smooth beaches from the fierce storms. This gold and blue shoreline was giving her a peace that she was not eager to have disturbed.
    Alexandre reined up with a clatter of pebbles. "Why did you leave your escort?" he demanded curtly. He was flushed and perspiring, more so than the early spring warmth warranted.
    "I wanted privacy, milord," Liliane replied, waving a hand at the foaming surf and low wind-shirred white clouds. "Your castellans are polite but not poetic."
    "My castellans are not obliged to be poetic but to be guarding you."
    "For what purpose, milord?" she countered. "To keep me safe . . . or you?"
    He ignored her implication. "Hereafter, milady, you will go" nowhere alone. The castellans have been punished, so I warrant you they will be less easy to lose next time." Alexandre leaned over his saddle pommel, "And if there is a next time, you will be confined to the castle."
    Liliane's crimson cheeks matched his. "Do you intend to treat me as a prisoner, sir?"
    "I will be obeyed, lady. How you are treated is entirely up to you." His eyes took in her boy's attire with a scathing glance. "I told you I would not have my wife appear before my people in unseemly dress. Wear that garb again and I will burn it!" With that, he sharply motioned her to ride before him back to the castle.
    The hard glint in his eyes warned her not to try his patience now. She wondered if he