Broken Dove (Fantasyland #4)(81)

Pink crept in her cheeks as she looked away.

“Sit for a hand?” Draven asked, gathering the cards to shuffle them.

“I would like nothing more, but, you see, my lady and I were set upon only two nights’ past and my children last night, so I’m afraid I won’t have my mind on the cards.”

The men looked at each other, grinning, and Maddie quickly got to her feet.

“I’ll get you an ale. Or do you want wine?” she asked.

She asked this to him, he knew, however, strangely, she didn’t ask his face.

She asked his chest.

“Wine, dove,” he told her.

“There’s a lady, um…in the kitchens. She says she’s to cook and serve. I’ve told her the men are staying for dinner,” she shared, this time to his shoulder.

This did not please him. He’d wished to dine alone with her. However, he did not share this with her in a room full of his men.

What also didn’t please him was that, for some reason, she seemed unable to meet his eyes.

“I hope she told you her name is Cristiana and she’s to keep this house for you, Maddie,” he murmured.

She nodded, and she did this to his ear.

What in bloody hell?

When she didn’t move, he prompted, “Wine would be warming, poppy.”

Her eyes flitted through his before she skirted him and moved quickly down the hall.

He watched her until his attention was taken with the outer door opening. He looked over his shoulder to see Achilles and Gaston joining them.

“The children,” he said to them.

“Laures and Hans are patrolling the grounds,” Achilles stated, walking in and stopping close to Apollo. “You’ve spent the day with your children and there’s much to be discussed.”

Apollo nodded and moved into the room. This commenced their discussion which took them through dinner.

And through this, when his mind wasn’t on the matters at hand, it was on the fact that Maddie was there, but she wasn’t.

That was to say, she was there, smiling, answering a question if one was aimed at her from one from the men, talking to them softly, even laughing twice at something Remi had to say.

What she wasn’t was giving any indication she knew Apollo existed.

The only time he forced his existence on her was when Cristiana cleared the dishes. This was because Maddie rose to help her, but when she neared him, Apollo caught her hand and forced her into the chair beside him, a chair vacated by Gaston, who had gone to the main house.

He leaned into her and shared, “Lady Ulfr does not clear.”

She turned wide eyes to him then moved them through him and nodded.

It was at that point that his bemusement at her behavior turned to annoyance.

And this annoyance escalated when they moved from the dining table to the sitting room with their whiskeys (though Maddie was still drinking wine) and she continued to be jovial and animated with his men but distant with him to the point of ignoring him.

Thus he was glad when the business was concluded, the plans made, the men had their orders and they took their leave.

Apollo and Maddie saw them to the door.

And the minute the last farewell was thrown she ducked by him and moved into the house.

Much more slowly, he followed her.

Further irritating him, he found her tidying the glasses in the sitting room.

Her eyes slid through him once again as she passed him and he watched her walk to the kitchen.

He walked into the room, sat and took a deep calming breath.

She returned, her eyes avoiding his, but she bent not close, but not far, to grab a glass.

He bent deep, to grab her hips.

He then sat back, taking her with him, and planted her arse in his lap.

She stiffened completely except to look at his face then drop her gaze to his throat.

“What did I say about clearing?” he asked softly.

Her teeth appeared to worry her lip a brief moment before they disappeared and she mumbled, “Sorry.”

He kept his voice soft when he queried, “Is there something amiss?”

“Amiss?” she queried back, but she asked his ear.

He gave her a gentle shake. “Maddie. Look at me.”

Her eyes, with difficulty and two damned much time, finally found his.

There was fear in them.

Bloody hell, did he frighten her last night with his lovemaking?

On this thought, he gentled his tone further and slid his hand up her spine to her neck, pulling her down to him as his other arm rounded her waist and he remarked, “You’re behaving strangely tonight.”

“Um…” she mumbled but said no more.

“Maddie,” he prompted.

Her eyes started to drift away but his hand tightened on her neck and they shot back.

But she said not a word.

“Madeleine,” he growled, his gentle tone slipping as did his patience.

“I’m not crazy,” she whispered.

He blinked at this bizarre declaration. “Pardon?”

She shook her head sharply then announced, “You’re being very cool.”

Another bizarre declaration.

When she did not explain, cautiously he asked, “How am I being very…cool?”

“Not bringing it up or flipping out about it. I mean, sure, right after, you slit his throat but you’re a dude in a parallel universe. You cut off Pol’s hand. Gutted that other dude. Then there was the neck slice you delivered to that other other dude. I’m getting that here, things are a little bit more vio—”