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Page 181
"You do not care what I suffer or what I fear so long as you can kill men," she spat.
The bitter, jealous words conceived in Geoffrey's heart by Joanna's action, died in his throat. He stared at her, his mouth open a little with surprise. Then he got slowly to his feet. "My love," he said very gently, "you never gave me any reason to think you would suffer for my hurt or fear for my loss."
Color mounted into Joanna's face. "Silent suffering is the natural state of a wife, is it not?" she asked defensively.
Geoffrey struggled against a desire to smile, which he knew would be disastrous. It was far from the natural state of most wives in King John's court. For the most part, they would have thought it a rare treat to see their husbands hung by the thumbs. But Joanna would know nothing of that. Geoffrey thought of the women she knew wellher own mother, who looked as if she would eat her husband every time she laid eyes upon him; Isobel, countess of Pembroke, who watched the breath in and out of her William's mouth lest he utter a sigh she might miss; Ela, his own stepmother who, for all her loud complaints and constant whining, would cut out her own heart and hand it to Salisbury if he wanted it.
"Do not blame me for what is doubly not my fault," he pleaded, when he saw her eyes still bright with anger. "I am a man, and I have been bred to war. Would you rather I sat cowering, fearing to live each day lest I be called to bear arms? Also, the wars are none of my making."
Joanna dropped her head and did not resist when Geoffrey drew her back into his arms. It was true. She would have hated him if he were a coward. It was unreasonable, then, to blame him for taking pleasure in what he had been trained for all his life. When he lifted her face to his, she yielded, meeting his lips willingly. After a moment her arms went up around his neck and her lips parted, opening the warm haven of her mouth to his questing tongue. Geoffrey's hands slipped down her back to her buttocks, pressed her against him, relaxed, pressed her close again. Uncon-

 
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