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man's devotion do not blazon his infidelity to his wife's face. Such stupidity breeds quarrels that make a man unhappy, and a wife has an edge in such a contest. Only a mistress very, very sure of her hold on her love might spitefully so bait a wife. But none of those women had fast hold on Geoffrey nor pretended to have. They talked of him as if he sprang from bed to bed with the agility of an acrobat and the slipperiness of an eel. Their purpose, then, could only be that she should know of his affairsbut why? A single jealous woman might wish to make her unhappy out of spite, but none of these women even pretended to be heart-touched, most of them obviously liked Geoffrey, and some of them even seemed to like her. |
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The answer had to be that they did Isabella's will. Only the queen had the power to produce such unanimity of action. Joanna turned flat on her back, staring upward into the gathering point of her bed curtains. After a moment she shook her head. She did not blame Isabella's ladies, not even those who were friendly to her. It was all a joke to them; they did not conceive that it was wrong. And Isabella was an idiot! For some reason, the woman had hated Geoffrey ever since he was a child and doubtless this was one more attempt to make him unhappy. Isabella thinks to make me hate him for what he did before he was mine, Joanna realized, and perhaps she even hopes to turn me into a whore to spite him. |
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That made Joanna grina smile that would have made her betrothed very uneasy if he had seen it. Now he is mine, Joanna thought, I had sooner tame him, even if I must geld him to do it, than to spite him by soiling myself. And then she laughed softly. Thinking back on her mother's furious accusations and Ian's anguished protests made Joanna very sure Geoffrey did not look elsewhere just now. Nonetheless, when Lady Ela arrived a week later, Joanna flew to her arms as to a haven. |
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''I see the long tongues have been wagging already," Lady Ela said as soon as they were able to find a corner in which to be private. |
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"I do not believe them," Joanna flashed passionately. |
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