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Page 291
Rhiannon bit her lip. She knew quite well that Simon expected her to reply, Then do not act that way, which would pave the path for a violent quarrel in which his tensions could be released. Unfortunately, Rhiannon did not feel she could give him the outlet he desired. The house Ian and Alinor had rented contained only the solar and the hall above the vaulted ground floor. Menservants and men-at-arms slept below, while the family and maids and some of Joanna's and Gilliane's children were distributed between the hall and solar above.
This was not the place for an argument, Rhiannon decided. Simon might not care who heard him, but Rhiannon was a private person. She simply could not quarrel where everyone could hear. A quarrel, however, was not the only way to relieve tensions. Rhiannon made her eyes large and allowed her lips to droop.
"You are trying to quarrel with me," she said tragically. "You really do think it would be unnatural to make love to me in a bed."
Simon had opened his mouth to say, quite furiously, that he had no intention of quarreling with her, but the second sentence struck him mute.
"You have avoided me altogether, ever since we came to Roselynde," Rhiannon went on dramatically.
This passionate statement was made with a total disregard for the real truth, although it was quite factual. They had not slept together after their last night on the road. However, it was Rhiannon's fault that they had not been together that first night at Roselynde. Although she had Alinor's permission, she found herself too shy to walk boldly down the stairs, across the hall where the menservants slept, and into Simon's chamber. She knew quite well it was impossible for him to come to her. No man but Ian, except under very special circumstances, was permitted into the women's quarters of Roselynde keep. Simon had not been

 
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