Chapter 13: Dinner

Ty headed to the apartment.

He fumed the whole way there. He entered the apartment and went and knocked on Willow door, “Willow the King has requested your presence, I’m to take you back.”

Willow yelled at him, “Piss-off.”

Ty sighed and tried the door. To his surprise, she hadn’t locked it, so he went in. She was lying face down on her bed. He rolled her back onto his arm, slid the other under her legs and picked her up.

She struggled, “Put me down,” she ground out. She was very upset and wasn’t ready to forgive Ty.

Ty hugged her to his chest. “Shush Kitten, shush,” he crooned.

She calmed and lay quiet in his arms. He walked her back to his room and sat on the bed. He released her legs onto the bed and hugged her. For several minutes, he just rocked her silently.

He kissed her gently on the forehead. He sighed out softly, “Gods you stir the beast in me girl. I don’t know what to do with you.”

He put his hand under her chin and lifted her head. The tears nearly broke his heart. He kissed them away, and she ducked her head into his chest. Still, she didn’t put her arms around him as she normally would. He had really upset her.

“I’m sorry Kitten, I shouldn’t have accused you like that,” he said tenderly.

“No, you shouldn’t have,” she said belligerently. She wasn’t ready to forgive that easily.

“Will you tell me about the will?” he asked.

She shook her head but didn’t look at him. She was behaving like Bethany when he barked, before asking her why.

He smoothed his hand and over her mussed-up hair, “Gods you are so beautiful Kitten. You have some bloody control over me. The women in your family aren’t witches are they?”

Willow giggled despite herself.

Ty smiled, “Now you tell me you’re a witch! I should have known it. So my little witch what am I to do with you. How do I break your spell?”

Willow shook her head. “I’m not a witch. Well, I don’t think I am. Now my great-grandmother Heather, everyone says she was a witch,” she told him seriously.

Ty laughed. He hugged her to him and then lifted her chin and kissed her gently on her luscious lips. Looking at her seriously he said, “I really am sorry for upsetting you, Kitten.”

He kissed her softly again and then a bit more firmly. Finally, she opened her mouth for him. He kissed her harder, and her arm snuck up around his neck. She finally returned his kisses.

He knew she lied about not wanting him. She couldn’t make love to him as she did if she didn’t want him. He had learnt the difference over time. They had been bloody hard lessons, but he had learnt.

Ty released her lips. He lightly ran his thumb down her cheek and across her lips to her lovely little chin, “Kitten, if I don’t stop, you will end up ravaged. How do I explain that to the King? He truly did send me to get you, he told me to grovel if I have to. Do I need to grovel?”

Willow nodded a ‘yes’.

Ty laughed and hugged her back into his very aroused body. He loved having Willow in his lap and in his arms. He missed the relaxed weeks on her farm when he could touch her whenever he wished. He missed her coming up to him and snuggling into his embrace.

“You’re bloody adorable you know that? Come on let’s get you tidied up. You look like some beast has been mauling you,” he said. Willow looked at him. She wished she had the courage to tell him she loved him, but she held back. He didn’t want her to love him.

He wanted her body, but not her love. She was sad and wanted to cry again, but tears didn’t solve anything. She wiggled off his lap and went to the bathroom. She freshened up her face and brushed her hair quickly. She walked out to find Ty standing in the other room looking pensive. She walked past and headed back to the dining room.

Willow didn’t take his arm. Clasping her hands in front of her, she walked briskly. Ty walked beside her but stayed quiet. She still hadn’t forgiven him, and he didn’t really blame her. If he was trying to push her away, he was doing a good job.

Willow went straight to the King and bowed. She apologised for her silliness. The King said, “You are forgiven dear, he can make me cry too.”

Willow giggled at his silliness. The King shifted his chair over and told Ty to bring Willow’s chair up here beside him. Ty dutifully grabbed her chair and placed it beside the King.

He was further down the table towards the middle, but he should still be able to hear what they talked about, as it was his job. One of the servants grabbed her plate and cutlery and quickly placed it in front of her.

She had missed the soup, and the shellfish was being served. She had never been a big shellfish eater so she mostly only ate the garnish. She was quiet and listened to the chatter around the table.

As the serving came to an end, the ambassador sitting on her left asked her, “Lady Terrell, Princess Ulani informed me you own the estate near where we camped, is this so?”

Willow looked at him from under her lashes, she didn’t like his pompousness but she had to play nice. “I own the land you were camped on as well, Ambassador.”

“Oh, were we supposed to gain your permission first?”

She gave him a small smile, “That would have been difficult as I was several days ahead of you.”

He nodded. “I understand that most of the nadack we buy is actually from yours and Sir Dwyer’s farms.”

He looked as if he expected an answer, but as far as Willow was concerned, he simply made a statement. She stayed silent.

“Hmm well, do you plan to plant more fields and increase your crop?” he tried again. He had noticed a lot of barren fields as they travelled through her lands and wondered why they were no longer under cultivation.

This time, Willow answered, “My father would have expanded the field’s years ago, but he was unable to acquire more land.”

“Oh! Do you know who owns the land?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered, but didn’t elaborate.

The ambassador was getting irritated with the conversation. The young lady was not very forthcoming about her affairs. He tried again, “Can you buy the land?”

“No,” Willow answered and took a sip from the glass of water in front of her. She knew that she was being obtuse, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. She was still cranky at Ty, and this man’s attitude was not endearing him to her at all.

“Why not?” asked the ambassador, his frustration clearly showing to the amusement of the people listening.

She smiled sweetly, “Because I own it.”

In frustration, he said, as if talking to a belligerent child, “If you own it, then why didn’t your father expand?”

“Because, I didn’t own it, until after my father and my mother were brutally murdered,” she told him coldly.

“Oh!” said the ambassador completely flummoxed.

The King butted in. “Lady Willow, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you acquire the land after your parents died and how much land did you acquire?” He hadn’t been privy to Sara’s gossip.

Willow looked down the table at Ty, “About five weeks ago, I received a note asking me to visit a lawyer here in Bavindor regarding my mother’s will. To my knowledge, she didn’t have one.”

“This morning, I received a second note from the lawyer, and I realised I had forgotten about the first note. So I went and met with a Baron David Karlson.” She took a sip from her water glass, realising the whole table was waiting for the rest of the story.

“Baron Karlson informed me that the will wasn’t my mother’s but my grandfathers, the Earl of Terville.”

She heard the King gasp. He looked at her in shock. He knew part of her mother’s history but hadn’t known that Willow was her daughter. She never came to Bavindor.

The Earl had said his daughter had died in the country. He had refused to name her husband. He now realised the granddaughter Wilhelmina he had been looking for was, in fact, Willow.

Willow continued, “I had never met the man. I didn’t know that I was related to him, so it meant nothing to me. Apparently, he was a bit of an uncompromising man and had cut my mother off because he didn’t approve of my father.”

She turned to the King, “In spite, he made the will so I wouldn’t be able to inherit while my parents still lived. He sold off his properties here in Bavindor and purchased all the spare land that surrounded his and my father estates so my father couldn’t expand.”

She know looked at the ambassador, “So now I own the land I need, and yes Ambassador, I am planning to use my grandfather’s money to expand my parent’s estate, I think it only fitting, don’t you?”

The ambassador suddenly realised he was not dealing with a simple girl. The hard look in her eyes told him she was a force to be reckoned with. She had played him like a fish. He had a feeling he wasn’t the only one. There was a message to someone else at the table he was sure.