DeButy & the Beast by Linda Jones

own personal maid," she said. "No one else seems to want me."
    "Perhaps you have trouble keeping a personal maid because you break things and threaten those around you with physical violence."
    "No," she said matter-of-factly. "They do not like me because I am different."
    "You know," Julian said, seizing the opportunity that presented itself. "If you would dress properly and take to heart all the manners and ways I teach you, you will soon not be so different."
    Anya's easy smile faded. "I could make myself look like my cousin and my grandmother and all the other women who live in this part of the world, but inside..." She raised a fist to her chest. "Inside I will always be different."
    He was almost certain he saw the gleam of a tear in her eye before she spun around and stalked into the sitting room.
    * * *
    Her husband did like her. He might not admit to such a fault, but he did like her. She had known it from the moment she had first laid eyes on him. From the moment he had first laid eyes on her.
    She needed to be with someone who liked her. Even if it was in this way, where she sat in a chair by the window trying to read a boring novel she had already read twice, and he sat at the desk across the room and furiously scribbled notes on a sheet of paper.
    Julian must not leave when the time came. He must not leave her in this house where she was called beast and whore and barbarian. Sometimes she was called these names to her face, but usually they were whispered behind her back by the servants. She heard, though. She always heard.
    She had to convince Julian to stay, and she knew of only one way to tie him to her. Only one way to persuade him that he could not live without her.
    She dropped her reading and began to take the pins from her hair.
    At the sound of the book hitting the floor, Julian lifted his head and laid his eyes on her.
    One strand at a time, her hair came spilling down. "These pins are giving me a headache. No wonder Valerie is always in such a foul mood."
    "I can imagine," Julian said softly. He still had not returned his attention to his work.
    "Are all women in this country so... so..." She ruffled the loosened strands and let them fall around her body. "Disagreeable?"
    "Of course not," Julian answered. "Most women are perfectly agreeable. I'm sure Valerie is a lovely person, in the right circumstances."
    "You have known many women," she said, knowing in her heart of hearts that it was not so. "You have taken many beautiful women to your bed."
    Julian returned his eyes to the paper before him and scribbled something new. "Not really," he said, his voice low.
    "But you are handsome and strong," she protested. "Surely many women have offered themselves to you."
    Julian took a deep breath, as he often did when he was disturbed. "It is important for you to realize that proper women do not offer themselves to anyone. To do so would be undignified and morally wrong."
    "Even if the man a woman offers herself to is her husband?"
    He swallowed hard. "We have had this discussion before, Anya."
    "But I still do not understand."
    "When my books arrive later this week, I will give you some pamphlets to read. They explain everything."
    "I want you to explain—" Anya stood and walked toward her husband. He tensed with every step she took—"why here it is not proper for a man and woman to come together as they have from the beginning of time, as they do around the world? With power and pleasure and a divine unity."
    He blushed. "We are better men."
    "Or simply foolish men," she countered. "What do you gain by your chastity?"
    "The energy expended in marital relations can be better used in thought," he said calmly. "In truth, the only reason for a husband and wife to submit to their sexual powers is for reproduction. In denying their sexual selves they can discover the joys of a true, pure friendship." A small muscle in his jaw twitched. He was not able to meet her eye. "This is best for everyone, as misuse of and