Unbidden (The Evolution Series) by Jill Hughey

was headstrong , and stubborn, and hugely naive, but he had to admire her controlled reaction to being forced into the world of imperial politics. Louis had completely blindsided her today – thanks to her spineless mother – but she’d done her best to protect her own interests, as hopeless as that had been. She’d raised her voice only once, when the emperor had mentioned a convent. He smiled thinking about it. She had not dissolved into weeping or whining or theatrics. In truth, she had physically wavered only once, when her feet were numb from kneeling.
    She kept her back straight and hadn’t cowered from any man, no matter how superior to her in rank or size . Her neighbor’s reasoning did not sway her. Theo had only angered her with sentimental talk of her father. Only the very harshest facts impressed the precariousness of her situation on her. Submit, or lose the thing you value most in your life.
    The dose would be bitter to swallow for anyone . He knew men who would have wept on Louis’s hem if he’d made such a spectacle of them. Not Rochelle.
    And David’s physical attraction to her continued to increase . When he’d held her beside him as they’d exited the aula palatina, he could feel the trim strength of her body but also gentle curves, a mere suggestion of a woman’s softness beneath the layers of her clothing. Her eyes had flashed and her cheeks pinkened as they’d argued in the square. She would be mortified to know his thoughts of matrimony were solidifying to the point of distraction.
    After a life of relative sexual solitude, the idea of spending night upon night in a real bed with a receptive woman nearly brought tears to his eyes . Of course, getting Rochelle into said bed would undoubtedly require days or weeks of persuasion. He was a patient man, accustomed to biding his time for the precise right moment to attack and conquer. The first maneuver in this conquest was about to be completed.
    He glanced at Rochelle . Her fingers worried the embroidered edge of her cloak. Did she even know what she would be asked to do in the chapel?  In practice, a betrothal was usually negotiated between the prospective husband and the father of the prospective bride. As Rochelle had no living male relative, the emperor had taken the opportunity to act on her behalf, and according to Theo’s explanation of the terms, had been reasonable in his treatment of her. She would never have to leave Alda as long as she and David were married, or as long as the politics of the empire didn’t go entirely to hell.
    It was rather odd, now that he thought about it, that she had retained Alda after her father’s death . Louis would have been quite within his rights to simply give it to any man of his choosing. David suspected Theo’s machinations behind the protection of Rochelle and her mother.
    Rochelle paused, staring at the lions’ heads decorating the heavy bronze door to the chapel . On a normal day, David would have stopped with her to study the metalwork, but this was no ordinary day. He sensed that he should keep Rochelle moving through the betrothal process so her rationalizing didn’t carry her into trouble again. He opened the door to an immense rectangular atrium, with light marble floors and marble veneer on the walls. A nervous clerk awaited them there, fairly hopping from one foot to the other in agitation. Behind him, far at the other end, stood the octagonal chapel.
    “Oh , praise God,” the thin balding man clamored as they approached. “I was beginning to think I would have to go back there with the document unsigned .”  He wiped his sweaty forehead with a corner of his cloak, knocking his tattered cap slightly askew. “All is in an uproar since Nijmegan. A month ago, I did not know if I would be a clerk to the emperor or have my eyes yanked out by his sons for not joining their rebellion. Such times to live in,” he lamented.
    David could not resist some teasing . “Puts marriage into