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“Are you not going to tell your sister how dangerous it is to look out of the boat like that?” Catherine asked. “She might fall into the water.”

William grinned. “I very much doubt that. Thank you for your concern.”

Catherine clenched her jaw. Running in the garden was unsafe, but peering over the edge of a boat was not. Her husband’s definition ofsafeseemed to be whichever ideas were his own, and her ideas were allunsafein contrast. It was entirely illogical! And how was she to argue with this man when he insisted on behaving in such an irrational manner?

William brought the boat to a halt, still maintaining some distance between his sisters. “What a splendid idea to go onto the lake today,” he said.

She swore he was being so cheerful just to spite her. Catherine forced a smile and said nothing.

“What? I have just given you praise for your idea,” William said. “A proper lady would thank me for the compliment.”

“I will thank you for your compliments when you sincerely offer one,” Catherine said. “Any person can choose a suitable activity on a beautiful day. That is not something worth praising.”

“I see.” He sighed heavily. “What a shame! I endeavor to make peace with my wife, and she will not accept the proverbial olive branch.”

“For good reason,” she shot back. “Do you know that you are the most contradictory man I have ever had the displeasure of meeting?”

“Have you been in the company of enough men to know if they are contradictory or not?” William asked. “Given your lack of suitors, I am forced to wonder if you have spent much time in the company of men at all.”

“Have you forgotten that I have an elder brother?”

“No. However, your brother does not seem as though he cared to teach you anything about proper behavior. I do not believe he should count,” William said.

“That is precisely what I mean!” Catherine exclaimed. “You make rules about everything, until they no longer suit you. Then, you simply change them! You tell me that one act does not befit a lady and approve of an equally unacceptable act! You declare that I do not know many gentlemen, and when I disapprove that notion, you change your definition ofgentleman!”

William arched an eyebrow. “I have not the faintest idea what you mean.”

“Youdoknow what I mean!” she argued.

“I do not.”

Catherine crossed her arms and looked askance. “I suppose this is your new strategy for making me aproper lady? You intend to argue until I relinquish the fight?”

“Yes, that is it,” he said sarcastically. “You have found me out, my sweet.”

Catherine inwardly bristled. She did not need his empty endearments, which she was certain held no real fondness for her. For a man who had fought so hard for a wife, she believed that he might detest her. At least, that was?—

That was what shewantedto believe. Catherine could not quite say that it was entirely true. He did not detest her; at times, he seemed as though he quite enjoyed her company. It was only that he wanted her to be someone else, would prefer her a different way than she was.

What an ill-matched pair they were!

“I thought you would be pleased to see me,” William continued.

“Pleased?”

“Indeed. You had requested that I spend more time in my sisters’ company, and I have done so. Not all men heed the counsel of their wives as I have.”

Catherine clenched her jaw and refused to look at him. He only heeded her counsel if it might give him the pleasure of upsetting her! And that ought not even be defined asheeding counsel. It was more like he was twisting her own words and actions to suit his own ends.

“Indeed, I would argue that I am an exemplary husbandbecauseI am so willing to listen to you,” he said. “You should be delighted that you have wed such a wonderful man.”

Wonderful! As if she had been given any real choice in the matter! It was either marriage to her or Dorothy, and that was hardly a choice at all. At least, Dorothy had not wed this man, though. Catherine had spared her sister any frustration at having to handle this man and being subjected to his whims and arguments.

But the amorous encounters were…unexpectedly pleasant. Heat flooded her face, and she hoped that William did not notice the way that her cheeks assuredly pinkened when she recalled their most recent encounter. She was certain that proper ladies did not find pleasure whilst being cast over their husbands’ knees and chastised soundly.

William heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Meanwhile, I am being forced to handle a wife who acts as though she detests being a lady. That is a great pity.”

“Perhaps, that is the only woman you deserve,” she said dryly. “You are trying to vex me, so I lash out. Then, you can criticize me for it.”