Lamont ignored the girl at first, assuming she would return to the dining room and leave him in peace.

Instead, he suddenly found his book snatched away. What was worse, she closed it, meaning he would have to find the page he was reading later. Instantly, he was on his feet; his height was between Kiara's and Ostus's. "How outrageously rude of you!" he shouted. "You don't just take a man's book while he's still reading it! Return it to me this instant!"

His face turned read partly out of anger but primarily out of embarrassment. Of course she wasn't going to return the book, but he wasn't sure what else to do. He didn't want to appear childish by trying to snatch the book back or calling a guard, and he certainly did not want to use physical force against her. Instead, he stood there seething, eyeing the book, angry at himself. He had been walked on his entire life by his brothers, his parents, and citizens. He had hoped, almost prayed, that it would be different with his wife simply because she was not from Berinike, but now he realized that she was just like all the others. What would a normal person do in this situation? If he didn't think of something soon, she would find him completely incompetent.

Lamont blushed in spite of himself when she mentioned sons, and he wished he could crawl into a hole somewhere to hide his apparent weakness from her. Men weren't supposed to blush, especially not over such masculine concepts like conceiving heirs. It annoyed him that she had already brought the subject up.

"I am in no rush to create any sons with you or anyone else," he grumbled as he sat back down, deciding it was better than continuing to stand there like a dumbfounded idiot.

She sat down next to him, casting him a strange look, and he wondered if there was something in her eye.

Lamont frowned when she spoke again, his eyes narrowing the more she rambled on. "You're lying," he snapped. "You wish to know nothing about me, otherwise your first impression wouldn't be like a firestorm bursting through the doors." The smile she carried and the tone of voice she used was just like his mother's; he had a lifetime to know when someone was patronizing him. "Quit pretending you like me; it sickens me."

He rose to his feet and stepped away, moving to gaze out another window. He knew if he was more like his brothers and father, she probably would be genuinely interested in him. HIs brothers seemed to know how to attract a woman's attention. However, he was not like his brothers and they were now all dead, so he had to put up with the situation he was stuck with.

"I suspect my mother sent you here," Lamont said curtly. "This is probably a test for you, isn't it. You worry about how your relationship with my parents will stand if you do not return to the dining room with me." He looked over his shoulder at her. "Am I correct?"

Then he sighed, moving back towards Kiara to retrieve his gloves. "If that is the case and if you would have told me that from the beginning," he grumbled as he slipped them on, "we would already be halfway through this wretched lunch by now."