“I’ll not sit by while you bring William down,” he said, shaking a finger at her. “Know I have my eye on you. Be warned, I will discover your secrets.”
“I have no secrets.”At least none you will ever find out.
Edmund barked a laugh and leaned back in his chair, his mood changing once again. “Perhaps another woman will divert him in time. If William wants a woman who takes pleasure in bed, there are many to oblige him.”
She looked up, unable to hide the question in her eyes.
“Not yet, but he is bound to,” he said with a grim smile. “If he gets another woman with child now that he is wed to you, he will hate himself. And he’ll not forgive you for driving him to it. William wants no bastards.”
In her mind’s eye, she saw William as he was on that first night, his eyes burning with ferocious intensity.I want children, and I will have them only with my wife.
She lifted her chin. “No man hopes for children outside of marriage.”
A look of surprise crossed his face, then shifted to smug satisfaction. He stood and leaned over the table.
“You do not know, do you, Catherine?” he said, a mocking smile on his face.
She glared up at him, refusing to ask what he meant.
“William has not told you who his father is, has he?”
“ ’Tis FitzAlan,” she blurted out, “is it not?”
“If William has not told you who his true father is, then he has told you nothing that matters.” He shook his head. “I feared lust had blinded his good judgment, but I was wrong. He trusts you not at all.”
Edmund went to the door, then turned to give her his parting words. “ ’Tis an open secret who his father is,” he said. “You must be the only one in the realm who does not know it.”
Hours later, Catherine was still angry and upset about the encounter with Edmund as she sat in the kitchen garden watching Jamie. He was following a kitchen maid from plant to plant, asking questions as the girl gathered herbs.
How dare Edmund corner her and speak to her like that! She tried not to think about what he actually said. The hateful man. But she could not help it. Who was William’s father? If all of England and Scotland knew, why would he keep it secret from her?
Jamie grew bored with the herbs and hopped around pretending to be a bunny. When he tired of that, he came over and tugged at her arm.
“Can we go up?” he said, pointing to the top of the wall. “Please?”
He wanted her to take him up to the walkway that ran along the top of the wall. Her spirits lifted at the suggestion. The weather was glorious, and the view of the Wye River curving through the lush green hills was breathtaking from up there.
“You must promise not to let go of my hand this time,” she told him sternly. “Otherwise, I shall not take you.”
As soon as they were up on the walkway, she felt herself relax. The light breeze and the late afternoon sun felt good on her skin. She could not remember a lovelier day.
She undid the circlet and net that held her hair and carefully set them on a low square of the crenellated wall. A married woman was required to keep her hair covered, but there was no one to see her. The men patrolling the wall were on the far side of the castle, near the gatehouse. William and the other men were not expected before dark.
It had been years since she felt the wind blow her hair. The sense of freedom it gave her made her want to sing with joy.
“Your hair looks pretty,” Jamie said, beaming up at her.
She lifted him up and kissed him soundly.
They walked first along the south wall, facing the river. They took their time, stopping to look at birds and watch the peasants toiling in the fields. When they reached the west wall, the sun was low on the horizon over the hills. It cast a warm glow on the stone walls and the fields below.
She lifted Jamie onto a low part of the wall for a better look.
“There they are!” Jamie shouted.
She squinted against the sun and saw the line of men riding toward the castle. She could pick out William, riding at the front. As she watched, the riders veered from the path and rode across the field toward them.
Jamie waved and several of the men waved back.