She and William scrambled to the floor for their clothes. Catherine slipped her gown over her head and jumped back into the bed just as William reached the door.
“Jamie!” William called out in greeting. Scooping Jamie up with one arm, he brought him over to the bed.
“Did Mother make you take a rest, too?” Jamie asked, rubbing his eye with his fist.
William nodded. “I suspect she will make me go to bed early tonight as well.”
“ ’Tis best to just do what she wants,” Jamie said, his blue eyes wide and knowing.
William could not keep back his smile. “I will do everything she asks.” He caught Catherine’s eye over the boy’s head. “And then I will do it all again, just to be sure I’ve got it right.”
Chapter Fourteen
The next morning, Catherine suggested they take Stephen riding to show him some of the nearby area. It was another lovely summer day, and it felt good to be outside the confines of the castle walls. She maneuvered her horse so that she and William rode behind the others.
“Stephen is a charming lad,” she said.
“Charming?” William said in a sour tone. “What good is that?”
She laughed. “Stephen will need it! Something about him tells me he has a talent for getting into trouble. He’s already gone into the village without telling anyone.”
“That seems harmless.”
“The illness we had at the castle earlier in the summer spread to the village,” she explained. “I thought it had run its course, but two villagers died of it just this week.”
“Stephen seems healthy enough.”
She nodded and went back to what she had been saying before. “Stephen may have more charm than is good for him, but he has a good heart. He has been very kind to Jamie.” She turned to smile at William. “Just as you are.”
Unable to help herself, she added, “Truly, your mother cannot be as bad as you say to have raised two such sons.”
“If either of us has a soft heart toward children,” he said, staring straight ahead, “do not credit it to her.”
Mentioning his mother was a mistake. She regretted letting herself get diverted from her purpose.
“So, William, what are your plans for your brother?”
“I have not yet decided, but I take it you have an opinion, m’lady wife?” Before she could answer, he asked, “Tell me, do you think most wives offer their opinions on all manner of things to their husbands?”
“Aye, most certainly, to both questions,” she replied so quickly that William laughed.
“All right,” he said, in full good humor now. “Tell me what you’ve been planning to say from the start.”
“Stephen should stay with us,” she said without hesitation. “There is no one better to train him for knighthood than you.” ’Twas blatant flattery but true nonetheless. “And Stephen will need a steady man like you to fish him out of trouble from time to time.”
“I was happy to settle here in the Marches precisely because it is far away from the Percys, my mother, and all the rest. I don’t want to renew those ties. Besides, if I give in to my mother on this, she will ask for more.”
“If she is so horrid,” Catherine countered, “how can you leave Stephen in her hands?”
“Send that boy home to his mother,” Edmund warned, “before the king catches wind of his being here.”
“The king knows my loyalty,” William replied evenly.
“And you know the king,” Edmund said. “Carleton’s support for the Northern rebels makes any connection with his son too risky for you.”
“There is some risk,” William agreed. With rebellions on both borders, Henry tended to see threats everywhere he looked.
“The king fears that the next time Northumberland calls for you, you may come,” Edmund said in a low voice. “It would take little to raise his suspicions.”