Page 38 of Katherine the Vixen

It was better she did not know what he would tell her then. That way her reaction would be one of genuine astonishment, giving Lady Malpas little chance to suspect their previous acquaintance.

“Very well.” Though she appeared nonplussed, as anyone would be in her situation, she didn’t ask anything else.

“Just know that you might be quite surprised by what I have to say. But I have my reasons.”

“I do not doubt it, my lord, and shall do as you ask.”

Siaspar was humbled by the trust she was showing him. After what she had been through, she bore him no grudges, and was even prepared to believe that he had her best interest at heart.

Which, in truth, he did.

“I was not jesting with you earlier, you know. Though I never went to a village tavern dripping with jewels, my grandfather really was a brewer. I am not as high and mighty as you seem to think.”

Katherine appeared stunned by this declaration, and no wonder. He wasn’t sure himself why he was so adamant that she should not think him so forbidding.

But it was important to him.

“I do not think you all high and mighty, not in that sense at least. I’ve seen how you talk to your people, even if I don’t understand what you tell them. The way you acted with me yesterday is proof enough that you do not consider yourself above anyone.” She took a step toward him, bringing her body in dangerous proximity to his. “And I thank you for sending Mel back home for a few days, so she could get better. That was very thoughtful of you. I don’t think many lords would have done that.”

“Thank you.” She was right, not many lords would have done that, but it had seemed like the obvious thing to do when he had seen that the maid was indeed poorly.

“Does Lady Malpas know about your grandfather?”

The question wrenched a bark of laughter out of him. “Do you know, I have no idea! But if she does not, I will make sure to tell her soon.”

Finding out that the man she already considered as a savage was a brewer’s grandson would be the last straw for the haughty lady and he couldn’t wait. Katherine seemed to share in his amusement. Her eyes had started to sparkle.

“I would like to be a fly on the wall when you impart this particular piece of information to her.”

Yes. He would make sure she did hear it. It was only fair, as she was the one who had given him the idea.

“Until tomorrow, then,” he said with a bow.

“Until tomorrow.”

Katherine watched Siaspar leave with a smile on her lips. Only a moment ago she had been feeling weary to her bones after an exhausting day, but her fatigue had miraculously melted away. The master of Castell y Ddraig was a brewer’s grandson. Who would have thought it? Not her. But now that she knew, it explained a lot.

This was the reason behind his ease with servants, not the fact that he bedded them. Relief swept through her at the thought.

The next morning, she woke up filled with impatience.

The prospect of seeing Siaspar was enough to send her heart into a furious rhythm. Then guilt sliced through her, because she remembered her promise to leave Lady Malpas’ employ as soon as she was assured that her money had been sent to her family. This was the moment. Siaspar had read the letter to her two days ago. Her father had been released, and the money had arrived.

So what was she waiting for?

She had only gone to Wales at her father’s suggestion, and she had agreed to being a chamberer, not a scullion. She had never imagined life in a hot, chaotic castle kitchen, or that she would have to fulfil another woman’s marital duties. And now she didn’t have to do any of that any longer. She could leave.

But…

But the problem was, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to leave anymore. Her life had started to acquire a pleasing regularity at Castell y Ddraig and it was not as if she would be asked to do anything worse than sleep with a stranger. Besides, her family needed money just as much now as they had when she had left, to compensate for the time her father had spent incarcerated. A few weeks’ worth of wages would hardly solve anything. And there was still the problem of getting back home without a horse or an escort.

As she lifted the heavy cauldron from the hearth, Katherine had an awful suspicion that she was hiding behind excuses. There was another, bigger reason for her desire to remain in Wales.

Siaspar.

Though she knew nothing could ever happen between them, she was loath to leave him. So for now, she would stay.

Later that morning, the summons Katherine had been expecting finally came. Thank God, Siaspar had told her he would call for her. What she would have thought if she had been called to Lady Malpas’ bedchamber without warning didn’t bear thinking about. By telling her of his intentions, he had spared her an awful lot of anguish.