Page 51 of Katherine the Vixen

“You mean that they have not been intimate with me,” Siaspar supplied diplomatically.

“Yes.”

“Contrary to you.”

“Yes.”

“And based on what happened in bed between us, you decided that I was not a savage. I am flattered—and touched.”

There was no irony in his tone, only something she did not dare identify as tenderness. She was reminded of the kiss he had given her on their second night together, on the temple. Yes, forbidding and manly as he was, Siaspar could do tenderness.

“Why did you want to see me, if not to mend your non-existent gambeson?”

His answer came as a shock. “I don’t know. I just did. Walk with me a while. Please.”

Please?

Dumbfounded, Katherine started to walk toward the river, leading the way. By her side, Siaspar was silent. She did not know how to behave when he was not the one leading the conversation. Never had she met anyone as intense as he was. Even when he did not say a word, she felt his presence deep in her bones and withstanding his piercing stare was almost impossible without wanting to speak to alleviate the tension.

Siaspar had not lied when he had told Katherine he had no idea what had pushed him to go and find her. He only knew that the need had been impossible to ignore. Now that they were nearing the border with England, he found himself getting oddly despondent. He had only ever left Wales once, to go visit his sister just before his wedding but at the time he had elected to sail, precisely because he had wanted to avoid going into a country where people would have negative preconceptions about him. The retinue would reach England sometime tomorrow, and Siaspar felt like he was about to walk into a trap.

In his country, he was well known and respected. In England, he would be little more than a savage.

Except in Katherine’s eyes. He knew she would never make him feel inferior, or even different.

“I heard your conversation with Lady Malpas earlier,” she said after a while, as if unable to bear the silence any longer.

“I thought you would, seeing as you were so close.”

“You saw me?”

“Yes.”

He had done more than see her, during their conversation. He had steered Lady Malpas toward the river purposefully. Siaspar always seemed to know where Katherine was. Without looking for her, he somehow always found her. When walking into a room, his gaze was instantly drawn to her. Out in the open, some instinct told him where she was. He had stopped wondering about it; it just felt natural now. In just a few weeks she had become an integral part of his world, an extension of himself. Being with her was giving him the satisfaction and companionship that were lacking in his marriage.

“Why are you telling me that you heard us?” he asked her, coming to a halt. They had reached the riverbank. In front of them, the river had been transformed into a rippling, dark pool over which the moon had scattered a thousand shards of light. The effect was spellbinding.

“I don’t know. I suppose I wanted to tell you that I don’t consider myself as one of your victors.”

“You mean that, contrary to Lady Malpas, you do not claim to have singlehandedly destroyed my country?” He smiled. “Worry not, I never thought you would be so arrogant—or ludicrous.”

“Don’t you resent me for being English?”

His smile widened. “Resent you? No, I don’t. You can’t help it any more than I can help being Welsh. And I’d like to believe I am discerning enough to understand that not all English people are accountable for what happened to my countrymen more than forty years ago. It was the will of one greedy man and his advisors, not of blacksmiths’ daughters who asked for nothing more than to be left alone and stay with their families. If after what happened between us you still do not see me as a brute, then I have no reason whatsoever to resent you for being born on the other side of the border.”

“The wrong side of the border, you mean.”

“No. The other side. There are always two sides to every story.”

Katherine picked up a stone from the ground and threw it amongst the shards of moonlight, causing them to scatter. “I wanted to ask you something but…I dare not.” Another stone disappeared into the water.

“Please dare. Such coyness should not exist between us.” He walked in front of her to force her to look at him. “Throw another dozen stones into the water first if you want, but when you’ve finished, ask me your question.”

He hoped he’d not made it sound like an order.

“Did you decide to undertake this journey to give me the opportunity to see my family?” she said hurriedly, not meeting his gaze.

Ah. His little Catrin. She would not be so easily hoodwinked. He had better remember that in the future.