Page 64 of Katherine the Vixen

Siaspar took the last steps between them and placed his hands on her shoulders. So warm, so gentle… What was he doing? Why was he even here if he cared nothing for her? He had been running, she had heard it. What had been the urgency?

“I’m afraid I am not very familiar with your world. Tell me, please. In your world, what is a man supposed to do if he deflowers a maid?”

Katherine fought very hard not to let the silky voice or the warm body against her back overpower her. She had to fight the urge to lean back against him and close her eyes. This was to be the last time they met and she did not know how to bear to pain that notion gave her.

“He is supposed to marry her. It is the only honorable thing to do.”

“Yes. But what if he is already married?”

“In this case, he should never have gone to her.” She swallowed, not sure she had the courage to carry on. Then she understood that she had nothing to lose, so she did. “But if he had gone to her, for whatever reason, then there is nothing to be done. The girl will have to bear the shame alone.”

Especially if the man is so far above her that there is nothing she can expect from him.

“And if the man wasn’t married, how would he go about arranging a wedding between them?”

What sort of a question was that? Why was he torturing her so? Katherine had to put an end to the conversation now. She shrugged his hands away from her shoulders and took a few steps forward. She knew she should never have had the temerity to do something like this but she cared not. If Siaspar took offense at her behavior she would be no worse off.

“If a man wants to marry a woman, then he usually goes to see her father, asks for her hand.”

Walter might do that very same thing before the end of the week. And her parents, she suspected, would agree all too readily, thinking this was the best, if not the only way, to protect her reputation. She had no doubt her mother had told her father all they had discussed by now.

“Mmm, yes, that’s what I thought,” Siaspar sounded pensive. “Maybe your world and mine are not so different after all. Your father, at least, seemed to approve of my asking.”

Katherine froze. Then, unable to believe what she had just heard, she swiveled around.

Siaspar was there, tall and forbidding, piercing her with the intensity of his stare.

“You…” she started. “My father… He what?”

“I asked your father if he would allow me to court you.”

This didn’t make any sense. “But… But…”

“But I’m married. Yes. Don’t I know it,” he agreed through gritted teeth.

Katherine blinked. This was not the objection she had been about to raise. She’d been wondering why her father had not told her any of this. It was not as if it were not important.

“But wait. I need to understand. Are you saying that you asked my father permission to… court me?”

“Yes. I suppose I did. Or rather I asked him if I could do so once I was free of my wife. That’s why I did not tell you of my intentions straight away.” With a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair. “It was perhaps a mistake, I see that now, but I wanted to be free before I did anything, so that you felt you could accept my suit.”

Free.

Somehow he intended to rid himself of his wife? Katherine blinked again. This was going too fast and barely made sense. She had to take it one step at a time.

“And what did my father say?”

Siaspar let out one of the chuckles she loved. “Your father is a man after my own heart. He said that, lord or not, he would never force his daughter to marry a man she did not want. So he left the decision with you. If you wanted me, you were to let me know yourself. Didn’t he tell you?”

“No!” Katherine cried out, remembering the awful moment her father had announced that Siaspar had gone without a word. How could he have done such a thing? “He just said you had dismissed me from my position.”

“Why, yes. I cannot bear to see you subjected to Lady Malpas’ whims any longer and I will admit that I thought you would be relieved to hear it.”

Relieved? Yes, she was relieved but shocked all the same. This was the most unlikely situation she had ever been in—and this included finding herself in Lady Malpas’ bed on her wedding night.

“I don’t understand,” she repeated.

“Are you saying that your father has not told you anything of our conversation?” Siaspar was now frowning. There was no doubting his sincerity. He was as nonplussed as she was. And no wonder. “I thought that was why you had come to the castle?”