AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Otterburn can wait. You are my priority on this visit.” He inclined his head to Mattie. “Thank ye. I shall take care o’ Lady Katherine from here.”
Katherine started to protest, but he waved her objections aside. “Come. Let me accompany ye. I wish to become better acquainted with my bride.”
At a loss, Katherine allowed herself to be steered away from the table and across the hall. “Roxburghe is a fine keep,” she observed, by way of something courteous to say.
“Aye, ’tis sound enough,” he agreed. “Much as Elborne is, I daresay. Ye will soon find yourself at home here.”
“I am sure,” she lied. It would not be for the want of trying. “Everyone has been most kind.”
“Aye. They know that this alliance is important to me. To all of us. Still, there are those who remain yet to be convinced.” They had reached the narrow stairs, and Robert gestured to her to precede him. “You will doubtless win them over.”
“I shall do my utmost,” Katherine murmured, recalling the suspicious glares from the soldiers on the battlements. “Some of your men do not appear entirely comfortable with the alliance.”
“Matters will settle, eventually. For now, I must ask that ye remain within the walls of the keep and the bailey where I may guarantee your safety and comfort.”
“My safety?” She halted at the top of the stairs. “Do you think there may be danger?”
“Where there is uncertainty and resentment there is always danger. There has been much bad blood between Elborne and Roxburghe in the past, over several generations, but in time my people will come to appreciate the benefits of peace.”
“I suppose so,” she murmured. “After all, that is the point of our marriage.”
He tucked her hand back in the crook of his arm and led her along the upper hallway. “Aye. ’Tis part of it, at least.” He came to a halt outside one of the heavy oak doors. “This is to be your chamber whilst you are here. Unless you would prefer to share mine?”
“My lord!” Katherine snatched her hand form his arm. “Shame on you!”
He shrugged, unabashed. “You will share my chamber and my bed soon enough. I merely thought to hasten matters along somewhat.”
Katherine glared at him. “It would be…scandalous. Stephen would never permit such an outrage.”
Now he grinned and shook his head. “I doubt the Marquis of Otterburn has any room for complaint. I have, at least, offered you the choice, which is a courtesy he did not extend to my sister.”
“That was—”
He cut off her protests with an affable smile. “If you change your mind, mine is the chamber next door.” He took her hand in his, bowed, and kissed the backs of her knuckles. “Sleep well, Kat.”
Katherine paced the floor of her chamber, the hem of her nightgown trailing across the stone-slabbed floor as she marched to and fro. She had been exhausted when she excused herself from the table, but by the time she undressed and put on her sleeping attire, all the while muttering her indignation to herself, all hope of sleep seemed to have evaporated.
What was it about this earl she was to wed that set her so on edge? He unsettled her. Usually calm and composed, she found herself quite unable to keep her wits about her when in his vicinity.
It must be his blunt manner and apparent lack of shame or modesty, she concluded. She was accustomed to a courtlier demeanour among those around her, and rightly so. A gentleman of noble birth was expected be chivalrous, charming, protective of a lady’s reputation. This Scottish earl harboured no such fine qualities and seemed intent upon disturbing her sensitivities at every turn.
He was uncouth. Ill-mannered. Utterly presumptuous. She had been a fool to so much as entertain the idea of marrying him.
Share his chamber, indeed. Why, the very notion was…was…
Intriguing? Intoxicating? Wickedly exciting…
Katherine dismissed these unruly fantasies with a huff. She was not the wickedly exciting sort. She had been raised to value duty, loyalty, and above all, propriety. Clearly, she had allowed her normal standards to slip and had inadvertently given Robert the wrong idea by so readily forgiving that stolen kiss.
Well, that was an error she should put right. At once.
She flung open her chamber door and flounced out into the hallway. The door Robert had indicated as leading to his chamber stood solidly closed. It occurred to her that he might not be in there. He might have returned to the feast in the hall. It was still fairly early, after all, and the sound of voices could be heard drifting up from below.
Well, she would soon find out. She raised her fist and thumped the side of it against the oaken panel.
There came no answering sound from within, no summons to enter. Katherine banged on the door again.
Still, no response. She clenched her fist ready to try again but thought better of it. Instead, she grasped the latch and lifted it.
