Lady Katharine’s dark eyes cooled dramatically. “You raped her.”
He shook his head. “Nay, not in the true sense,” he said. “I thought… I thought we were of one mind at the time. I thought she was agreeable but I realized that… I did not even realize she was resisting me until after it was over. It never occurred to me that….”
He was having difficulty spitting it out and Lady Katharine’s attitude grew colder.
“It never occurred to you that she could resist your charm and your wit because no woman ever has,” she moved closer to him, her dark eyes blazing. “Davyss, you are the greatest knight in the realm. Do not believe for one minute that I do not hear of your every triumph and every exploit. I know of your fearlessness, your strength and your bravery. I also know that you have every woman at court mad for you. God knows how many bastards you have about; it makes me ill simply to think on it. But for all of your strength and skill and dashing good looks, you are a fool when it comes to women. Do you hear me? I have raised an idiot!”
He took her scolding; nothing she said was untrue. He hung his head, unable to look her in the eye. Furious, she grabbed him by the chin and forced him to face her.
“Did you hurt her?” she demanded.
“Other than the obvious, I do not believe so.”
“Where is she?”
“I left her in the chamber on the second floor.”
“And you have not talked to her since? Not even to see if she is well?”
He tried to shake his head. “Nay,” he replied. “But I did send Lollardly to her with food and her trunks. He saw to her needs.”
Lady Katharine’s features tightened and she dropped her hand. “You sent that lecherous drunk to see to your wife?”
“I did.”
“Did he speak to her?”
“He brought her food and drink. Beyond that, I have not spoken with him further about her.”
Lady Katharine’s dark eyes glittered; there was great displeasure in the dark and stormy depths, unusual for the woman who was much like her son in that she did not readily show emotion. Then she smacked him on his taut buttocks with her cane.
“Get up there,” she growled. “Go to your wife and beg for her forgiveness. Make every effort to make amends because if you do not, so help me, you will not like my reaction. Is that clear?”
He sighed heavily. “I doubt she wishes to see me. ’Twould be better if you went. Perhaps she would not be so hostile.”
Lady Katharine’s eyebrows flew up. “If I…?” she sputtered. But, after a moment’s thought, she cooled. Perhaps he was right; perhaps she should be the ambassador for peace and beg forgiveness for her inept son. “Very well,” she agreed after a moment’s deliberation. “I shall see if I can make a masterpiece out of the mess you have created.”
“I would be grateful.”
“Would you really? I wonder.”
He was properly, and genuinely, contrite. “I fear that I need your help, Mother.”
“You have not needed my help since you were four years old.”
“I need it now.”
Lady Katharine shook her head and turned towards the towering keep. She could see a soft light at the top. “I would have done better to marry her to Hugh,” she growled. “What on earth was I thinking when I pledged this woman to you?”
Davyss truly didn’t have an answer. For the first time in his life, he was doubting himself. His confidence had taken a tremendous hit since the moment he first laid eyes on the LadyDevereux Allington. On the battlefield, he was invincible, but where women were concerned, he apparently still had a good deal to learn. Everything was cloudy to that regard but he knew one thing; he deeply regretted what he had done. He’d spent the rest of the afternoon brooding on it and coming to the conclusion that he had more than likely ruined any chance of an amicable marriage. And he was deeply upset by it.
He found himself reverting back to the original plan; he would leave his wife in Norfolk and return to London. She would bear his children and he would carry on his life at court as if they had never married. But even as he convinced himself of the proper course of action, the one thing he hadn’t gambled on was the fact that his new wife was extraordinarily lovely and intelligent. There was something very different about her and he wasn’t at all sure he wanted to be parted from her. As he watched his mother make her way into the keep, he found himself hoping she could right his wrong.
*
A soft knockon the door roused Devereux from her dozing state. Seated in a crude wooden chair before the peat fire that Andrew had started for her, she was exhausted both physically and mentally. But at least the room was warm now and a mattress had been produced for the bed. Stuffed with fresh straw, it was covered with the linens that had been brought from her father’s house. They were linens that she and her mother had sewed together when she had been young. Her trunks were lined up neatly against the wall and Andrew had even had fresh rushes brought to the chamber. The room was far cozier than it had been hours earlier.
The knock rapped a second time and Devereux rose, both anxious and defensive. The past several hours had done nothingto ease her devastation at what had happened with Davyss. If anything, her sense of desolation had deepened, ingraining itself into her heart. She wasn’t sure she could ever look at the man again and not think of what had happened. The worst part was, if she would admit it to herself, was the fact that for the most part, she had enjoyed it. Davyss had awakened a part of her she never knew to exist. She was deeply ashamed.
