William could see how shocked he was. “Because the reason I offered to marry Jane de Percy was because I had bedded the woman for weeks prior to the incident with her father,” he said. “I wasn’t in love with her, but she was sweet and quite adventurous when it came to activities in the bedchamber, shall we say. She seduced me and I let her, repeatedly, while I tried to decide if I wanted to marry her. The only reason I offered was because I’d bedded her several times, so I thought… well, I thought I would do the honorable thing and marry her. But her father would have nothing to do with me.”
Kieran’s mouth was still hanging open. “So you think…?” he began. Then he came to a halt and closed his mouth, thinking on War Herringthorpe as a de Wolfe son. “My God… William, he does look just like you as a younger man. I wasn’t the only one commenting on it. Paris did and…”
William lifted a hand to silence him. “I know,” he said quickly. “I know Paris did and he was right. At least, there is a possibility that he was right. Herringthorpe was raised by Jane’s husband, Edmund, but I do not know when they were married and I do not know how old Herringthorpe really is. I can only guess on the timing of his birth and my guess tells me that he was conceived, possibly, during the time his mother and I had our affair.”
Kieran exhaled a long, thoughtful breath as the explosive news sank in. “What do you want to do?”
William shrugged. “I do not know,” he said. “Clearly, I cannot tell the man what my suspicions are. They are not evenconfirmed, so I could just be imagining things. Even if I am his father, I am certain he does not know. He was raised by his mother and Edmund Herringthorpe. Surely they would not tell him. Mayhap Edmund didn’t even know.”
Kieran thought on that, long and hard. As he was looking off across the outer bailey, lost in thought, he caught sight of his son, Christian, as the man came off the wall from the night watch. Tall, blond and handsome, Christian was also the most cunning man he knew. The man could extract a secret from a corpse, as people would fondly say of him. He had the makings of a great knight and perhaps an even greater spy.
That gave Kieran an idea.
“Let me see what I can do,” he said to William. “Mayhap I can find some answers for you.”
William looked at him. “How?” he demanded. “Christ, Kieran, do not ask the man outright if that is what you are thinking.”
Kieran shook his head. “Not me,” he said. “I will not involve myself. Trust me, William. You always have before. But it seems that this question might needs some answers.”
William geared up to retort but he knew it was true. He trusted Kieran with his life. He’d trust the man to help him seek answers, answers he never really knew he needed until now.
But he was still nervous.
“He may not even know, Kieran,” William said quietly.
Kieran nodded in understanding. “I realize that,” he said. “He will not hear it from me or from anything I do. I swear it.”
“Think of my wife,” William said, a hint of emotion in his tone. “I am certain Jordan will not hold a youthful indiscretion against me, but information like that must come from me. It would be devastating if she heard it elsewhere.”
Kieran simply nodded, reached out to squeeze William’s arm in mute support, and then left him standing there against the armory wall while he went in pursuit of Christian.
Half of William was terrified of the possibilities.
But the other half wanted to know the truth.
CHAPTER TEN
“Will you chaseme?”
Penelope was sweaty and flushed from having run around the kitchen yard a few times, but she was still game for anything.
On a bright morning, Annaleigh had been standing with the cook, discussing the evening’s meal, when Penelope ran up and grabbed her by the hand. She was playing with Thomas, Rose, Edward, and little Nathaniel, all of them running and tagging each other around the kitchen yard. Nathaniel was too little to really be much of a threat and kept getting “tagged”, or touched, and put into an imaginary cage. By the fourth time, he began to wail and Jemma came out into the yard to drag her tired, grumpy four year old into the keep so he could nap.
That left Penelope and her endless energy focused on Annaleigh.
“I’m busy right now, lassie,” Annaleigh said as Penelope tugged on her. “Play with Thomas and Rose. I’ll join ye when I’m finished.”
“Please!” Penelope begged, dragging out the word. “Chase me!”
“Not now. Later.”
That left Penelope grossly unhappy. Truth be told, Annaleigh couldn’t have chased a one-legged man at that point, even if it was guaranteed that she could catch him. She was completely exhausted from what little sleep she did get the night before, but it had been worth it.
Veryworth it.
She didn’t even know what time she went to bed because it seemed as if she and War had talked all night long. They talked for several hours at the very least and only stopped talking when the great hall grew silent and the servants began dousing the tapers because everyone had gone to sleep. War had escorted her out of the garden and to the door of the keep but he would go no further, thanking her for a “most pleasant evening” before making sure she went inside and shut the door.
Annaleigh didn’t get an abundance of sleep after that.
