Katherine had not known that. “Does he think to usurp Desmond from my father?”
Hugh took her hand. “Katie, dearest one, Desmond does not belong to your father anymore. When his lands were forfeit, many Englishmen settled upon them. Hundreds. Many of those planters are now dead, for FitzMaurice burned them out. Others he caught and hung. Others he chased to the English cities on the coast, where they begged refuge. Most of the Irish have quit our land. Only a few have dared to stay to fight for their holdings. Thanks to FitzMaurice.”
She stared at him. “You speak as if he is a great hero.”
“He is a great soldier, Katie, and he alone has held together the many clans in order to oppose the English. Even Ormond’s brothers joined us in our battle for a while. Sir Henry Sidney could not capture him—and neither will Sir John Perrot.” Hugh spit out Perrot’s name.
“And you, Hugh? Does FitzMaurice hold you, too?” Katherine trembled. “Do you ride with the usurper?”
“How bold you are still, just like the Katie I once knew.” Hugh refused to answer, patting her hand. “Enough of such grim news. In truth, tales of war do not suit a lady’s lovely ears. We have yet to speak of each other, and I have yet to speak with the man you are traveling with.” Hugh glanced past Katherine at Liam.
Katherine did not respond, thinking the worst—that Hugh did secretly support FitzMaurice, her father’s cousin and enemy, a man determined to usurp FitzGerald’s patrimony.
Liam lounged upon the bench indolently. “And of what would you like to speak?”
Hugh stared. “Your name. Liam O’ Neill. Surely there can not be two men sharing the same notorious name?”
“I doubt it.”
Hugh’s eyes gleamed. “Are you telling me that the Master of the Seas sits at my own table?”
Liam nodded, pouring beer into his goblet.
Hugh folded his arms. “And how, pray tell, did you come to escort Katie to me?”
Liam’s own dagger appeared in his hand. It was a fighting dagger, twice as long and three times as slim as the knives laid upon the table with which guests were to dine. He used it to spear a piece of meat, laying it upon his plate and flicking it in two. No blade could be more sharp. No blade could move more swiftly, for the silver glinted in a blur. “I captured her upon the seas.”
Hugh rose to his feet.
Liam also stood, smiling.
Katherine no longer dwelled upon the probability that Hugh Barry, whom she would wed, was allied with her father’s enemy. She jumped up as well, planting herselfbetween the two men. “Hugh! Please! ’Tis not what you are thinking! We have come from the queen.”
Hugh did not look at Katherine. “Oh really?”
Liam’s smile did not waver, and he brushed Katherine aside, putting her behind him. “The queen herself.”
Hugh’s nostrils flared. Liam’s eyes glittered. Katherine realized her error too late. If Hugh were secretly allied with FitzMaurice, then he was an enemy of the Crown—and the queen. As Liam had come from the queen, that would make him his enemy, too. Then, almost hysterically, Katherine realized that Hugh was alsoherenemy—because he was allied with FitzMaurice against her father. Yet they were to wed.
“You know, it does not surprise me that you have business with the queen. After all, your blood is tainted; your blood is half-English,” Hugh said vehemently. “And you were raised at court amongst English princesses and princes by heretic Protestant tutors.”
“True.” Liam made no attempt to defend himself.
Katherine stepped abreast of him. “But his father was as Irish as you or I, Hugh. He is half-Irish.”
“His father was a murderer, if my memory serves me correctly,” Hugh said.
Liam smiled coldly. “’Twould be beneficial for you to think on that fact. For ’tis often claimed I am just like him.”
Katherine grabbed Hugh’s arm, forcing him to look at her. “Hugh, the queen pardoned Liam for his crimes, and ordered him to bring me to you. That is all. He does not have any other business with her—he is a pirate—I know that firsthand!”
“You defend him?” Hugh was shocked. “You defend this half-English bastard? You defend Shane O’Neill’s son? A bloody pirate who has murdered and plundered across all the high seas? Who has loyalty to no one—not even his own clan?”
Katherine hesitated. On one hand, she recalled the charred and broken decks of the small French trader which Liam O’Neill had plundered, and she could still hear the moaning of the men who had been wounded, but he hadn’tmurdered anyone. He’d let the French crew go after he’d taken what he wanted. And he hadn’t harmed Juliet. Then she thought about how Liam had ruthlessly tied her down to his bed, cutting her clothes off of her with his knife. But…he had left her with the last thing of value to her, her virtue. Katherine knew that he could have continued his seduction that night, but he’d stopped when she’d begun to cry. Softly, she said, “He brought me to you without harm, Hugh.”
Hugh stared at her face, then at her dress. “Who tore your dress, Katie?”
Katherine did not hesitate now. “I have been in France these past years, you know,” she said quickly, never taking her eyes from his. “I ran away from the convent where my stepmother sent me after Affane. I was trying to find a berth home. A sailor on the docks there did this.”
