Katherine trudged up the steep, stony path toward the castle, returning from her trek to the village below. She carried a plain gray mantle over her arm, the mantle she had worn to disguise her identity despite the fact of the day’s being seasonable and warm. Liam had left that dawn. Katherine had escaped the castle soon thereafter, running out through the castle gates behind a small wagon, pretending to be a serving maid because the servants were free to come and go as they pleased.
Above her, the sun was bright, the sky aqua blue and puffed with fluffy white clouds. Yet she did not feel half as cheerful as she should on such a day, after attaining her goal. For she had found a seaman who, upon receipt of the coffer containing the fabulous necklace, had agreed to help her escape.
Katherine watched a hawk soaring above the castle and she told herself that she was happy. Yes, she was very happy, as happy as a lark, because, in a few days, when the supply ship from Belfast arrived, the sailor would contact her. And when it left to return to northern Ireland, she would be stowed away upon it.
And hopefully Liam would not have returned from his pirating, making her escape all that much easier.
She would escape—and never see him again.
Katherine was furious with her feelings. Furious with the incipient tears, furious to be so torn, and over a damned pirate at that.
She had to leave before she did the unthinkable—before she fell in love with him.
And she must stop thinking of what her reception would be when she finally reached England. For she had decided that she must return to Hawke, who was still legally her husband.
Her heart beat faster now, for her imagination ran wild, and she could see herself facing him, facing the court, then facing the queen. But they would not know. They could not know. That when in Liam’s arms she was far more willing and eager and lascivious than the highest-paid, most-experienced courtesan.
And what about her father? Katherine had not spared him even a single thought since her abduction. Yet now she wondered how he would receive her. Perhaps Gerald would be filled with fatherly rage over her abduction and abuse. Or perhaps he would berate her for having failed to obey him fully, for becoming the pirate’s whore and not his wife.
“Katherine!”
Katherine stumbled and came to a halt, relieved to be diverted from her thoughts. Guy ran through the raised portcullis, flying down the path toward her. Macgregor followed, more slowly.
Katherine forced a bright smile. “Hello, Guy!” She waved.
Guy skidded to a halt. “Where have you been? We have been looking all over for you!”
Careful to avoid Macgregor’s gaze, Katherine ruffled Guy’s thick, dark hair. “I felt lonely with Liam gone,” she lied. “I decided to take a walk.”
“You should have asked me to come with you,” Guy protested. “The captain told me it was my duty to protect you from harm.”
“Lady Katherine,” Macgregor said, “please ask for my escort the next time you wish to leave the castle walls.”
Katherine’s jaw tightened, and she flashed him a dark glance. “Do you think I intend to escape?”
He stared at her, not answering.
Katherine regretted her words. “There is no way forme to escape and you know it,” she said. “But I refuse to be jailed inside that miserable pile of stone.” She shoved past the big man, Guy on her heels.
“Katherine?”
“What is it, Guy?”
“You are not happy here?”
She softened. It suddenly occurred to her that Guy would suffer when she left. Perhaps it had been a mistake to befriend him. But she loved children, and Guy was no exception. She chose her words with care. “Guy, I am not unhappy here. But I have friends and family elsewhere. My stay here is only temporary.”
He stared at her, tears welling in his eyes. “I understand. I thought you were different from the others, that you would stay. But like the others, sooner or later you will leave.”
Katherine could not move. She had lost her breath.The others. How many others had there been? She did not want to know. She had to know. She said, “Yes, I am no different from the others.” And she turned away, so he would not see the single tear that crept down her cheek.
Bored and restless, acutely aware of Liam’s absence, at once praying that he would return before the supply ship from Belfast arrived, and praying that he would not, Katherine wandered over to the brick manor house. Guy trailed behind her. It was another warm summer day, and Katherine had been picking primroses—flowers she had discovered growing wild on the path outside the barbican.
Now she raised herself up on her toes, holding the wildflowers in one hand, and she tried to peer through a glass window. But the curtains were drawn. She turned to face Guy. “Liam mentioned this house once. Clearly this is a new home. Why does Liam not live here, instead of in that drafty, decrepit castle?”
Guy shrugged. “I have been with the captain more than two years, and he has always lived in the keep. But he built this house, Katherine.”
Katherine gasped. Why would Liam go to the effort andexpense of building this pleasing home, and then leave it vacant? “Have you been inside?”
