Everyone else began scattering.Most of the boys trooped upstairs, but Kendra’s twins had been conferring.Pol looked to where the girls had disappeared.“We want to hear ghost stories!”
“No boys allowed!”came a voice from the library.
“Not fair,” Cas said, looking sulky.Even his blond hair seemed to droop.
“I can tell you a ghost story,” Cait offered.“A real one.It happened in Newark-on-Trent—”
“Are you not coming upstairs?”Jason asked.
Crivvens, she had to tell him about the bairn.
She had to.Tonight.
“In a minute,” she said, stalling.“Go on up.”
Thirteen
Kendra
BACK AT THEcottage, Kendra eyed her chamber suspiciously.“Is there any of that putrid cheese left anywhere?”
“Nowhere.”Trick threw the bedcovers back so forcefully they half-landed on the floor.“No mousetraps.No cheese.”
She hugged herself.“It’s cold in here.”
“I can fix that.”He strode over to shut the two open windows, then threw another log on the fire, sending sparks flying.“Better?”
“Warmer, for sure.”Pomanders had been set about, doubtless by Margaret.Kendra inhaled appreciatively.“It smells lovely in here.”
“You smell lovely in here,” Trick returned, coming close enough to overwhelm her senses.His fingers began working the tabs on her stomacher.“At last,” he murmured in a husky tone that made her heart skip.“We arefinallyalone—”
A knock on the door interrupted them.Kendra huffed in exasperation.
“Yes?”Trick called irritably, pacing over to open it.
“Good evening, your grace.”Margaret entered, steaming tankards in both hands.“I’ve brought warm ale posset for the two of you.”
Looking resigned, he took a tankard and politely sipped from it.“It’s delicious.Thank you.You may leave now.”
Margaret bustled over to Kendra and handed her the second tankard.“Shall I turn down the bed for you?”
“Thank you, but we’ve taken care of that.”Trick gestured toward the mess he’d made of the bed.
Kendra tasted the posset.“Mmmm.What’s in this?”
“Ale and milk and sugar and ginger and nutmeg, and I don’t know what else.Some secret ingredient.”Margaret leaned close to Kendra to whisper.“The cook here was making some for a friend.She said it stimulates the passions.Given your current troubles, I thought—”
“Please leave now,” Trick cut in.
Margaret pretended she hadn’t heard him.“Shall I help you undress, your grace?”
“You shall not.”Trick began edging her toward the door.“Iwill undress her grace.”
Looking scandalized, Margaret hurried out.
After Trick closed the door behind the maid, Kendra released the laugh she’d been holding in.“She said this drink—”
“I heard what she said, and I daresay neither of us needs our passions stimulated.Still and all, I suppose it can’t hurt to drink it.”Tipping back his head, he drained his tankard in one long draft before slamming it down on the octagonal table.
