She collapsed into the nearest chair the moment he quit the room.
“May God forgive me,”she murmured, drawing in a deep breath and crossing herself, “for speaking so many falsehoods.”The breath was released in a rapid whoosh.
The remaining women quickly surrounded her.
“Oh, my lady, you were wonderful!”
“Thank you, Dorothea.”Katharine accepted the goblet of wine that was pressed into her shaking hand. “I thought my knees would give way before he finally left. Did he believe it, do you think?”
“He must have done so,”Dorothea answered, fanning her mistress with a small square silk linen. “You were most convincing.”
“Indeed,”said the other maid, younger than the other two. “You made Lord Hanley sound almost a saint, and that was not easily done.”
Katharine smiled. “I nearly choked on the words. If that pompous fool ever does return alive from his travels, I can only pray he’ll never hear of what transpired this day.”
“He might insist that you wed him.”
“May heaven forbid it!”Katharine said fervently, and her ladies nodded.
A soft voice came from the doorway. “My lady?”Ariette had returned. “He has gone.”
“But he’ll be back soon,”Katharine said with a frown. “Or if not him, another of Duke Humphrey’s messengers. The king’s regent has a never ceasing supply of them, so it seems. This makes the sixth we’ve dealt with thus far, not including the visit Sir Justin Baldwin paid.”
“Perhaps the duke himself might make the journey,”Dorothea speculated.
“I shouldn’t be surprised.”Katharine stood and walked back to where she’d left the missive. Unfolding and laying it upon the table, she flattened it with both hands. “I must find the means to keep Lomas without fettering myself in the doing. Surely there is some way to manage it.”
“I don’t know why you won’t at least see Sir Senet,”the youngest girl said. “’Tis rumored that he’s very handsome, as well as a brave knight who has attained much honor. And Lomas would have been his by right if naught had happened to change the matter.”
“I’ve no care for either Senet Gaillard’s looks or his attainments, Magan,”Katharine told her distractedly, studying the page before her. “His father was a traitor to the throne, and I’ll not be wed to such a one. And as to Lomas being his—I should have to be dead first.”
“Oh, my lady, please don’t say that,”Ariette begged. “The duke may force you to wed the man. Or he may grow even angrier and make Sir Senet lord here without the necessity of marriage. Then we would all of us be beneath his hand. Even you.”
It was true, Katharine thought unhappily, and might very well occur, especially if she continued to turn aside the proposed marriage. And it was something that might already have occurred to Duke Humphrey, regardless of whatever crimes Senet Gaillard’s father had committed. The past lord of Lomas might have been a traitor to the crown, but Sir Senet, if all that she’d heard was true, had more than proven himself loyal to both king and country. He’d killed his father’s own people in the war with France—his own people, since he was so closely related to French royalty, in order to prove himself.
But none of that mattered to Katharine. She had no wish for an arranged marriage. Indeed, she had no wish for marriage at all. It was naught but a chain to women, a path to lifelong servitude. Even the betrothal that her father had arranged to Lord Hanley, whom she despised, had been awful to her. When he had decided to go on his pilgrimage, Katharine had been utterly relieved; when he’d evidently disappeared on that same pilgrimage, she’d thanked God for unexpected mercies. Not that she wished harm upon Lord Hanley, but she’d been her own mistress at Lomas since even before her father had died, and had no wish to be otherwise. If she married Lord Hanley or Sir Senet, or any man, she would suddenly become as she had once been—powerless and, worse, unable to do so much as speak her mind on how best to manage Lomas for the benefit of both the land and the people. She had seen that fate befall her own mpther before her father had been gifted with the estate and title that belonged to Lomas, when they had lived at court in London. It was as if her mother had merely become a shadow, necessary only to make certain of the comfort of others, but nothing more. And like a shadow she had eventually faded beneath such a lack of identity. Katharine’s father hadn’t even realized that his wife was slipping away until it had been too late. She would never forget how stunned he’d been at her mother’s death, how unforgivably surprised.
“I will think of a way to keep it from happening,”Katharine vowed. “I must. Even if I cannot hold off marrying forever, at least I may buy enough time to find a husband of my own choosing.”
“I cannot see what good that will do,”said Dorothea. “They are all the same, are they not? And perhaps you may find one who is even worse, than Sir Senet. Only think of Lord Hanley.”
Katharine gave a slight shudder. “You speak truly, though few men could be a worse prospect for husband than he.”She grew thoughtful. “But it would be convenient, would it not, if I truly had a betrothed? Someone who would convince Duke Humphrey and Sir Senet and any other suitors that I am soon to be wed so that they may leave me in peace.”
“But you are betrothed,”Magan told her. “To Lord Hanley. And it would be impossible to procure him, would it not?”
“Yes, and may God be praised for it,”Katharine said with a nod, “but I doubt that any of Duke Humphrey’s messengers would recognize Lord Hanley if they saw him. He was not given to visits at court, and was somewhat solitary. Would it not be most convincing to my case if he should suddenly return from his pilgrimage?”
Her ladies gaped at her, until Dorothea said, “My lady, you cannot intend to practice such deceit.”
“Can I not?”Katharine’s lips curved into a smile. “I am a woman sorely pressed, and capable of attempting anything at all. Indeed, the more I think of it, the better I like the idea. I need only find the right man to lend me aid in such a scheme, and all will be well.”
“My lady, this is madness!”Ariette protested. “Only think. You would have to marry this man—a stranger. How can that be any better than wedding with Sir Senet?”
“I can’t think I should have to do any such thing,”Katharine replied evenly. “If I can only convince whoever will help me to temporarily play the part of my betrothed, then he may leave Lomas unfettered—and much the richer—once Duke Humphrey has been convinced. I’ll have no further need of him.”
“Will you not?”Ariette pressed. “And what will happen when the duke discovers you never wed? He’ll be angrier than before, and will have you punished for such a lie.”
“Hmm.”Katharine tapped the tip of one finger against her chin, thinking of this. “You speak truly, Ariette. And it would be just as well to have the matter done with so that we need not worry over any interference in future. But the answer to that is simple, as well. I must only find a man who will wed if enough money is offered and who has no more interest in maintaining a binding union than I. Someone who will gladly be on his way once the ruse has met its goal.”She smoothed her hand over the missive once more. “I believe I know the perfect man.”
“Who, my lady?”
She straightened. “Kieran FitzAllen.”
A collective gasp rose among the others.
“But, Lady Katharine!”Magan cried. “He’s your own cousin!”
“My half cousin,”Katharine corrected. “And distantly removed, at that, as well as basely born. Duke Humphrey has probably never even heard of him, or known of his existence. He’d pass perfectly as Lord Hanley, without a moment’s question.”
“But