On Her Warrior's Secret Mission by Callen Gayle

Author:Callen, Gayle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oliver Heber Books
Published: 2021-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Reynold took another step closer and grasped the bed post beside Katherine’s head. “I know I have sinned,” he said in a hoarse voice. “But do not dare put all the blame on me. I knew he was my brother, and you damn well knew he was your betrothed. Neither of us are saints.”

She slapped him across the face, then gasped and held her hand to her chest. The blanket slipped to the floor, revealing her linen nightdress. He stared into the stark whiteness of her face and felt a momentary twinge of regret.

“Leave my room at once.”

He heard the icy chill in her voice. He had had his whole apology rehearsed, but it hadn’t gone the way he’d planned. “Katherine, please—”

“Just leave!” she cried softly, a tear tracing a path down her cheek.

Reynold reached out to wipe it away but she turned away. His self-disgust threatening to choke him, he walked toward the door. He put a hand on the latch and looked back at the ghostly whiteness of her gown and the flowing gold curls he would never touch again.

“I am truly sorry, Katherine.” He slipped into the hall and closed the door behind him.

~oOo~

Keeping her head held high, Katherine left her chambers at dawn and descended the stairs into the great hall. She heaved a thankful sigh on spotting neither brother, then hurried to the chapel for Mass. She didn’t walk up the center of the aisle to where James knelt near the altar. Instead she dropped to her knees on the rough stone floor beside the castle servants, who eyed her nervously as they moved aside.

She was embarrassed that her garments so outshone theirs. James had gifted her with another gown, this one of deep blue brocade embroidered in gold. The jeweled belt she wore twinkled in the chapel’s smoky rushlight. She had not wanted his expensive gifts, which had obviously kept the village seamstresses up all night. Guilty and ashamed, she bowed her head and prayed, asking God to help her out of this disaster she had brought on herself.

For no matter how angry she was with Reynold’s deception, she was just as guilty in their sin. She, too, had known whose home they’d violated. She could not understand why God did not strike her dead for kneeling in His house of worship.

Raising her eyes to the altar, she saw Reynold’s back. He knelt near the aisle, away from his brother. His head was bowed and his broad shoulders hunched forward. She experienced a twinge of sympathy, but immediately banished it. She had been an innocent, not he.

After Mass, Katherine broke the fast with James and Reynold.

“Katherine, my dear,” James was saying, “today I will take my best knights on the hunt. If we bring back that cursed stag which yet eludes me, we’ll celebrate our impending nuptials with a grand meal.”

She nodded and smiled, sipped her wine, and tried to appear interested. And then his last sentence sank in. “Impending?”

“I have waited too long to make you my wife.

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