By Grace Possessed by Jennifer Blake Read Free Book Online Page B

you kept watch outside throughout the night, with no contact whatever between us.”
    Ross inclined his head but made no answer. There were times when it was best for a man to keep a still tongue in his head.
    “Admirable,” the king said with some irony. “Even so, we are concerned with the effect upon Lady Catherine’s good name. You both surely understand that there will be talk. People are ever ready to put the worst possible construction upon events.”
    Henry should know that well enough, Ross thought somewhat distractedly. The king’s son and heir had been born a scant eight months after his wedding. Speculation was not only that he had anticipated his nuptials, but that he had made certain of the fertility of his future queen before committing himself to the marriage.
    The unions of kings were a cold-blooded business, poor sods. Sympathy did not require Ross to put his head into that same matrimonial noose.
    Regardless, this seemed to be the point where he was expected to guard the lady’s reputation by offering his hand. He had no such intention, particularly after his solitary vigil the night before. He was due some consideration for his misery, self-imposed though it might have been.
    “Nothing happened, I give you my word,” he said with deliberation.
    “And we would be pleased to accept it, were not so much at stake.” Henry made a brief gesture. “The ladyhas expressed her willingness to accept you as a husband.”
    Ross glanced quickly to Lady Catherine. The resigned look in her eyes was testimony enough to her feelings, also to her inability to gainsay her king. She was depending on him to do his part by declaring that he would not be wed at Henry’s command.
    Instead, all he could think of was that he could have her. A single word, two at the most, and she would be his before the New Year. The instant the betrothal documents were signed, he could take her to bed, could strip away her fine clothing until he reached the warm and naked female underneath. He could mold her curves with his hands, touch every inch of her skin and invade her hot depths until he found plunging release from this torment that she cast him into on sight.
    He could have her. He could have her and…and his father would disown him. He would be cast out of his homeland and his clan, left to kick his heels at Henry’s court forever and a day, instead of only a year or two. He would be forever a bastard Sassenach.
    “I have no wish to be ungallant,” he said, with strain beneath the quiet certainty of his voice, “but you will recall that I am nay here of my own will. I am of Scotland, and answer only to James, king of the Scots.”
    Henry frowned, tapping his chair arm. He stopped. “And if your king should order it?”
    “I must still have my father’s consent and his blessing as laird of our clan.”
    “Natural enough, we must suppose. And has he no concern for Scotland’s welfare?”
    Aye, the old laird did that, Ross thought in grim humor, when it ran alongside his own. “What welfare might that be?”
    “Insurrection is a contagion that can easily spread across borders. Every king has enemies ready to pull him down, waiting only for the right time, the right excuse.”
    “You are thinking, mayhap, of this business of one of the vanished princes returning,” Ross ventured. Cate had suggested it might have some bearing, though he could barely credit it. He glanced at her in time to see approval flash across her face.
    “My agents report a child in the fair and blue-eyed Plantagenet mold being referred to as the son and heir of Edward IV. The truth remains to be seen. We’ve never set eyes on the boy or his brother, but any number of people did in the days before the two were consigned to the Tower. Witnesses can easily be brought forward to prove the claim false.”
    “The dowager queen, or Queen Elizabeth?” The first was the widow of Edward IV, mother of the boy who had briefly been hailed as Edward V, while