Page 43 of The Knight’s Reward

“I thought you might find it difficult to avoid me in here.”

She looked around the room. “A private chamber when so many will be present for the council.”

His wink sent a fluttering feeling from her stomach downward.

“One of the benefits of my brother being married to the sister of our host.”

Of course. How could she have forgotten?

“If I’m found here . . .” She couldn’t say the words aloud.

“You’re worried for your reputation?”

A small shrug was all she could manage. She should be, but it hardly seemed to matter now. After all, she’d traveled with him without a chaperone. Lived at the inn without one too.

Neill leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.

“I will not allow you to be discovered here. And you can trust me, Kathryn.”

Kathryn believed him.

And in truth, she wanted to share the burden. She wasn’t sure she could do this alone, and perhaps it would not be necessary.

“I am certain my father was murdered,” she blurted before she lost the courage to tell him even part of her truth. “The Earl of Bothwell found his body, so when I learned he would be here, I thought to make my way to Brockburg. To question him.”

If he was surprised by her revelation, Neill didn’t show it.

“I believe, my lady, you left out the beginning of your tale.”

And the middle, as well as the end.

She looked into the eyes of the man who’d agreed to help her despite knowing next to nothing about her. The man who’d always acted honorably toward her, even as she lied to him. Taking another deep breath, Kathryn made a decision she hoped she’d not later regret.

“My father was the king’s royal messenger.”

That managed to surprise him.

“I grew up in the English court, my mother the only daughter of a minor baron. She died during my birth.”

When his eyes softened, Kathryn rushed to continue lest she dwell too long on the woman she’d never known and whom her father had never stopped loving.

“When I was younger, I stayed at court, eventually becoming a lady-in-waiting to the queen.” She laughed at his strained expression. “Is that so difficult to imagine?”

“In fact, it is not. But when I guessed you were a lady . . .” His voice trailed off, so Kathryn resumed her tale. If she did not finish now, she did not trust herself to continue.

“As I grew older, the men became bolder in their attentions, and my father decided it would be less dangerous for me to accompany him than to stay at court. He had trusted the king with his life, but did not trust his regents the same way.”

She wouldn’t say aloud what her father had thought of them. Or the new king. To do so would be treason.

“Edward had just returned to England when my father was given a missive for the Scottish king. So we left for Edinburgh, only my second visit there.”

“Second visit? Kathryn, where else did you travel with your father?”

“Many places. France, Wales, Scotland. Even once to Rome.”

Shaking his head, Neill sat back and crossed his legs. He looked as shocked to hear the words as she was to say them. Although she’d intended only to tell him the broad strokes of the situation, she found she could not stop.

“When my father arranged for us to stay at an abbey just outside the village, I knew something was amiss. Typically we would stay in the castle. He admitted the message he carried was ‘particularly sensitive’ and urged me to remember my training.”