Page 64 of The Knight’s Reward

“So the second goblet was needed after all.”

Sara took a bite of bread and lifted her hand in greeting to a woman who had just walked into the hall. Kathryn believed her name was Faye, and she seemed to be Sara’s favored lady.

“Sara,” she started, unsure of where to begin. Surely the countess was disappointed that her matchmaking efforts were for naught. “Neill told me about Lady Alina last eve.”

Just as she’d expected, the countess had been told.

“As did Geoffrey. I will admit to being quite surprised, but—” she shrugged, “—no matter.”

She cocked her head to the side, ignoring the meal, and simply looked at Lady Sara. She couldn’t possibly mean . . .

“We will find a way—” Sara smiled, “—for you to be together.”

Kathryn stared. Did Sara know all? If she did, how could she possibly hold out hope for a love match between Kathryn and Neill?

“I will admit to having feelings for your brother-in-law,” she said, for there was no use denying it, “but that hardly means we could, or should, be together.”

Sara laughed, the sound eliciting glances from below.

Picking up a piece of cheese, Kathryn nibbled on it, not really hungry but knowing she should eat. When she worried, as she’d done often of late, her stomach turned and turned inside until she couldn’t breathe.

Her current situation? Most definitely worrisome.

“I apologize for laughing. But I’m certain most everyone who sees the two of you together already knows you have feelings for each other.”

She groaned. “He’s promised to another.” Although she hated saying the words aloud, she needed to remind herself of them. And often.

“Not yet.”

Kathryn made a face that had Sara laughing again.

“Without a formal betrothal, or even with one, there is always still hope.”

She did not agree. If the situation was as Neill had presented it to her, quite a lot hinged on his marriage to Lady Alina.

“If you’ll permit,” Sara said, “I’d like to tell you a story.”

Relaxing slightly, Kathryn picked up a piece of bread. “Of course.”

“When Geoffrey and I met, I was betrothed,” she said, smiling. “You’ve heard of Lord Lyonsford, Earl of Archbald, I presume?”

“Of course.” The earl of Archbald had been a favorite of Edward’s father, and the new king seemed to value him as much as the old.

“A powerful man whom I was to wed. My father had recently died unexpectedly, and a distant kin of mine with no real claim to Kenshire tried to take it away. My marriage to Lyonsford would have ensured that could not happen.”

Kathryn had heard rumblings of this but did not know the full story.

“The marriage had been sanctioned by King Henry, so when a reiver came to Kenshire at my late father’s bequest to help protect me . . .” She shrugged. “The situation seemed impossible when I fell in love with that very same reiver.”

A mother who’d died in childbirth. A father who died too soon. An unwanted betrothal.

Despite their different circumstances, she and Sara did indeed have much in common.

“I don’t know what to say.”

Sara sat back, contemplating the situation. “Do you believe in fate?”

The question took her aback.