True Love Read Free Page A

depths he will sink
to.”
    “Perhaps a man-at-arms would make a suitable
attendant?” Aldis suggested.
    “What a good idea. I will speak to Captain
William and explain the situation. I'll ask him to order two of his
toughest men to attend Phelan and Eustace, and I'll have him tell
the men they are to report to him or to my father anything
suspicious they see or hear. If men-at-arms believe they are
involved in uncovering a deception of some sort, they won't mind so
much having to fetch and carry for those two.”
    Catherine was sure there was a
deception going on, and her curiosity would not allow her to rest
until she knew what it was.
     
    “Father, wait.” Catherine caught up with
Royce just as he was entering the lord's chamber at the top of the
tower keep. She tried to give him a fierce and determined glare,
though she was afraid she failed miserably. She loved him too much
to be really angry with him. “I want a few answers from you.”
    “Come in, then.” Royce gestured for her to go
ahead of him into the room. It was large and well furnished, with a
huge bed curtained in green wool and two pairs of windows to let in
light. It was also spotlessly clean, for Royce refused to tolerate
dust or untidiness.
    Catherine stalked to the center of the room,
then spun around to face her father.
    “Why did you invite Eustace and Phelan?” she
demanded.
    “I have my reasons,” Royce said. His quiet
voice warned Catherine she wasn't likely to get any information out
of him.
    “Usually, when you speak in that tone I
immediately give up asking questions,” she said. “I do understand
there are some matters you cannot discuss with me. But if you are
going to accept those two dreadful men into our household as if
they are dear friends of yours, then I require an explanation. Why
are they here?”
    “Because I invited them,” Royce said.
    “You are maddening. What if they cause
trouble? When Eustace is drunk, which is most of the time, he is
capable of violence against any man who says a firm word to him, or
of attempting to ravish any woman who crosses his path.”
    “I understand from Captain William that you
ordered them attended by men-at-arms,” Royce said. “A wise
decision, my dear.”
    “Is there any special problem for which I
ought to prepare?” Catherine asked. She stood with fists on her
hips, one toe tapping the floor in irritation while she tried to
think of a way to wring from him the information she wanted. She
suspected that she could literally wring his neck, which at the
moment she was sorely tempted to do, and he still wouldn't tell her
anything he did not wish to reveal. She made one last attempt. “We
are responsible for the wellbeing of all of our guests so long as
they are under your roof. If there is a chance of our plans for the
Whitsuntide festival being disrupted, I ought to know about it so I
can be prepared.”
    “Sometimes, you remind me of your mother,” he
said with a wistful smile. “Especially when you stamp your foot
like that.”
    “I am not stamping my foot!” She planted both
feet firmly on the floor and unfisted her hands, holding them down
at her sides. Then she took a long breath and asked another series
of questions. “How do you know Sir Braedon? Is he a friend of
yours, or merely an acquaintance? I have never heard you mention
his name. Who is he? Why is he here?”
    “I know many people whom you have never met,”
he said with infuriating calm. “Braedon is one of King Henry's
household knights.”
    “That isn't what I asked you,” Catherine
cried, thoroughly exasperated.
    “Braedon is an excellent fighting man,” Royce
said. “He is here for the tournament.”
    “That's another subject that disturbs me,”
Catherine said. “Why in heaven's name have you decided to hold a
mock war?”
    “For entertainment,” Royce said.
    “It's so unlike you.”
    “Is it?”
    “You know it is.” Catherine was beginning to
feel desperate, and to doubt she would ever