Page 16 of Katherine the Vixen

“You, by the gate. Come here.”

Bucket in hand, Katherine froze. She knew that voice. The night before it had whispered in her ear, and it had been as seductive as melted honey. It was now sharp and cutting, and calling to her from across the bailey.

Siaspar ap Morgan was displeased. And he wanted to talk to her. The only thing to do, even if she was petrified, was to obey. He was the master of the castle and could not be ignored. Eyes to the floor, she walked over to him.

“My lord?”

By rights, someone like him should barely even see her. What on earth could he possibly want from a scullion? She could tell that the people in the courtyard were asking themselves the same question. Unless…

Katherine ruthlessly stopped the question from forming fully. Mel had assured her only the day before that he never used servants to slake his masculine urges. She had to believe it was the truth.

“I need a moment with you,” he told her, adding to her confusion—and dread. “Leave your bucket here. Someone else will dispose of the scraps.”

He barked a few orders in Welsh. It wasn’t long before someone took the bucket from her hands, and everyone scurried back to the kitchen, as if wary of their master’s temper.

A moment later, Katherine was alone with Siaspar.

“What is your name?” he asked, his voice still as cutting as a shard of ice.

“Katherine, my l-lord,” Katherine stammered. But she couldn’t help being terrified, because she was starting to suspect the reason for this bewildering summons. He didn’t want to tumble her into bed, rather he wanted to know how she had ended up in his arms the night before. Which was a hundred times worse. “Why do you desire to know my name?” she could not help but add.

“Because I still don’t know it, despite having made love to you twice.”

Breath caught in Katherine’s throat. Though she had been bracing herself for it, the attack had been blunt.

“I beg your pardon, my lord? We have never met before.”

“We have never been introduced before,” he contradicted with a calm that seemed to her more frightening than any show of temper. “Still, I would argue that we are not strangers to one another, would you not?”

“I assure you that you are mistaken,” she said feebly, taking a step back. From such close proximity she could see deep into Siaspar’s incredible eyes, and it made it all the more difficult to keep a level head. “I am a scullion. How could we have⁠—”

“I know I am not mistaken.” He spoke with the assurance of a man of authority, a man used to being right. And he had every right to be confident. They had made love together, twice. But how did he know that? “You are the woman I held in my arms last night, who moaned under my caresses.”

Katherine stayed silent. Lady Malpas had never imagined that Siaspar would challenge her, and they had not prepared for the eventuality. How could she, a simple servant, go against the word of a great lord, on any matter?

Especially when he was speaking nothing but the truth?

“I have no idea what your mistress and you are about, but I will not be taken for a fool,” Siaspar added when it became obvious that she was not going to respond.

“My lord, I swear I do not think you’re a fool.”

“No? Well then stop acting as if you did,” he snapped.

Oh, Lord, what could she do? The man in front of her was nothing like the tender lover who had given her a kiss the night before and he seemed to know the truth about what had happened. How would she get out of this?

Siaspar took a step forward, forcing her to put her back to the wall to avoid his body coming in contact with hers.

“I say that you are the woman who was in my arms last night, you say you are not. If only there were a way to decide who is right, an irrefutable proof that you did lie with me last night…” he said, leaning in. “Mm. Isn’t it a bit warm to wear a cloak? Not to mention unpractical in the kitchen?”

It was, but it had been the only way to hide the mark on her neck, the scandalous trace of her night with Siaspar.

When she had walked into the kitchen that morning, Mel had laughed and asked her who was the lover who had marked her thus. If her friend could have guessed that the man nibbling at her throat while in the throes of passion was none other than the master of the castle, she would have choked on her laughter.

Katherine panicked. She could not let Siaspar see her neck but she was trapped between him and the wall. There was nothing she could do save push him out of the way. This was not an option, and would probably not even work. He was twice as strong as she was.

Before she could do anything, Siaspar tugged at the cloak and uncovered the base of her neck. His eyes lit up when he saw what she had been desperate to hide.

“Tell me, Katherine, who gave you this bite?” His voice had been reduced to the purr she remembered from the night before. “Did you allow one of the grooms working at the stables some liberties last night? Was it perhaps one of the stone masons repairing the castle at the top of the hill? Did you let him place his lips on your neck and bite you while he pumped his hips between your legs?”