Page 17 of Katherine the Vixen

He bent his head down until his lips came to rest on the place where the bite was.

At the contact of his mouth, so hot and velvety, Katherine let out a strangled cry. This was too much, she was drowning in confusion and sensation. “My lord.”

He ignored her plea and spoke against her flesh, sending goose bumps all the way down to her toes. “Did the man give you pleasure? Did you cry out when you found your release? I know that cry, I heard it last night. Twice. It was you under me, responding to my touch. I know it. I can feel it. I can smell it. It was me, suckling at your throat the way I’d suckled on your breast earlier, at your request. It was me filling you with my cock, making your body burst at the seams.”

Though her insides had gone liquid, from somewhere Katherine found the strength to contradict him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, my lord.”

Siaspar drew back, eyes flashing with anger. Suddenly he looked exactly like the savage Lady Malpas took him for. She understood that his pleasant manners toward her the first time they had met at the bottom of the stairs, had been an act. She had not walked into him by accident; he had purposefully placed himself on her path so that he could find out who she was.

“Let me spell it out for you. For a reason I am ignorant of, you and Lady Malpas agreed that you should take her place in bed. I bedded you on my wedding night, not my wife. I bedded you again last night. Though I am, for all intents and purposes, married to Lady Malpas, in reality, our marriage still has not been consummated and she is still a virgin, in a position to annul our union when it pleases her. Is that clearer for you? Are you still going to deny that this is what happened?”

Katherine found herself unable to withstand the onslaught. All attempts at seduction had been forgotten. The silk in Siaspar’s voice had been replaced by ice. In that moment, she knew she would tell him the truth because there was no telling what he would do to extract an answer from her. Even Lady Malpas in all her wrath had not come close to her husband’s formidable anger and she was frightened.

“I’m sorry. I was only obeying my lady’s orders,” she finally said.

She was sorry?

Siaspar was not going to be satisfied with such a feeble explanation or such a paltry apology, not when he was beside himself with anger. The two women, say what this Katherine might, had made a fool out of him, and worse, they had willfully compromised the alliance he had fought so hard to attain.

“Those orders made you sacrifice your maidenhead,” he said between his teeth.

She had been a virgin on his wedding night, he did know that. There had been no mistaking the tension in her body as he’d lain next to her, or the tightness of her sheath when he’d entered her. At the time, he had not thought it odd, as he had fully expected his bride to be untouched, but he could not help but wonder why any woman would have agreed to be ruined thus.

“I took your maidenhead, did I not?” he asked when she remained silent.

“Yes,” she said in a whisper, covering her neck with the cloak once again.

The gesture caused his groin to tingle, which in turned fanned his anger. Why was he still attracted to her, despite knowing what she had done? He should be disgusted. But remembering the way he had nibbled at her while she’d milked his seed with the strength of her release was making him want to do it again.

“Why did you allow such a thing to happen? You are ruined now.”

“You are speaking as if I had a choice!” Katherine’s vehemence surprised him. Suddenly she was no longer the timid little scullion but an outraged woman. She had lifted her head and her eyes were sending sparks. “I am nothing, just a servant. I had no say in this! I could no more refuse to obey my lady’s orders than I could fight you off.”

“Is that what you wanted to do last night, then? Fight me off? I did not get that impression.” Quite the contrary. She had been thoroughly seduced by his caresses and they both knew it.

“N-no, I…”

“I think that obeying your mistress’ orders was not exactly a bothersome duty.”

“Oh, my lord!”

The way she said the three words made Siaspar pause. She looked mortified, ashamed and defeated all at once. It made him reconsider what she had said—and see that she was right. Being only a servant, not the instigator of the scheme, she could not have gainsaid her mistress.

“Why did Lady Malpas ask you to take her place?” he asked, feeling calmer now that she had admitted the truth.

“She…is…”

He could tell that Katherine was wondering how best to word her answer, or even if she should feign ignorance on the matter. He could not let it happen. He had to know. Was his wife plotting something?

“Why?” he repeated menacingly. “And don’t even think of lying to me.”

“She feels unequal to the task of being bedded by a man she does not love,” she offered, doing her best to sound convincing. But Siaspar was not impressed. There had to be more to it than that, and he would make sure to find out.

“I do not love her either, yet I did my duty. We would not be the first couple to go to bed without having tender feelings for one another. It is a rather common, if dispiriting state of affairs.” He took another step toward Katherine, who was now trapped against the wall and his body. “So I repeat. Why did Lady Malpas go the extraordinary length of asking someone to take her place in her marital bed, with all the risk that entail?”

“She feels she needs more time to⁠—”

He ignored her confused mutterings. “Tell me the truth. I will not ask you again.”