Cait and the Devil Read Online Free PDF Page A

never thought of such a thing.”
    “Well, there’s bandits about who’ll think of almost anything to gain some coin by ill means. You shouldn’t forget that. Just stay by your guard and you’ll be perfectly safe. You’re to be allowed to go wherever you wish as long as you don’t go by yourself.”
    “Oh,” said Cait . “I guess I can do that.”
    After breakfast Cait’s new gown still wasn’t ready, so she put on the gown from the day before and decided to wander around. Her guard, a young soldier named Mitchum , looked as if he’d rather be anywhere else than tagging along after her. But duty was duty, she supposed, and if the earl wanted him to follow her around, it wasn’t her fault. She explored every inch of the castle from top to bottom, strolled around the grounds, and even ventured a short distance into the town.
    She walked everywhere and looked everywhere but not once did she manage to catch sight of the man she wanted to see. Him. The Devil. Her husband.
    She might have asked Mitchum where he was if she wasn’t so embarrassed, and if he didn’t have such an annoyed frown on his face. She would have asked Henna, but she kept so busy with the running of the castle all day that Cait was loathe to disturb her. She wished she would just run into him. She didn’t know why she wanted to see him so much. She was curious, that was all. And lonely. And she wanted him to touch her hand again.
    But no, she saw him nowhere. For all she knew, he might have ridden off to another town for the day or the week or...God, she hoped not...the month. Dejected, she returned to the castle. Her guard dropped her off with relief at her room. Again, skittishly, she cracked open the door to his bedroom but no, no sign of him there.
    After a moment’s hesitation she slipped into the silent room, shutting the door behind her. It was much larger than her room, which made sense because he was so much larger than she. It was not much more furnished though. The large bed, a couple of chairs, a chest in the corner. A couple of weapons leaning against the wall she was afraid to touch, although she looked at them closely, frightening as they were.
    Against her better judgment, she went to his bed and crawled into it, not worrying overmuch about jostling the bedding since he apparently never made his bed. The sheets were tangled in a ball. How he must toss and turn in his sleep! She smoothed them out carefully. If he caught her now she could just claim she was straightening his room. Wasn’t that something any good wife would do? She ran her hand across the pillow, then lay down to rest her cheek upon it. It smelled clean and bracing and yes, it smelled of him. She breathed in and out, long and slow. Perhaps she would just lie here a minute and rest. He wouldn’t be coming anytime soon. What would it hurt, anyway? She was his wife after all.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Henna bustled down the hall carrying Cait’s gown in her arms, and a warmer shift for sleeping that she hoped would please her.
    “Good afternoon, Mitchum lad,” she said to the surly soldier sitting in a chair outside her room. “What are ya doing? Surely the earl doesn’t expect you to wait here at her door?”
    “Yes, ma’am, he does. He says when you’re not with her, I’m to be, and wherever she is I’m to be there too.”
    “Well, no one’s going to snatch her from her own bedroom, I gather. But I suppose you must listen to your lord.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” he said. He was glad he had only one day of this duty a week. Following a girl around was a hell of a job for a soldier like him. The other men would be snickering behind their hands at him if they could see him sitting outside her door like some blasted lady in waiting.
    “Oh, now, it wasn’t that difficult, was it?” chided Henna. “Was the lass such a trial to you? Such a frown!”
    “No, she wasn’t any trouble, but she did run all over the place, and the earl gave me strict orders