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she been awake?
    “In here, m’lord,” the housekeeper called from one of the bedchambers that adjoined the solar.
    He carried the lady into the chamber and carefully laid her down on the high bed. As he stepped back, he caught sight of his
     blood-smeared surcoat. What he must look like to her, coming straight from the battlefield. No wonder she fainted.
    He took Alys by the arm. “I need to wash,” he said as he walked her out of the bedchamber, “and my men need food and drink.”
    “I’ll see to it at once, m’lord.” Alys turned to leave, but he kept his hand firmly on her arm.
    “I know you care for your mistress.” He could tell by the spark in her eyes that she was pleased he saw this. “So you must
     help her understand.”
    Alys looked up at him, her expression serious. “Understand what, m’lord?”
    “It is the king’s wish that she and I marry this very day.” He ignored Alys’s sharp intake of breath and continued. “It will
     not be safe for her if we do not. That is what you must make her understand.”
    Alys pressed her lips into a firm line and nodded.
    “I will return within the hour to tell her how it will be done,” he said. “Now, where can I have my bath?”

Chapter Three
    W illiam recovered his senses as he scrubbed himself clean of battle grime. Over and over, he reminded himself of what he knew
     about the woman he was about to wed. She spied on her husband, delivered him to his death. Without a shred of regret or pity,
     she betrayed the father of her child, the man she shared a bed with for five years.
    These were truths. What were dreams to these?
    Either she had changed since she was that girl in the stable or he was mistaken about her then. How long were they together
     that night? An hour? Two? What could a man know in that time? Especially a young man driven to distraction by the nearness
     of a beautiful girl in the moonlight.
    He learned about the nature of women at his mother’s knee. The only time he forgot the lesson was with the girl in the stable.
    She was as beautiful as ever, so he’d have to be cautious.
    He felt ready to take charge when he returned to the solar, dressed in his finest. Thank God the bishop had insisted he retrieve
     his best clothes from his packhorse before they rode off. He lifted his hand to knock, then stopped himself. He needed no
     one’s permission to enter here.
    When he pushed it open, he found Lady Catherine and Alys sitting at a small table near the window. Alys toppled her stool
     leaping to her feet. Lady Catherine, however, watched him steadily through the steam rising from the cup she held to her lips.
     She did not flinch a muscle.
    Without taking her gaze from his, she set the cup down and said in a clear voice, “Alys, go ask the bishop to join us.”
    William wondered what she was up to but figured he would find out soon enough.
    Alys gave her mistress a look that said she did not think it wise to leave her alone with him. But when Lady Catherine nodded,
     Alys did as she was told.
    Alone for the first time, he and his soon-to-be wife assessed each other for a long moment. He did not see even a flicker
     of recognition in those vivid blue eyes. Wisps of memory whipped through his head. He could not reconcile those brief, intense
     memories of the girl with what he knew of the woman before him. But then, she was so very lovely, he was finding it difficult
     to think at all.
    Her smooth porcelain skin held a faint touch of color now. “I am glad to see you are not so pale as before,” he said.
    “I do not usually faint,” she was quick to assure him, “but I have been ill.”
    “I hope you are feeling better, for we must settle matters between us now.”
    Something about the set of her jaw told him she had used the last hour to assess her situation and make a plan. It made him
     glad for the negotiation skills he had learned in the service of Northumberland.
    “It was kind of you to agree to marry me,” she