Free By Grace Possessed by Jennifer Blake Page A

had not counted on the beast sending Lady Catherine’s palfrey careening into the deeper forest. Neither could he have guessed she would stumble upon the ambuscade built by forest outlaws to catch wayward members of the king’s hunt.
    “Except that I happened to gain the honor,” Ross said quietly. “Your loss, I fear.”
    “Or not,” Trilborn answered, his black eyes hard with promise. “You are unlikely to live long enough to take Lady Catherine to wife.”
    He swung away with a jerk that sent his cloak flapping like the wings of a bird of prey. His strides were long and powered by rage as he took himself out of sight.
    Ross watched him go, listened to his footsteps echoing on stone, listened to the hollow echo of his threat as it bounced back and forth in Ross’s head. And he marveled that he was more fraught at the idea of never having Lady Catherine than he was at meeting his promised death.

5
    “H ave you not heard? Henry intends that we leave here tomorrow morn, making our way to Greenwich Palace. ’Tis time, else Christmas will be a sad affair.”
    Marguerite’s breath fogged in the air as she spoke, drifting behind her in the frigid corridor as she and Cate made their way from the great hall to their small chamber. Cate thought her sister’s voice had a disgruntled edge as she trudged along with her hands burrowed into her wide sleeves for warmth. The glance she gave from under straight dark brows was also less than pleased.
    “You are anxious to go?” Cate asked with the lift of a brow.
    “I would go if I had to crawl,” Marguerite declared. “I weary of this progress of Henry’s that makes little progress. I despise being cold and am sick unto death of hunting. Why Henry could not abide in London with Elizabeth and his heir is more than I can see.”
    “I believe he removed to allow the queen to recover in peace from her coronation.”
    “I daresay, or because he was galled by it.” Cate’s younger sister, just sixteen, gave a brief shake of herhead. “Men have such egos, do they not? So the cheers for Elizabeth, a princess of the house of York, were louder than those raised for him when he was crowned last year, what of it? She has lived among these people all her life, while he has spent fifteen of his near thirty years in exile, but he must be more lauded because nature put him above her.”
    Cate waited to speak until a trio of serving women, coming toward them with baskets of linens to be loaded for the move, had passed. “Take care, my dear. We are dependent on his goodwill and needs must keep it.”
    Her sister’s glance was sharp with ill humor. “Yes, well, it was ridiculous of him to leave Elizabeth to rest while Christmas preparations for upward of two thousand must be made at Greenwich. Fine rest that will be for her!”
    “He is at least thinking of the holiday, my dear,” Cate said. “We are to transport a Yule log from the New Forest, along with enough holly, bay and mistletoe to deck a dozen castles.”
    “Which only means more work for Elizabeth and her ladies. I’d like to tell him a thing or two.”
    “Are you sure it isn’t me you would take to task?” Cate said with warm irony. “If you want to know what occurred with Ross Dunbar last night and the king this morning, you have only to ask.”
    “What occurred?”
    The look that went with that question was stolid, as if her sister thought the answer must be unpleasant. It was all Cate could do not to smile. “Nothing happened.”
    Marguerite gave a tired sigh. “I knew you wouldn’t tell me.”
    “It’s the truth, or at least in so far as my time with the Scotsman is concerned.” Cate went on to explain, making as light of her rescue as possible.
    “By all the saints, Cate, how can you be so calm? To be mauled and threatened with rapine, rescued by a northern barbarian and then forced to spend the night in his company while surviving a blizzard? You should be laid up in bed with a hot posset instead of