Free Love Wild and Fair by Bertrice Small

sense. She knocked on the door. Hearing a voice bid her enter, she did. The woman by the window turned. “Cat!” she gasped.
    “Shut the door, Fiona, and come sit down.”
    Fiona settled her black velvet skirts and looked at her beautiful cousin. “I thought Glenkirk held ye captive at A-Cuil? What do ye here?”
    “I escaped him again, and I want yer help, Fiona.”
    “God’s toenail, yer a fool, Cat!” she sighed. “I promised Adam that when we met again I would tell ye the truth. I never slept wi Glenkirk, though until his brother took me I was hot to.” She grinned ruefully. “As a matter of fact, he wouldna have me! There I lay—mother-naked on his bed—and he wouldna have me! All he wanted was ye. And that’s the truth!”
    Cat smiled. “Thank you, Fiona. Thank ye for telling me. Patrick already told me he had not slept wi ye, and though I was inclined to believe him, I really do now.”
    “Then what are ye doing here in Edinburgh? I’ll wager poor Glenkirk doesna know where ye are.”
    “Nay, he doesn’t He’s probably looking for me now, but I’ll nae go back to him! Nae until he acknowledges me as a human being and nae a brood mare! Help me, Fiona! I know we’ve nae been close, cousin, but I hoped ye’d understand. Ellen said that ye and Adam leave for France soon. Let me stay in yer house. No one has to know, not even Adam. I’m safer there than anywhere else. Patrick will nae think to look for me in Edinburgh, let alone in yer house.”
    Fiona chewed on her lip for a moment. Cat would soon be the Countess of Glenkirk, and a good friend to have. Still, if Adam learned she was helping Cat in her feud with his brother he would punish her again in that terrible way he’d twice used on her. Forcing her to watch him love another woman was the worst hell she had ever known, and she didn’t owe her cousin a damned thing now that she had told her the truth.
    Cat stood up, and held her hands out, pleading. “Please, Fiona.”
    Fiona’s glance caught a little swell of belly that Cat had certainly never had before. Comprehension dawned. “My God, coz! Yer carrying his bairn!”
    “Aye,” said Cat bitterly. “Do ye know what he said to me, Fiona? That I was a ‘thing’ to get his sons on. I hate him!”
    Fiona didn’t think Cat really hated Patrick, but she understood how she felt. These Leslie men were so damned proud. All Cat wanted from Glenkirk was acknowledgment of her status as a person. In a few months’ time he’d be frantic, and willing to agree to anything just so his son would be born legitimate.
    Fiona felt the wait would do them both good. Besides, she thought, I really do owe my dear brother-in-law for slighting me. She turned to Cat and said, “The house is yers, sweeting, but I’ve already let the servants go.”
    “I need no one.”
    “Dinna be foolish, chuck. Ye need someone. I’ll send a note to Mrs. Kerr. She usually keeps an eye on the house for me when I am not here. I’ll tell her my poor widowed cousin, Mistress Kate Abernethy, is coming to stay, and would she please look after her. Have ye enough money?”
    “I think so, and I’ve my jewels too.”
    “If ye run short, or need to pawn something, go to the House of Kira in Goldsmith’s Lane. And Cat, go at once to see Dr. Robert Ramsey. He’s but a few doors from my house, around the corner on High Street. Remember ‘tis the heir to Glenkirk ye carry in yer belly.”
    “Thank you, Fiona,” said Cat softly. Suddenly she leaned over and kissed her cousin’s cheek.
    “We leave tomorrow morning,” said Fiona gruffly. “Come in the afternoon. Mrs. Kerr will let ye in and gie you the key.” She stood up. Pulling the hood over her face, she said, “Make peace wi Patrick soon, Cat The Leslies may be arrogant, but by God, they’re men!”
    Late the following day, Cat moved from the Rose and Thistle Inn to Fiona’s house. The house had originally belonged to Cat’s and Fiona’s grandmother, Fiona