Free Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory Page B

honorable man. He and Catherine were friends. William was slow to
     see it, since he never had a woman friend. Even his lovers were not friends. Especially his lovers.
    These finer thoughts left him as he came into the hall the next morning. Prince Harry and Catherine were already at table,
     engrossed in conversation. When Catherine saw him, she murmured a greeting and went silent.
    The prince, however, enthusiastically resumed their conversation of the night before.
    “The Welsh rebels have only succeeded in taking control of most of Wales, because English forces have been divided,” the prince
     said. “Now that the rebellion in the North is crushed, we shall turn all our attention to Wales.”
    Prince Harry expounded at length upon his strategy for laying siege to the castles the rebels had taken in Wales. All William
     wished to know, however, was what the prince and his wife had been talking about before he sat down.
    It was not, he was certain, strategies for laying siege.
    To his surprise—and growing annoyance—the prince did not take his leave after breakfast. He stayed for the midday meal, which
     had even more courses than last night’s supper. Then, he suggested taking a ride around the lands surrounding Ross Castle.
    God’s blood, would the man never leave?
    William’s mood darkened further when Prince Harry dropped back to ride beside Catherine. He could hear their light chatter
     and Catherine’s occasional laughter behind him. When he could take no more, he turned his horse and led the way back to the
     castle.
    He made a point of riding just in front of the pair. “Such a wicked girl you were,” he heard the prince say. “You were older
     and bigger, yet you never once let me win.”
    “It was skill, not size, that decided it,” she replied.
    What on earth are they talking about?
William pulled his horse up and turned around to look at them.
    “Then let us have a race now,” the prince said.
    “Harry, I cannot!” Catherine protested. “I am a grown woman. You know I cannot.”
    They were even with William now. Prince Harry turned away from Catherine to address him. “She—”
    The moment the prince’s back was turned, Catherine spurred her horse and took off.
    William could not believe it. Too stunned to move, he watched her ride so recklessly that he feared she would fall. She was
     several lengths ahead when the prince took off after her. Soon, he streaked past her.
    When William caught up to them at the gate, Catherine was shouting at her opponent. “If I did not have to ride in this cumbersome
     gown, I would have won!” It was an outrageous lie, and the gleam in her eyes made it clear she knew it.
    Prince Harry called out to William, “You are a fortunate man to have such a wife!”
    Before William could get to Catherine, the prince had his hands on her and was lifting her to the ground. William came up
     behind them in time to hear Prince Harry say in a low voice, “Will I ever find a woman like you, dear Kate?”
    The good-byes were tedious. William was anxious for them to be done. At long last, the prince was mounted and headed out the
     gate. And still, the man turned one last time to wave at Catherine. William ground his teeth as he watched her wave back.
     When she wiped away a tear, he turned on his heel and strode off with no destination other than to be away from her.
    A true knight did not murder his wife.

    Catherine felt William’s eyes burning holes into her as she waved good-bye to Harry. When she turned, he was stomping off
     as if headed for a fight. She had sensed his anger building since the chess games the night before. Fearful of aggravating
     him further, she did her best to speak to him as little as possible.
    What happened to the kindness she thought she saw in him? Just when she began to trust in it, the man turned back into the
     furious warrior on the drawbridge.
    To think she’d nearly convinced herself to go to his bed!

Chapter Seven
    A pparently,