Free The Magnificent Rogue by Iris Johansen

also.”
    “Who?”
    “Timothy Kanut, the blacksmith.” She opened the door and threw the cloaks out into the hallway. “I’ll hang them before the fire in the kitchen to dry and then dust the mud off. Merciful heavens, you’re dirty.”
    Kate vaguely remembered Timothy Kanut. He was some years older than themselves, a tall, strapping man with a sweet smile, enormous muscles, and a wife whose tongue was as sharp as a dagger. “I thought he was already married.”
    “His wife died last year. Poor dear.” She shut the door and turned with a grin. “Just in time to save me from sinning in the hayloft to persuade Timothy to run away with me.”
    Her eyes widened. “You would have done that?”
    She nodded. “I love the man, and it would have been foolish for me to let him stay with a shrew who only made him miserable. That would have been a greater sin than fornication, and you know I’ve never been a fool.”
    No, Carolyn had always been shrewd, bold and free-thinking, or she would never have had the courage to become Kate’s friend. “Your father would have been brokenhearted.”
    Carolyn nodded. “Sometimes he doesn’t see things clearly.” She paused, and for a moment there was a faint awkwardness in her manner. “He shouldn’t have believed Sebastian. I tried to tell him … I went to the vicarage many times that first year, you know.”
    “No, I didn’t know.”
    “She wouldn’t let me see you. I tried to persuade her, and then I shouted at her. I did everything I could to convince her, but she looked at me with those cold eyes.…” She shrugged regretfully. “Finally, I gave up and didn’t go back again.”
    “I wouldn’t have given up,” Kate said fiercely. “I would have kept on trying to see you, if it had taken a hundred years.”
    “I did the best I could. I knew you wouldn’t understand.” She made a face. “I could never be all you wanted me to be. You always demanded too much. You were never able to accept me as I was.”
    One part of Kate realized that she could not expect those days of freedom and friendship to be as precious to Carolyn, but she still fiercely resented the abandonment. Kate had never told her about her life at the cottage; she had wanted to keep their hours together free from any taint. Still, if Carolyn had truly cared about her, wouldn’t she have sensed how alone Kate would be if she permitted Sebastian to separate them? No, Carolyn didn’t understand loneliness, she thought wearily, just as Carolyn had never really understood Kate herself. “I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
    “Well, not anymore, at least.” Carolyn’s smile was back. “Now, you’re a fine countess with a husband who can make even my father take a step back. Everything always works out for the best. I heard nothing about your marriage in the village. How long have you been wed?”
    “Not long.” She still wasn’t sure if MacDarren’s words about their being married had been true. It all sounded most peculiar. She lifted her hand and rubbed her temple.
    Carolyn noticed the gesture and immediately went to the door. “You’re tired, and I’m standing here keeping you from your bath. I’ll see what’s keeping Simon. We can talk while you’re in tub.”
    Everything works out for the best
.
    How wonderful it would be to believe that were true in this world where her fate seemed left to the whim of a stranger. Yet two good things had already come out of Robert MacDarren’s arrival in her life, she realized with a little flare of hope. She had found she had not been completely abandoned by the only friend she had ever had, and she was free of Sebastian. At least for the time being. She could worry about the rest later. She was too tired to think now.
    “And where is our bride?” Gavin asked as he watched Robert come down the steps an hour later.
    “Presumably in a tub of hot water. I just got out of one myself.” He glanced around the common room. “Did you tell the