Page 34 of Keeping Kate
“Because Grant is a blithering idiot.”
Kate laughed, surprised. “We agree on something.”
“He has a personal grudge with you, and would like nothing more than to see you pay for that. I suppose you know what he is upset about?”
Her face burned despite the cool wind. “I did not seduce Colonel Grant.”
“Just as you did not seduce me? No fists, now,” he said, feinting with a hand. “You have better manners than that, I vow. Just give me an honest answer, not a display of your impressive temper.”
“I remember clearly the night I encountered Grant,” she said. “He treated me roughly, quite overcome with...lust. I feared that I would not get away unharmed.”
His fingers flexed on her arm. “Go on.”
“I defended myself. And I planted my knee in his trousers before I left his tent. He was drunk, and he fell and hit his head and collapsed. I suppose he blamed all of that on the wicked Katie Hell.”
“As a matter of fact, he did.”
“I did nothing to that man, I tell you.”
He was silent while they traversed another hillock, the breeze blowing hard against them on the ridge. “Had I been there and seen that—”
”You would only see proof that I am this Katie Hell you speak of.”
“I was about to say that I might have killed the man.”
She glanced at him, surprised. “Then will you believe me? I did not seduce Grant or anyone else. Not intentionally,” she added.
“Nor have you gone in to steal documents?”
“We are not talking about that, are we? I am only saying that I am not a wanton. But you do not believe it of me.”
“Does that matter to you?”
She was silent, looking away. It did matter to her.
“Whatever you have done or have not done is not proven,” he said. “If it remains unproven, that is a legitimate verdict under Scots law. Not English, but Scots, and that is in your favor,” he added. “But if Grant and other officers identify you as the girl who came to their quarters and took papers and maps, your denials will do no good. As for seduction, I only know that something happened between us.” He pulled her along.
She too knew that something had occurred between them, and she could not explain it, quite, and cherished the memory of it. “I cannot help it if I sometimes—” She touched her throat and remembered that her silver necklace was not there. No one but a few of her kin knew the whole story of the fairy gift that ran through their bloodline. “If I sometimes have an effect on men,” she finished.
He huffed. “I have my own thoughts about that. Come ahead.” He urged her onward, righting her when she nearly stumbled.
“Trying to explain myself to you seems futile.”
“There is nothing to explain—I know what happened between us, and I know you have been in that, ah, predicament before, Miss Hell.”
“What happened with you was different.”
He stopped, looking around, eyeing the upper hillcrest, no doubt checking that they had not been followed. “Different? How do you mean?”
“I have never done that before,” she said.
He frowned. “Do you tell all of them that?”
She sucked in a breath. “I am not a harlot.”
“Then who are you, and what is your business with officers?”
She looked away, heart slamming. “I cannot tell you.”
