Page 12 of A Knight To Call My Own
“Where is the babe?” Riorden asked his wife in concern for their son.
Katherine patted his arm. “James is just fine, hun. There’s no need to worry about him. Amiria has taken him to be coddled by the other ladies in her solar. I will join them directly, but first, I wish to have a chat with Ian.” She turned towards Ian. “Shall we?”
A sense of déjà vu assaulted Ian’s senses, and he felt as if they had had this conversation afore. ’Twas not too far off the mark, since the last time he had speech with this particular lady, she had been heavily along with child. He offered her his arm, as any gentleman would do, but instead of attempting to find a quiet corner in the solar, she surprised him by beckoning him out the door. He followed her lead down the corridor ’til she came upon an oval shaped alcove with a window. The mason of Berwyck had cut into the stone wall a large enough seat where soft cushions had been placed for a person’s comfort. A soft breeze blew in from the open shutter that allowed a view to the ocean far below.
Katherine sat and made a motion for Ian to join her. As he settled himself across from her, he waited for her to say what she had on her mind. She only perused him with a gentle smile set upon her lovely face. He began to wonder if she, mayhap, had the sight as Kenna did.
“I didn’t expect to see you,” she quietly began, “at least, here, of all places.”
“My circumstances have changed since last we met,” Ian commented, as he thought on her oddly strange speech. “You are not from the area, are you, my lady?” he blurted out.
She gave a muffled giggle that she quickly hid behind her hand and turned, he supposed, to collect her thoughts by gazing out the window.
After several minutes of observing the view afore her, she turned back to him. Her face gave no hint of her momentary lapse of composure. “I’ve always loved the ocean. You can find such a calming effect and solace watching the waves crash into the shore, don’t you think?” she said with a sheepish grin.
Ian hid his own smile, since ’twas hard not to notice Lady Katherine avoided his question by changing the subject. “I do not believe this is why you brought me out here, my lady. However, if you would care to speak of meaningless things, would you now like to have speech about the weather…?” Ian’s voice trailed off, as Katherine’s bubbling laughter rang out once more.
“My, my, but you are perceptive, aren’t you, dear Ian? Very well, let’s get right down to the heart of the matter, shall we, and cut to the chase?” she stated matter-of-factly. All traces of humor had now left her visage, and she gave him a stern look.
“My lady?” he asked, perplexed by her terminology.
“Never mind,” she whispered, evading his concern, yet again. She leaned forward slightly towards him. “Do you love her?”
He was taken aback at the straightforwardness of her question, for ’twas not one he thought she would ask. “Do you not think your query too forward, my lady?” he grumbled awkwardly, knowing there was only one woman she referred to.
Katherine shrugged her shoulders and leaned back against the wall. “I guess it probably is. But given how many men have come to claim her, I don’t really think you have a whole lot of time on your hands to figure out how best to proceed, unless you’ve already formulated some kind of plan.”
“I have not given it much thought,” Ian replied, raking his hand through his hair.
“Ugh! Maybe you should, before it’s too late!” She started mumbling to herself about pigheaded men and how the whole gender, no matter the time, were completely clueless. Ian was not sure how to respond, so he waited ’til she finally stopped her tirade. “Well? Have you at least spoken to Lynet?”
“I am afraid, I am not in favor with the lady,” Ian replied, “at least at this particular moment in time”.
“Time…yes…funny thing about Time is-”
“I hate to interrupt you, Lady Katherine, but is there a point to our conversation?”
Her brows drew together as she all but scowled at him. “Men…sometimes you just don’t have any hint about what is important,” Katherine fumed. “You can be so stubborn!”
“My lady, what part of this conversation am I missing?”
“Never mind,” she huffed. “Did you tell her how you feel about her?”
His patience at an end, Ian rose, leaned an arm upon the wall, and looked out on the waves crashing into the shore, as if, true to the lady’s previous words, the sight could miraculously calm his fretful soul. It had no such effect. “My Lady Katherine, I have not told Lady Lynet how I feel about her, because I barely know the young woman she has become. She was a mere child when last we met. Since I was so much older than she, with nothing to offer, I did not think of her as anyone else but a pretty lassie I remembered with great fondness, who was also Amiria’s little sister. I, however, am in much need of a bride, and I have come here seeking her out to offer her marriage. I had no idea, to win her hand, I would have to be victorious in Dristan’s public competition.”
“Please, for the love of God, tell me you didn’t just waltz back here expecting to scoop Lynet up and immediately run off with her to wherever you’ll now call your home?”
Ian let out a curse, for that was precisely what he had had in mind, not that he had intended to say such aloud. “More or less. As I stated, I had not thought too far ahead, other than to travel to Berwyck.”
Katherine shook her head sadly. “Then it’s no wonder you’re out of favor with the lady. I wouldn’t be very happy to see you, either, under such circumstances. Hopefully, you’ll find it in your heart to have at least some small measure of affection for the girl, if you hope to marry her. There’s nothing worse than trying to be with someone who doesn’t love you.”
“You sound as if you are speaking from experience.”
“I am.”
Ian reached over and took her hand then gave its back a brief kiss. “The tournament is to begin two days hence. Do you have any advice to give someone like myself, something I could do in order to change the lady’s mind and current feeling towards me?”
“Well…to tell you the truth, I do, Ian,” she answered softly.
