Page 41 of Whiskers and Wiles

“I very much look forward to learning more about your fascinating theories and practices, Lady Walsingham,” Waldorf said as Lady Walsingham stepped back up onto the steps, gesturing for Kat and Waldorf, as well as the footmen who were taking their things from the carriage, to follow her.

“You have heard of my theories?” Lady Walsingham said, glancing back over her shoulder as she entered the house.

“By reputation alone,” Kat answered, still clutching Waldorf’s arm tightly. He’d tried to escape her, but she was determined to convince every last soul in the house that she and Waldorf were devoted to each other. “I am very much looking forward to learning more.”

“Alas, the first week of our retreat has already passed,” Lady Walsingham said, taking them into the large front hallway and toward the grand staircase. “We have already been through the Initiation of Trust and the Ritual of Togetherness. But I am certain the other participants would not mind assisting the two of you in reaching the level the rest of us have attained.”

“I beg your pardon?” Waldorf muttered, almost too quietly to be heard.

Not quietly enough, as it turned out.

“Do you have questions?” Lady Walsingham asked, pausing halfway up the stairs to turn to them.

Waldorf cleared his throat. “I am certain I will have a great many questions,” he said, his strained smile back in place, “but I shall wait to ask them, as you may present us with answers soon.”

“I most certainly will,” Lady Walsingham said with a tinkling laugh, heading on.

Kat fought to keep her smile in place as they continued to the second floor, then along a wing of what she assumed were guest rooms to the very end of the hall. Everything was decorated as if it were some sort of fairy world, or perhaps a cake. Lady Walsingham smiled at everything around her, including when they passed a room from which came sounds of ardor that simply could not be mistaken.

Heat flooded Kat’s face even as wariness shot through the rest of her.

“Here we are,” Lady Walsingham said, reaching a room at the end of the corridor and turning the door’s handle. “Lord Waldorf, this will be your bedchamber for the remainder of the retreat.” She stepped down to the next door along the hall and said, “Lady Katherine, this will be your room.”

Kat was so relieved that she could have cried. She would not have to spend another night attempting to squeeze into a bed with Waldorf. And Napoleon. She would have her own room, her own solitude for when she needed it to regain her sanity. It was a bit scandalous that Lady Walsingham had her and Waldorf situated on the same hallway, since gentlemen generally stayed well apart from ladies at country house parties, but it was understandable, given the late nature of their arrival, that only a few rooms in the house would be unoccupied.

The moment Kat stepped into the room she’d been given, however, she saw how wrong every one of her assumptions were. Though large and graciously appointed, with windows on two sides that looked out into the gardens, the room had one major flaw.

“What is the meaning of this?” Waldorf asked with a slight frown, moving to stand in the open doorway that divided the room he’d been given from the one Kat had been given.

Lady Walsingham laughed and sent a knowing look between Waldorf and Kat. “I can imagine what you are thinking. Traditional wisdom and values say that a man and a woman who are merely engaged should be kept as separate from each other as possible, and that propriety must be observed.”

Kat hurried to the main door of her room to fetch Napoleon in his cage from the footman who had just carried him in. She sent Lady Walsingham a suspicious look as she did.

“My theories revolve more around nature and the natural inclinations that male and female have toward each other,” Lady Walsingham went on. “Society may not approve, but we hereat Oxwick Park believe that the greatest union of spirits should include the most satisfying union of bodies, and that there is no shame in any sort of communion that leads to the magnification of love.”

Napoleon let out a low growl as Kat moved his cage to the bed, then sat with him there.

“What an intriguing concept, Lady Walsingham,” she said, more than a little breathless, but most definitely not for any of the reasons Lady Walsingham would likely think.

Waldorf had disappeared from the adjoining doorway and appeared to be directing footmen where to place his baggage. Kat found herself strangely eager to see his reaction to Lady Walsingham’s theories.

“Well,” Lady Walsingham said, clasping her hands together. “I shall leave the two of you to settle in. Please do join us in the west garden for introductions and so that you may partake in the Initiation of Trust before luncheon. Though if you find yourselves moved to advance to some of thedeeperactivities of the retreat, I will understand.”

The woman sent Kat a mischievous wink, then darted her eyes to the open doorway to Waldorf’s room, before backing out of the room.

As soon as she shut the door, leaving Kat and Napoleon alone, Kat let out a heavy breath and shook her head. What in God’s name had Queen Matilda done?

A cry from Napoleon shook her out of her thoughts. She pulled herself together and undid the clasp on his cage. Immediately, Napoleon jumped to freedom, dashing straight under the bed rather than risking whatever he might find in Waldorf’s room.

Kat could not be so reticent. As soon as she heard the footmen leaving, she stood from her bed and walked to the doorway connecting her and Waldorf’s rooms.

“This is madness,” Waldorf expressed her opinion before Kat could say a thing. “I am beginning to be highly suspicious of these theories of Lady Walsingham’s.”

“We must endure the madness if we wish to redeem ourselves,” Kat said. There was nothing else she could say, really.

Waldorf had thrown open the lid of his trunk, but he approached Kat in the doorway before taking anything out. “Whatever happens, whatever madness Lady Walsingham may try to drag us into, we must keep the mission firmly in mind.”

“Agreed,” Kat said with a nod, her body stiff. “We are here on crown business, working for the future of Britannia. We cannot balk or cringe because we may be called upon to put ourselves in uncomfortable positions.”

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