Page 45 of Whiskers and Wiles

When the silence continued for too long, Lady Walsingham cleared her throat and said, “You may begin whenever you wish.”

Waldorf nearly huffed a sigh before racking his brains, then saying, “Er, I don’t really care for eels.”

Kat had barely opened her mouth to reply when Lady Walsingham stepped in and said, “Come now, Lord Waldorf. That is hardly a deep secret. That is more of a statement of preference. Your secret must be something that touches your soul, something that has burdened you for many years. Free yourself of the burden by trusting your beloved.”

It’s not Kat I don’t trust, Waldorf thought, though he nodded to Lady Walsingham.

He supposed he could simply make something up, but before he could decide what, Kat blurted, “I left the boarding house in Cowley Place that night that we rowed.”

Waldorf blinked. He was surprised, but it made perfect sense after what had happened between them. If, as he had struggled to admit for twenty years, the maid, Mary, had been an accomplice to Headland’s crimes, Kat would have wanted to flee as quickly as possible. It didn’t seem like much of a secret, however.

Until Kat rushed on with, “I had no money, my family had rejected me, and I was too ashamed to call on my friends, so I…I lived on the street for three days.”

Waldorf caught his breath. Oxford was not as dangerous a place for a woman alone as London or Winchester, but his heart ached for Kat’s trials all the same. He had caused her to fall farther than he’d realized.

She deserved a genuine secret in return, but all he could think of was, “I cried that night.”

It was such a small, stupid thing, but for a man with as much pride as he had, it was as deep as a confession of murder.

Kat could feel it, he was certain. Her expression filled with emotion, and her eyes turned glassy with old tears. It felt as though part of the impenetrable wall between them had started to crumble.

“No, no, you misunderstand,” Lady Walsingham said, interrupting the heady moment. “You must confess secrets. Secret desires, secret longings.Secrets.”

Waldorf and Kat tore their eyes away from each other and looked at Lady Walsingham incredulously. Did the woman not realize?—

“I like to spank men when they are naughty,” Kat said, her mouth twitching and her eyes sparkling with a different sort of light.

“Yes!” Lady Walsingham gasped, as if the sun had broken through the clouds. “That is precisely the sort of secret that breeds trust. Lord Waldorf?”

Waldorf was sorely tempted to roll his eyes. At least he knew what Lady Walsingham wanted.

“I like to be spanked,” he told Kat, barely able to keep a straight face.

Kat nearly cracked as well as Lady Walsingham went on to say something silly and encouraging to them. Waldorf didn’t hear it. He was too busy staring at Kat as both of them tried not to burst into hysterics. What sort of madness had Queen Matilda thrust them into?

Fourteen

It was the travel.It had to be all the traveling she had done in the past two days. That was the only reason Kat could think of that could have made her so emotional when Waldorf had confessed his secret to her. Exhaustion was the only explanation for why she’d become so giddy after the Initiation of Trust. Not only had she found it nearly impossible to stop herself from laughing once their confessions were out in the open, she and Waldorf had continued to laugh as they’d sat facing each other on cushions, feeding each other bits of fruit and cheese.

Lady Walsingham was as mad as could be. Kat was convinced of it before luncheon was over, when the woman had the couples attending her party sit facing each other, holding hands, simply staring into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity after the meal was cleared away by Oxwick Park’s servants.

“Look into the eyes of your beloved,” she said as she walked around the inner perimeter of the circle. “See straight into their soul. See all the things within your beloved that made you fall in love with them to begin with.”

It was utterly mad. It was the most perfect punishment Queen Matilda could have advised. Everyone knew thatmarriages among members of thetonwere not matches of love and devotion. They were political and social maneuverings, most of which were undertaken so that the woman in the couple would not be doomed to a life of spinsterhood and impoverishment.

Well, in every kingdom but Mercia. In Mercia, women could enter a trade or profession if she chose not to marry. Which was why the Mercian Plan had to succeed. Perhaps if it did, then marriages could be for love and not position. And if that were the case, perhaps Lady Walsingham’s mad theories would benefit people rather than simply embarrassing them.

“What are you thinking?” Waldorf asked. “Your thoughts have just changed.”

Kat blinked, surprised Waldorf could tell as much simply by staring into her eyes.

“I was thinking that this is an exercise in futility,” she said with a serious look. Waldorf huffed a humorless laugh, still holding her gaze as if they were two stars that orbited each other. “And then I was thinking that there is no point in making people fall more deeply in love with their mate, because marriages are not about love, they are about connections.”

“You were once eager to marry me for love,” Waldorf pointed out.

“And look how that ended,” Kat said.

Waldorf’s gaze slipped from hers for one, guilty moment. Then he met her eyes again with double the intensity.

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