Page 52 of By the Sword
He nodded. ‘I should not even be here now.’
‘What are you doing ?’
He shrugged. ‘Need you ask?’
She knew better than to ask him more.
Jonathan brushed the last of the crumbs from his damp jacket. ‘What news is there here, Kate? Have you heard anything from Seven Ways? How is Grandfather?’
Kate stared at him. He didn’t know; how could he know?
‘Sir Francis died six weeks ago,’ she said.
His face betrayed no emotion but he looked away, staring at the glowing coals of the kitchen fire.
‘So there are decisions to be made. Or have you already decided, Kate?’
‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I’ve made no decisions. My nephew, Robert, also died barely a week ago and that is a greater grief for me than the death of an old man I hardly knew.’
He swung his gaze around to look at her, his expression stricken.
‘Robert is dead?’
The grief he had not shown for his grandfather was written on his face.
‘Tom?’
Kate felt her eyes fill with tears, as they did whenever she thought of Robert.
‘Tom is heartbroken.’ She wiped her eyes and summoned a smile. ‘But this dismal talk can wait. How are you? Your shoulder?’
‘I’m fine. The shoulder…does me well enough.’
‘And Scotland?’
Jonathan rolled his eyes heavenward. ‘Scotland is unspeakable. The Scots have dealt very ill with the King.’
‘And you?’
‘And all of us, or those of us who have refused the Solemn Oath and Covenant. I am not the most God-fearing of men, Kate, but to take that Oath defies everything I have ever believed in. The King must have done it with his fingers crossed behind his back.’
‘We heard there was a battle. Were you there?’
‘No. Thank the Lord. I only arrived in Perth on the day the King received the news of the defeat.’
He stood up, stretching like a cat, easing his stiffening muscles.
‘Kate, I’ve been on the road all day and I’m exhausted. At this moment I want nothing more than to fall into a warm bed, preferably with you in my arms.’
Kate smiled and felt herself blush as he raised a quizzical eyebrow at her.
‘Tom is in my bed. Will you settle for a cold bed in the guest chamber? It is kept made up.’
‘As long as you are there as well, I could sleep on the floor.’
With their arms around each other, they climbed the stairs to the familiar room where Jonathan had spent so many weeks. They slid between the icy sheets and both still damp from the rain, curled into each other’s arms as naturally as if they had been made to suit.
‘How I have missed you,’ Jonathan whispered.
