spent your last resources, you put your life and reputation in danger on the word of a complete stranger who you had every reason to think was a dangerous felon?’ He was looking at her now, his eyes blazing, his hoarse voice no longer angry, but full of admiration. Katherine felt her heart thud. The tight knot of misery melted.
‘I believed you. I had spent the night with you and you treated me honourably. And if you were innocent, then I had no choice but to help you.’
‘Kat, come here.’ He put up a hand to his eyes.
‘Why? What is wrong? Is that bandage chaffing your throat?’ Anxious, Katherine got to her feet and leaned over the bed. The next moment she was caught around the waist, pulled down against Nick’s chest and was being thoroughly kissed.
He had kissed her once before. Once only as the prison clock struck eight with the turnkeys at the door. This was different. A slow slide of his lips across hers, a gentle pressure that tantalised, promised, stirred feelings inside her which burned and ached and made her arch instinctively closer.
Her lips parted and his tongue slid inside her to touch hers. Katherine gripped his shoulders as though she were drowning and tried to hold on to the remnants of rational thought. Those remnants were telling her that this was outrageous, that she should not be doing this, allowing this. Her self-control struggled briefly with the newly discovered wanton instincts that seemed to be rioting through her and finally got the upper hand. She opened her hands and pushed.
Nick released her immediately and she sat back panting on the edge of the bed. ‘No! We should not!’
‘I wanted to thank you, Kat, I just don’t have the words, but perhaps I had better try if you will not let me kiss you.’ His face was serious under the unruly tumble of damp black hair and Katherine caught herself before she could reach out and brush it back from his forehead. ‘You saved my life, you put yourself in danger to do it and you gave up the last remnants of your financial security in the process. I do not deserve that and I can never repay it. I had resigned myself to dying, I felt it was probably a just return for the last six years of my life, for listening to my pride and not my duty and turning my back on my responsibilities.
‘I had resigned myself, I thought, until I met you and found there were still some things I wanted.’
Katherine felt herself blush and he smiled wickedly at her. ‘Not just that, although I have to admit that kissing you reminds me of why it is good to be alive.’
‘I am glad,’ she said simply. ‘But we should not … not be alone, I think. After all, as soon as Arthur can arrange it, the marriage will be annulled.’
‘How can it be? Have you forgotten why you married me in the first place? How will the debt be paid?’
Fear rolled back like a cold fog. ‘I had not forgotten precisely,’ she stammered. ‘It just did not seem important under the circumstances. The last few days, all I have thought about was making sure you did not hang.’
‘And by saving my neck you have resurrected the debt. The moneylenders will be interested to hear about this, I have no doubt. We had better leave town as soon as possible.’
‘There is no “we” about it,’ Katherine said robustly, fighting down the waves of panic. ‘It is my debt, not yours.’
Nick grinned. He seemed invigorated by the dreadful mess they found themselves in. ‘How can you smile about it?’ she protested. ‘I only married you because I thought the debt would make no difference to you. Neither of us has any money, for goodness’ sake! You must disentangle yourself from my affairs.’
‘Kat, you saved my life. Do you think I value that at less than a few thousand pounds?’
‘Five thousand,’ she said miserably. ‘You might not be going to hang, but if you remain married to me you will end up in a debtors’ prison.’
‘I will not agree to an annulment, Kat.’
‘Then I will go to the moneylenders and tell them the marriage was not consummated. That will do just as well.’
Nick sat up, the smile vanishing from his face. ‘For one thing they will not believe you, and for another, if I really believed you would do that, I promise you I would make it a lie before you could leave this room.’
Katherine scrambled to her feet and backed off from the bed. ‘No!’ There was a very determined glint in his eyes. ‘If I promise I will not go to them today or tomorrow, will you promise me you will rest now?’ She received a reluctant nod. ‘Would you like something to eat? No? Then I will bring you some lemonade.’
‘Claret.’
‘Lemonade.’ She had reached the door and looked back, her hand on the knob. ‘We have no claret.’
‘Liar,’ he observed amiably.
‘Oh, very well, but it will do you no good whatsoever. In fact, I would not be surprised if you ended up with a brain fever!’
Katherine shut the door with a snap and went downstairs to find Jenny, feeling she had definitely come off worst in that encounter. She should have explained only what she had intended to about her adventures in Hertfordshire, she should have accepted Nick’s thanks with dignity and decorum and she should have convinced him they should seek an annulment at the earliest opportunity.
What happened instead? she berated herself as she walked into the kitchen. He knows every detail, you let yourself be kissed until you almost lost every shred of self-control and modesty and he is refusing to annul the marriage.
‘Are you all right, Miss Katherine?’ Jenny asked anxiously, emerging from the pantry with a bowl of eggs.
‘Perfectly, thank you. Could you ask John to clear the bath from upstairs when he has a moment? And if there is any left of that dozen of claret that Mr Philip thinks I do not know about, please will you take one up to Mr Lydgate?’
Jenny wiped her hands on her apron and went off to do as she was asked, leaving Katherine brooding at the kitchen table. And there is still that debt and not the slightest hope of paying it.
She was still deep in thought when the maid came back. ‘I asked Mr Lydgate if he’d like a nice omelette and some ham and he said he thought he would, so that’s good, isn’t it, Miss Katherine?’
‘He told me he was not hungry.’
‘That’s men for you.’ Jenny reached for an empty bowl and began to crack eggs into it. ‘They need tempting; I told him all about how good my omelettes are, though I say it myself. There’s the front door, that’ll be Mr Brigham and he’ll be hungry too, I make no doubt.’
Need tempting! The last thing that Nicholas Lydgate needed was tempting, he appeared to take what he wanted quite easily without any such encouragement.
‘Oh, hello, Arthur.’ The young lawyer put his head round the kitchen door, saw Katherine and came in, his arms full of a handsome French clock.
‘Here you are, and here are … where did I put them …? Yes, here are the earrings.’
‘Thank you so much,’ Katherine said gratefully, running a hand over the ornate
