Shades of the Wind (7 page)

could not help but draw in her breath at the sensual look he gave her.

“The pleasure is all mine and please call me Kaelin,” the lawgiver replied as his lips

brushed the backs of her fingers. He was staring at her from under his long, dark gold

lashes and as he lifted his head that bold look became hotter still.

Catherine could feel the color rising in her cheeks and she had to turn away. That

her puzzled look met Holly’s knowing one only added to Catherine’s discomfort. “May

I present my companion, Lady Olabishi?”

“It is an honor to make your acquaintance,” Lord Kaelin said. “Is Lord Bahru up

and about yet?”

“I would hope he is by now,” Catherine replied.

“I have a few papers he needs to sign,” the lawgiver said. “There is also one

required of you to sign and Lady Olabishi if she will be staying with us.”

Olabishi had been watching McGregor and vigorously shook her head to indicate

she would not be staying after the Joining of her companion and Lord Bahru.

“Obviously, Ola is anxious to return to her homeland,” Catherine said with a faint

blush. Her blush deepened when Olabishi nodded again, this time emphatically.

“Then may we retire to the library where I may get at least your signature if Lord

Bahru hasn’t risen?” the lawgiver inquired.

“Of course,” Catherine said, and looked to Olabishi who returned to her seat and

sat down.

“Are you staying for dinner, Lord Kaelin?” Holly asked, a challenge in her tone.

Kaelin McGregor winked at her. “You know damned well I can’t pass up one of

your meals, Holly Mae Hawkins.”

“You can’t pass up anything if you ask me!” Holly sniffed. She fanned him away

with her apron. “Get gone. Let a body work!”

Catherine could tell there was great affection between the two and she smiled,

appeased somewhat by the jocularity.

“Unfortunately,” Kaelin was saying as he walked behind Catherine on the brick

pathway leading back to the main house, “I am engaged.”

Catherine stopped, turned and stared at him. Her left eyebrow quirked up. “I don’t

believe I asked your status, milord.”

“No,” he agreed, taking her elbow and moving her forward, up the three steps to

the back door. “But Khenty would be very annoyed if I didn’t tell you.”

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Shades of the Wind

Catherine eased her arm out of his grip as he opened the door for her to enter the

house. “I can’t see that it makes any difference.”

“Believe me, it does,” Kaelin insisted.

“To whom?” she demanded at the library door.

“To Khenty, of course,” he replied seriously. He reached past her and opened the

door.

The room was still dark, the curtains pulled over the tall windows. Catherine—her

lips pursed with silent irritation—walked purposefully over to the drapes and flung

them aside, waving away a cloud of dust that flew out from the material.

“This is unhealthy!” she exclaimed. “No wonder the place smells of mildew!”

Kaelin folded his arms and watched her as she moved from one window to another,

shoving aside the drapes and flinging open the windows to let in the sunshine and fresh

air.

“I’ve been trying to think of ways to occupy my time while His Grace sleeps,”

Catherine mumbled. “I think I’ve just found one.”

“The place could use a thorough cleaning,” Kaelin agreed. He looked about the

room. “I doubt he knows how badly Nyria has let things slide lately.”

“How could he not know?” Catherine grated. She sneezed, sneezed again and then

looked to the heavens for help.

Kaelin laughed. “Something tells me the next time I come to visit I’ll be able to eat

off the floor!”

Catherine laughed as well. “Well, maybe not, but at least
this
room will be clean as I

found the dining room earlier!” She dusted her palms together and then pointed to a

brace of loveseats set at right angles to one another. “Please, sit down.”

“How was your trip down from Holy Dale?” Kaelin asked, referring to her home in

Virago.

“Hot and tiring, but the scenery was nice,” Catherine responded.

“And how did you like our little town?”

“I didn’t get to see much of Devil’s Nest when we landed here in Diabolusia,” she

told him. “Mr. Beasely was waiting at the quay for us as soon as we arrived and it was

pouring rain.”

“Ah, Elmer Beasely,” Kaelin chuckled. He smoothed the crease of his gabardine

breeches. “He had nothing but nice things to say about you this morning at the

Serpent’s Tale.” He smiled. “Our one and only tavern, I’m afraid.”

“That was nice of him,” Catherine said, blushing slightly. “He was very helpful

although…” She looked down at her hands, which were entwined in her lap.

“Although?” Kaelin questioned.

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Charlotte Boyett-Compo

Catherine looked up. “He seemed most anxious to be away from Anubeion before

sundown. I was worried that he wouldn’t make it back to town in that terrible

downpour, but he was more concerned about leaving than his own safety.”

Kaelin’s smile slid slowly away. “Did he say why he preferred not to stay last

evening, Milady Brell?”

“Please,” she asked, making a decision she knew would displease her parents. “Call

me Kate.”

“A lovely name,” he complimented. “And very Chalean.”

“As Kaelin McGregor is very Serenian?” she teased.

“Indeed.” His smile returned for a moment then fled again. “Beasely?” he pressed.

“Did he give you a reason for not wanting to stay the night?”

“No,” she answered. “He just seemed very fearful.” She waved a negligent hand at

the air. “I even asked Nyria if Anubeion might not be haunted to cause such a reaction

in the gentleman.”

Kaelin leaned back against the loveseat and braced his arm across the curved back.

“And what did the inestimable Nyria tell you?”

Catherine lowered her voice. “She told me of the night creature who supposedly

roams the plantation grounds,” she replied, her eyes twinkling.

The lawgiver’s mouth tightened perceptively. “I am sure Khenty was not pleased

with the woman’s foolishness,” he snapped. “She should not be regaling you with

superstitious slave folklore.”

“She dismissed it as such,” Catherine said, feeling a need to defend the absent

housekeeper, although she couldn’t imagine why she should bother.

“Nevertheless,” Kaelin quipped, “she shouldn’t have mentioned such things to

you.”

Sensing this man cared no more for Nyria than did the rest of the household, she

wanted to change the subject. “You said there were papers?” He nodded politely. “I

take it they are Lord Bahru’s employment papers?”

Kaelin’s brows drew together and he seemed puzzled.

“Employment papers?” She looked closely at the lawgiver for the gentleman

seemed not to be hearing her. “Lord Kaelin?”

“Just Kaelin,” the lawgiver corrected absently, turning his head to look past her.

Just as Holly’s eyes had done earlier, McGregor’s pale blue orbs glazed over for a

moment. He blinked and then looked at her before snapping his fingers as though he

had just remembered why he was there.

“Ah, employment papers! Aye!” he agreed. “Where is my mind this morning?”

Catherine watched him bend forward and take up his battered satchel, open it and

rummage through the papers within until he found what he was looking for.

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Shades of the Wind

“Let’s see.” He pulled up a folder, glanced at it and then opened it. He scanned it—

appearing as though he were seeing it for the first time. “Well, here it is then. There is a

contract for the duration of two years for Lord Bahru. Room and board and necessities

provided by the Ben-Alkazar estate, a small salary of two hundred gold sovereigns to

be paid at the end of Lord Bahru’s employment.”

“You said there was a paper for me to sign?”

Kaelin looked up at her expectantly then shuffled the papers until he found one that

had her name on it. He perused it—his face turning a bit pale—then extended it toward

her. “It is an offer for you to teach the children of Anubeion if you would be so inclined.

There is a small annual stipend, of course.”

“I would indeed!” Catherine exclaimed. “With or without a stipend! I really was

wondering how I would spend my time here.”

“Does that meet with your approval then, Kate?”

“Yes, it certainly does.” Catherine wondered why he seemed relieved at her

answer.

Once more McGregor’s brows clashed over his hawkish nose. One blond brow

crooked upward. “There is another clause that offers you the chance to assist the prince.

Would you be amenable to that as well?”

For a reason she was unable to understand, Catherine felt a shiver of reluctance go

down her spine at his words. Just exactly what did “to assist the prince” mean? She

certainly hoped her employment was not meant to be along the lines of what the

housekeeper’s was to the prince.

“I have had nursing training,” she said. “Is that what you mean?”

“That might be of help, but this employment refers to the position of being his

personal assistant,” Kaelin was quick to say as though he had sensed her unease. “There

is a lot of correspondence between the prince and his homeland, and he hates writing.”

Catherine relaxed. “Oh I understand that only too well. Both my father and Lord

Bahru are the same way.”

He gathered the papers together and took them over to the desk, placed them on

the top and took up a quill pen. “If you’ll just sign at the Xs…”

How eager he is to have me put my signature to those
, she thought as she stood and

walked to the desk. Her uneasiness was increasing as she allowed him to pull out a

chair for her to sit. Once seated, she looked up at him.

“May I read the paper first?” she asked, taking the pen from him. She watched as

his face first went deathly pale then became quickly infused with high color.

“You don’t trust me?” he queried, his gaze too sharp and a touch on the frosty side.

“I have always been taught that before I put my name to any legal document, I

should first read it thoroughly and understand it,” she replied. “I mean no offense to

you or His Grace, but I am a very cautious person, Milord McGregor.”

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Charlotte Boyett-Compo

“Kaelin,” he corrected again, this time with clenched teeth. He started to say

something else then stopped, his head going up as though someone had called his name

sharply to get his attention.

What do these people hear that I do not?
Catherine pondered as she stared up at the

underside of the lawyer’s jaw where a faint white scar puckered the flesh there.
He is

listening so intensely to something, but what?

Then as though nothing at all had happened, the lawgiver lowered his head, smiled

at her and reached out to pat her shoulder much as a much-respected elderly uncle

would.

“You are right, Kate,” he said. “By all means read the paper.” He turned and

reseated himself on the loveseat, crossed his legs gracefully and once more braced his

arm along the back as though he had not a care in the world. He smiled calmly,

encouragingly at her. “Please. Take your time.”

Strange behavior, Catherine thought as she tore her attention from him to look

down at the three-page document. The writing blurred for just a second then

straightened itself out as she narrowed her eyes. Not for the first time did Catherine fear

she would need those spectacles her mother was now forced to wear in order to read.

The contract was simple. It stated everything Kaelin had mentioned. Everything

seemed to be in order. There appeared to be no hidden clauses. If Catherine was not

happy teaching the children of Anubeion or found she could not get along with Prince

Khenty Ben-Alkazar, she could cease her employment at any time with all monies due

her up unto that moment.

“Everything to your liking, Kate?” Kaelin asked.

Catherine looked over at him. “Yes,” she answered, placing the quill on the first

page and scrawling her signature on each of the three pages.

Kaelin stared across the room at her. So much like Kebechet, he thought as his

scrutiny slid up the column of Catherine’s slender neck then touched at length on her

burgundy red hair before moving over the delicate profile.

The emerald green eyes were the same—almond-shaped with long dark lashes. The

two women were of the same height, near the same weight—although Kebechet had

been the slimmer of the two—and curvaceous in those places he knew Khenty

preferred. Even Catherine’s voice was similar to Kebechet’s—missing the dialect and

cultured tones of Upper Kensett, but soft and sultry for a woman who had spent sixteen

years among the barbarians of Virago.

“Didn’t your mother tell you it was impolite to stare, Milord McGregor?”

Kaelin flinched. How long had she been watching him watch her? He had the grace

to blush furiously before smiling his apology.

“She didn’t tell me it was wrong to stare at a beautiful woman,” he chuckled, “just

to never get caught doing it!”

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Shades of the Wind

Catherine stood up and walked toward him, looking up into his handsome face as

he shot to his feet at her approach. She extended the papers to him. “Is there anything

else?”