The Imposter (30 page)

“Practice makes
perfect! And if we must practice, then so be it, lass,” Devon laughed.  “The
only problem is that I have a feeling that all I am going to want tae do is
practice, practice, practice.  I can’t get enough of ye, Kate.”

                                                                        ***

“Wake up,
sleepyhead,” Devon said as he kissed my cheek and pulled me close against his
chest.

“No,” I grumbled,
not sharing his love of the early morning hours.

“Yes,” he
whispered breath warm against my neck as he placed gentle kisses across my
collarbone.  “I’ve got something that I’m dying tae show ye and we don’t have
much time before I have tae lead morning drills.”

“Mmmm,” I moaned
in response to his kisses, pressing back against him.  “Can’t it wait till
later?”

“Nope.  It’s kind
of time sensitive,” he said, slapping my bum gently and rolling out of bed. 
“C’mon, ye can crawl back in bed and sleep the day away afterwards.”

Reluctantly, I
left the cocoon of blankets and set a tentative foot onto the cold flagstone
floor.  I brushed the hair back out of my face and pushed up from the bed, goosebumps
covering my skin in the early morning chill that had overtaken our chambers.  Devon
was clad only in his kilt and I noticed that the cold never seemed to bother
him.  He was busy starting a fire in the hearth; a measure that I knew was more
for my benefit than his own.  I walked over to the chest and chose a simple
homespun dress, pulling it over my head, and cinching up the laces.         I
noticed that Devon had turned and was watching me as I dressed.

“Yer sae
beautiful, Kate,” he said, still knelt before the hearth.

I hardly felt
beautiful first thing in the morning, but the way that he looked at me, the
intensity in his green eyes made me believe that he genuinely thought I was the
most beautiful woman in the world.  He stood from the fire and walked towards
me, enclosing me in his arms in an instant.  The skin of his chest was so warm
beneath my fingers, and I felt the beginnings of arousal building within my own
body.

“Good morning, Wife,”
he said, green eyes intense.

“Good morning, Husband,”
I said, looking up at him with a slight smile. 

I stood on my toes
and kissed him like I meant it.  His lips were hungry on mine, possessive yet
sensitive. 

“Are ye sore,
sweetheart?” he whispered, looking down at me, concern heavy on his face.

“A little,” I
admitted, feeling the tenderness between my legs.  “But I don’t mind,” I said,
smiling. 

“I’m sorry,” he
said, kissing me on the forehead as he held me tight against him.  “I shouldna
have let ye take advantage of me the second time,” he said jokingly.  “I’ll
give ye a moment alone tae wake up properly.  Is there anything that ye might
need before I go?”

“No,” I said
kissing his neck before pulling away from his warmth.  “Where are we going?”

“Not far.  Meet me
in the stables after a few minutes,” he said, placing a tender kiss on my lips
before slipping quietly from out chamber and closing the door securely behind
himself.

I spent a few
minutes tidying my appearance and then left the keep in the earliest moments of
the morning light.  The sun was just beginning to rise up above the mountains
and cast an orange glow up in the sky.  My breath came in small puffs as I exhaled
into the chilly morning air and I gathered the warm security of Devon’s plaid
more closely around my shoulders. 

As I trod down the
well worn path to the stables, I noticed the feeling of peace and happiness
that had settled within me.  Even though I was not a lover of the early morning
hours, in fact I couldn’t even remember the last time I had been up this early,
there was a skip in my step and an unshakeable feeling of happiness deep within
me.  I had never thought that it would be possible for me to be happy here, but
because of Devon, I was in fact very happy and content.

As I approached
the stables, I noticed that Devon was standing in the small pasture attached to
the barn, booted foot up on the rail of the fence, seemingly oblivious to the
cold morning despite the fact that I knew he was completely bare beneath his
kilt.  He had the strangest expression on his face as he watched me approach,
never taking his eyes off of me until I was standing directly in front of him,
but on the opposite side of the fence.

Without saying a
word, he reached across the waist high fence and took my hand, then slid it
between the buttons of his shirt so that it was resting on his warm skin, right
in the center of his chest.

“Do ye feel that,
Kate?” he asked eyes intense as he held my hand against his chest with his own
hand.  “Do ye feel my heartbeat?”

“Yes,” I said
cautiously, wondering if he had gone mad.  Maybe he was used to getting more
sleep than I had allowed him last night.

I felt the quick
paced thudding beneath my hand and looked up to see a somewhat forlorn look on Devon’s
face.

“Ye do that tae me
every time that I lay eyes on ye.  I canna help myself,” he said, glancing away
as if trying to find the right words.  “I can see ye across a room, or lying in
bed asleep, or walking down the path towards me right now and it’s as if my
heart goes wild.  Sometimes I fear that it might beat right out of my chest.”

I smiled up as
him, touched by the sweetness of his words, hand still encased in his own,
resting on his chest.

“And it’s no
just…just the sex, it’s more than that.  It’s you.  I’ve never had this happen
tae me before.  It’s how my body responds tae ye every time.”

I leaned against
the fence, hand still hovering over his heart and kissed him.

“I’ll take good
care of your heart, Devon,” I smiled, resting my forehead against his.

“Thank ye,” he
whispered as he collected himself.  “Are ye ready tae see yer surprise?”

“Sure!” I said,
releasing him and walking around to meet him at the front door of the stable.

He met me and took
my hand, then led me into the stable. 

“Now close yer
eyes.  No peeking!”

“Alright,” I
responded, walking carefully in the direction that he led me, knowing that he
would keep me from tripping over anything.

He raised my hand
up and placed it on one of the doors that kept the horses separated into their
stables, then came to stand behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

“Alright, open
them,” he whispered into my ear, stubble scratching my cheek.

I opened my eyes
to see a baby horse so new that its legs were still wobbly as it stood next to
its mother.  It was covered in a fuzzy coat of dark brown fur and had little
puffballs of fluff for a mane and tail.

“She’s yers, lass,”
Devon said proudly.

“Really?” I
exclaimed, fingers still clinging to the wooden stall door.  “Can I touch her?”

“Of course.  Stella
won’t mind,” he said, referring to the mare that stood passively next to her
baby, munching nonchalantly on some hay.  Devon opened the stall door, and we
walked slowly into the stall. 

I stretched out my
hand to the tiny gray muzzle, and she sniffed me experimentally before
surrendering to a sneeze that shook her entire fuzzy body.  Devon and I both
laughed.

“See, she likes ye
already,” he said, seeking to assure me that maybe there was a horse on the
planet that could like me.  “Stanley’s her sire,” he added.

No wonder he was
so proud of this tiny horse.  She was the daughter of his pride and joy and he
was giving this prize of a possession to me.

I ran my fingers
through the filly’s fuzzy hair, and her bright eyes followed me, so
trustingly.  I loved her right away.

“Thank you, Devon. 
I love her,” I said sincerely.

“Yer welcome,
lass.  I thought that if ye had yer very own horse, right from the beginning
that ye might not be sae scared.”

“That’s a really
sweet thought,” I said.  I bent down and kissed the filly on her nose,
surprised by how gentle and calm she was.  “I’ll have to think about what to
call you,” I told her, scratching her behind the ears as her big brown eyes
continued to follow me inquisitively.  I stood up and hugged Devon again.  This
was the sweetest gift that I had ever received.

“I’m bound and
determined tae make a horseman out of ye still,” Devon chuckled into my hair as
we left the stable and walked hand and hand out into the early morning
sunshine.

Chapter Eighteen

Denial is a cruel
trick that your mind plays on you.  My case of denial allowed me to almost
forget about Katherine Berkshire, almost fuse her together with myself so that
in a way, I became her.  I was so wrapped up in my happiness with Devon,
delighted in the joy and the comfort that his love brought me, that I was
almost able to forget, or rather repress the fact that I was living amidst a
dangerous web of lies.

A month passed and
I knew that I could not reside in this bubble of peaceful happiness for much
longer.  With the dawning of each morning, the knot of unease building in my
stomach grew.  I tried to lose myself in the daily rhythm of the keep.  I
delighted in the happiness of my marriage and make love to my husband as often
as possible.  But still, the knot in my stomach grew and I knew that it was
only a matter of time before the truth would force its way to the surface.

As it happened,
Collin was the one who brought the truth forward.

Milly found me in
the solar, curled comfortably in a chair before the fire, finally getting
around to reading Collin’s book.

“The Laird would
like to speak with ye, mistress,” she said, rapping quietly at the door to
announce her presence.

There was an
instinctual tightening in my stomach that I could not deny as I closed the book
and rose from my chair.  I knew that I had been discovered.

“Is he in his
study?”  I asked, exhaling slowly to compose my thoughts.  I dreaded entering
what I considered to be his lair.

“Yes, and he said
not to dally,” Milly said, eyes downcast. 

I trudged up the
stairs and made my way down the dark stone corridor towards Collin’s study. 
The door was ajar, and I knocked quietly before entering, not waiting for his
permission to enter the small room.  The knot had grown again in the pit of my
stomach, and it was a challenge to suppress my nervousness as I stepped into
the room and saw Collin sitting behind his massive desk.

“Milly said that
you wanted to speak with me,” I stated, standing rigidly in front of Collin’s
desk.  I refused to let him know that I was nervous.  I knew that this would
make him feel all the more powerful.

“Aye,” he nodded,
and set down the papers that he had been reading.  His green eyes met mine, and
it unnerved me that they were so identical to Devon’s eyes.  “I received the
official Certificate of Marriage from the church today and I need ye tae sign
it sae that I can send it along tae yer father.  That is if ye are even aware
of how tae sign yer name,” he said with a demeaning tone. 

He doesn’t
know!  I’m still safe.

Relief flooded my
senses, shrouded me with a cocoon of safety.  Collin simply needed me to sign a
document. 

He searched through
a stack of papers on the desk and produced a very official looking document,
written in calligraphy on fine paper with “Certificate of Marriage” boldly
scrolled across the top.  He shoved the paper towards me along with a quill and
a small blue pot of ink.

My relief
evaporated as quickly as it had come.

Signing this
will expose me!

I looked up over
the top of the paper, and noticed that Collin was ignoring me as usual, back to
reading his papers.  I was thankful for his rudeness now, afraid that he might
notice how badly my hand was shaking as I held the certificate.

“Do ye need help
reading it sae ye can tell where to sign?” he asked annoyance heavy in his
voice.

“No, I can read,”
I said quietly as I read the document.  I noticed that Devon had already signed
the paper and I realized that I had never before seen his signature.  It
matched him perfectly, masculine and strong, standing out boldly against the
stark contrast of the fancy calligraphy.

I reached for the
quill and dipped it into the small blue pot of ink.  I knew that signing this
paper was going to blow my cover as Katherine Berkshire.  My hand shook as I
held the quill, and a drop of ink landed on the paper, marring its perfection. 

This paper would
be carried directly to Katherine’s family and I didn’t even know if she had
known how to sign her name.  If she did in fact know how to write, her parents
would recognize immediately that my forgery didn’t match their daughter’s
signature.  I felt like I was going to vomit and a cold sweat broke out across
my body.

I set the paper
down on Collin’s desk and brought the quill down, then stopped abruptly.  I
didn’t know if Katherine spelled her name with a “K” or with a “C!”  My heart
raced as I wondered if she used an alternate spelling like “Kathryn?”  Terror
ran down my spine and I made the split second decision to sign my own name, the
way that I spelled it, and hope that it was right.  I signed Katherine and
exhaled slowly, not having realized that I was holding my breath.

“Do I sign Berkshire
or McClain?” I asked Collin, having never before signed a marriage certificate.

“Berkshire,” he
said tersely, rubbing his temple as if even this small interaction with me was
giving him a headache.

I dipped the quill
into the ink again and added “Berkshire” to the document and admittedly, it
looked all wrong.  I knew that this document, this document that tied me so
closely to the man that I loved, would ironically be what exposed me as a
fraud.  I slid the paper back towards Collin and stood from the chair, knees
feeling weak.