The Kirkfield Heiress

Book excerpt: In 1214, King John, son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, brother of Richard the Lion Heart, is in the last years of his reign. He has made a start at appeasing the Pope in Rome and while the inderdict has been lifted, and marriages and other sacraments may again be performed, all is not well in the land. He has lost all his father’s lands on the Continent, his barons are in revolt, and France is preparing to invade England.. When Kathryn of Kirkfield is widowed for the second time, he immediately gives her in marriage to a man he can use, one of William Marshall’s trusted knights. Henry is to keep the wealth of Kirkfield from falling into rebel hands and help John defeat the French now gathering to cross the English Channel under Louis, Dauphine of France. Henry goes to Kirkfield, elated to finally have a home for the first time in his life. He thinks a woman who is older, even twice widowed and barren seems not too much to bear for the holdings and wealth she will bring him. He can always sire a bastard and adopt the child. He is protective of everything he owns which amounts to his horse, his armor, his sword, and what small wealth he has accumulated in tournaments. His men number two hundred and while meanly equipped, they are well trained and loyal. Kathryn has never wanted for anything. Losing both her parents at the age of eight, she has been reigning queen of Kirkfield, her every wish carried out. She owns so many properties that she has not seen most of them. She has six ships sailing the high seas. There are vineyards in France and Italy, a house in London. She has an agent in London managing her affairs. She has her Uncle Ricard for political advice. She has her brother Louis. She has her people. Even the two old men she married bothered her barely more than a fly near her ear. One was so ill that her married her while in his bed and never recovered. He was dead in less than a year. The second husband was not ill, but seemed scholarly and preferred to be alone. He was found one morning unable to talk or move one side of his body. He died three moths later, never having left the bed. Kathryn is also protective of all that is hers. But her protectiveness is more for her people than the wealth. She waits for the new husband with a little uneasiness, but no real fear that she will not handle him as she has the first two...by ignoring him and going about her business. Kathryn begins by pretending to be younger than she is and getting Henry’s agreement to let her escape the marriage bed until she matures. He counters that while he will not bed her she must share his chamber. No one must know that she is not truly a wife. He is afraid her wealth would be too great a temptation and another baron might steal her away. She agrees, then lets slip that her wolfhound was a gift from Louis, her cousin. She cannot tell Henry the truth about her half-brother Louis, nor that he travels with his mother’s people, a group of wanderers from Romani. Henry may bar them from the castle. Living close to Henry and sleeping in his chamber is a revelation. This is not an old and feeble invalid. This is a handsome young knight, a man she could love. She is immediately contrite and knows she made a mistake. Her old nurse urges her to make a clean breast of her charade, before he finds out and beats her or worse. Kathryn gathers her courage to tell him. He is about to listen to whatever she wants to say when a scaffold collapses where his men are working on the wall. He loses his temper and starts shouting. When he turns around, she is gone, scared out of her wits, sure that she can never let him know. Kathryn is selling his livestock, giving orders to his tenants and servants, while he is counting pigs in pens and ducks and barges and trying to figure out where his stock is being moved to or if they are being