Chapter Thirteen
“The gatehouse guards said that Titus and the lady went through the gates and headed toward the village about an hour ago,” Damian said. “No one stopped him, Cass. No one would dare stop Titus de Wolfe unless they wanted to come away missing teeth.”
They were in the great hall of Edenthorpe and the hour was growing late. More than an hour earlier, Titus had taken Katiana from the hall and disappeared.
Vanished.
Cassius had no idea where his brother had gone, and the fact that Titus had left the castle, at night, no less, was incredibly puzzling. Therefore, he listened to Damian’s report and tried not to let his confusion show. He simply nodded his head as if it really didn’t matter what Titus was doing.
“Mayhap he took her for a moonlight ride,” he said, unconcerned. “He’ll be back. It’s not as if he can keep her out all night.”
Damian was as confused as Cassius was, but he had no restraint about showing it.
The expression on Dacia’s face only seemed to exacerbate it.
But Cassius refused to display any concern whatsoever, so Damian simply turned around and headed out of the hall.
That left Cassius and Dacia sitting alone on the dais.
The boys never joined them in the hall for meals because Dacia didn’t like her children around a bunch of unruly soldiers.
More than that, she looked forward to the time alone with Cassius.
But this evening, she’d been excited to sup with Katiana and was greatly disappointed that Titus had taken the lady away.
She hadn’t been concerned at first, but twenty minutes later, and then thirty, she grew curious.
She sent a servant out to find them only to be told that they were nowhere to be found.
That brought her husband’s attention, and soon, soldiers were looking all over the castle for Titus and the lady he’d brought with him.
When they came to the gatehouse, however, they were told by a pair of sentries that Titus and the woman had left the gates.
Yet no one seemed to know why.
In truth, Dacia thought she might know why but she was afraid to voice her thoughts. As Damian headed off, she spoke with great hesitation.
“He’s fond of her, you know,” she said quietly. “Titus, I mean. He’s fond of Lady Katiana and she is fond of him.”
Cassius didn’t react other than to take a swallow of wine from his cup. “He’s simply taken her on a moonlight ride,” he said, glancing at his wife. “I can remember doing that with you on occasion.”
Dacia gave him a lopsided grin. “Every time you did, we had a child.”
“I’ve taken you out more than four times.”
“Possibly. But it’s the four times I remember more than the others.”
Cassius cracked a smile, reaching out to take her hand. “I’m sure there will be more moonlight rides in the future and more children,” he said. “But I do not need moonlight in order to bed my wife. I can do that without any inspiration at all. You set my blood boiling with a mere look.”
Dacia shushed him. “Quiet,” she admonished him. “Someone may hear you.”
“Who?” Cassius demanded, looking around. “In case you’ve not yet realized it, we’ve been abandoned.”
“They’ll return.”
He paused a moment before glancing at her. “Where do you think they’ve gone?” he asked. “Did Lady Katiana give you a clue?”
Dacia shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “She didn’t say anything to me. Is it possible that Titus knows someone nearby and has gone for a visit?”
“Mayhap the lady knows someone nearby. Mayhap he took her there.”
Dacia sighed faintly, thinking on the lovely Lady Katiana and how sweet she was.
Dacia had truly enjoyed their conversation.
The lass didn’t seem particularly strong-willed or even manipulative, but she knew that Titus could be when he put his mind to it.
Perhaps their vanishing had been his idea.
Dacia knew that Titus wasn’t a danger to the lady by any means, but she seriously wondered why they’d disappeared.
Cassius didn’t seem too concerned, but Dacia suspected that was all an act.
Cassius wasn’t the nonchalant type. She caught the attention of a servant and called the woman over with the intention of having their meal brought to the table, which they’d been holding off on, when the very man in question suddenly appeared in the great hall entry.
And he was holding Lady Katiana by the hand.
“There they are,” Dacia said with relief. “See, my darling?”
Cassius did. He sat up in his chair, watching Titus and the lady cross the floor in their direction. Dacia quickly ordered the meal for the entire table as the vanishing couple drew near.
“My apologies for delaying your meal,” Titus said. “Where’s the food? We are hungry.”
“It was ready over an hour ago,” Cassius said, frowning. “Where did you go?”
Titus didn’t answer right away. He pulled out a chair for Katiana to sit before taking the chair next to her. Servants were swarming around them, bringing cups of wine and putting bread on the table. Titus took a big, long drink before replying to his brother.
“Into the village,” he said, smacking his lips. His tipsy condition had worn off long ago, and he took another drink as if looking to quickly reclaim it. “We went to the church.”
“Oh?” Dacia said, looking between Titus and Katiana. “My lady, if you wished to pray, I would have been very happy to summon the priest to Edenthorpe. You did not need to go out into the night.”
Katiana smiled wanly as Titus answered for her. “We did not go to pray,” he said. “We went to be married.”
Dacia’s eyes widened as Cassius slammed his cup on the table and nearly toppled it. “What?” he said. “You went to… Married? Titus, what did you do?”
Titus was quite calm. “I just told you,” he said. “I found a priest and we were married, not a half-hour ago.”
Cassius looked as if his eyeballs were going to pop from his skull. His focus moved between Titus and Katiana before he finally looked at Dacia to see what her reaction was.
Her features mirrored his own.
Shock.
“I think you’d better start from the beginning, Titus,” Dacia said. “I did not even know the two of you were courting. I suppose I suspected, but did you truly go into town and find a priest?”
“We just spoke of this, Titus!” Cassius blurted. “Not an hour ago, we spoke of my going to Callerton Castle and negotiating a betrothal on your behalf. Was that not good enough? You could not wait for me to do it?”
Titus held up a hand to calm his nearly irate brother.
“Cass, listen to me,” he said with surprising calm.
“What we discussed was all well and good an hour ago, but afterwards, the lady and I spoke of the situation. We spoke of how her brother positively hates me, and, chances are, her father is already dead and Ansel is now responsible for her. The man would deny my request to marry her purely out of spite, and then where would we be? I would fight him, and possibly kill him, or he would have me ousted from Callerton, whereupon I would have to ride to Berwick and beg Papa for his army. You know it would be a mess, all of it, because I would not give up. I’ve got too much depending on me right now for something like this to drain my focus, so the lady and I decided to take control of our future and our happiness.
We do not want to chance what could potentially happen.
I am sorry if you do not like it, but that is what we’ve done.
If you’d prefer I leave tonight, then we can do that. I can find lodgings somewhere else.”
By the time he was finished, Cassius was less irate and Dacia was positively sympathetic. Cassius finally shook his head, sighing heavily as he sat back in his chair.
“Don’t be daft,” he mumbled, rubbing his forehead to stave off the headache that threatened. “You’re not going anywhere tonight. I suppose I’m surprised more than anything. You truly married her?”
Titus nodded, looking at Katiana, who was smiling timidly. He took her hand and brought it to his lips for a tender kiss.
“I did,” he said. “I do not regret it, nor will I ever. When something is right, you know it. You feel it in your heart and in your soul. All I know is that I cannot be without this woman, Cass. I think you know something about that. When a man wants a woman to be his wife… nothing else matters.”
Cassius didn’t have an argument for that. He looked at Dacia, who was smiling knowingly at him. Of course Cassius knew how Titus felt, but the fact remained that he’d done something wrong.
Quite wrong.
He’d gone about it the wrong way.
“Titus,” Cassius muttered, shaking his head. “I wish you’d told me what you planned to do.”
“Why?” Titus said. “So you could talk me out of it? No offense, Cass, but this marriage is not between you and me and the lady. It’s only between me and the lady, and we will make the decisions that are best for us.”
Cassius’ jaw twitched. “So you’ve made it,” he said.
“What now? Are you going to ride to Callerton and tell them that you’ve married her without permission and dare them to challenge the marriage?
Dare them to try to punish you? They will have a serious grievance against you, Titus.
I do not know who their magistrate is, but they can take you before the magistrate and charge you with any number of things, thievery among them. ”
Given that Cassius, as a duke, was the itinerant justice for his domain, he knew a little something about the laws of the land. Titus knew his brother wasn’t trying to be cruel, only a realist, but he was starting to feel defensive.
“I’ll pay them a goodly sum for the marriage,” he said steadily. “I will compensate them for it.”