Love Wild and Fair

'The thought of her favorite child possessing your wealth is very tempting, Catriona.' Then, 'How did ye know I spoke Gaelic?'

'Ye told me ye spent several years in Caithness. What else would ye speak there?'

Annoyed at being ignored so pointedly, Giles de Peyrac asked, 'What is that gibberish you speak? It has an ugly sound.'

Cat gave him a cold look while Niall said, ' 'Tis Gaelic we speak, cousin. Madame la comtesse speaks to me of my youth.'

Cat managed to avoid her reptilian cousin the rest of the evening, and with the arrival the following day of the Parisian dressmaker she was prepared to forget him entirely. The woman had brought three assistants and an enormous collection of fabrics. One look at Cat, and she chortled, 'Ah, madame la comtesse! What a pleasure it will be to dress you! Mon Dieu! What a tiny waist! What magnificent breasts! Such skin, eyes, hair! I can see that once you arrive at court it will not be long before our Evergreen Gallant has a new mistress. When I have finished with you, madame, there will be no one more ravishing!'

Cat laughed happily. 'I regret I shall be a disappointment to you, Madame de Croix. I am not going to court, but to Italy to be married. You must make my clothes in the Italian fashion.'

The little woman's face fell. 'Where in Italy, madame la comtesse?'

'Naples.'

'Ahhhh!' The smile reappeared. 'Naples! The climate is temperate, and the nobility fashionable! We will use light velvets, cottons, linens, and silks of all weights. The necklines will be very, very low, the skirts fluid and flowing. You will be a vision!' She signaled to her assistants, who immediately began unrolling bolts of materials.

Cat gasped. Never had she seen such a marvelous display of fabric or colors. A soft lilac-colored silk caught her eye, and she pointed to it. 'For my wedding gown,' she said.

Madame de Croix smiled broadly. 'Oui! But only for the overskirt. For the underskirt we use the same color in a light velvet, which we will embroider with gold thread and seed pearls. The sleeves will flow like water, and we will embroider their edges too. Very appropriate for Naples. Now, if you were to remain here and go to court, I should design the sleeves tight at the shoulder and wrist and full in the center, but-' she shrugged-' 'tis too stifling a fashion for a warm city. Now, madame la comtesse, let us get your measurements.'

Clad only in her shift, Cat stood upon a stool while the dressmaker and her three assistants buzzed about her, chattering in their quick Parisian French. Suddenly Cat became aware of another person in the room, and looking up saw Giles de Peyrac leaning against the open bedroom door staring avidly at her. Ignoring him, she said to Susan in Gaelic, 'Fetch Conall to remove that vermin!'

An uncomfortable few minutes passed, and then Conall was standing next to Giles de Peyrac. Speaking in soft, careful French, he said, 'We can do this two ways, my lord. Either ye leave quietly, or on my lady's very explicit orders I will remove you.'

Saying nothing, the Frenchman turned and departed, Conall following.

'How long,' asked Cat. 'would it take to make one dress for me? Could you do a dress in one day?'

'Using three girls, I could, madame la comtesse.'

'Then send to Paris, Madame de Croix. I want two dozen of your best seamstresses, and I will pay their wages myself. Twelve are to work on my gowns and the others are to do everything else-the shifts, night-garments, cloaks, embroidery, whatever!' At the woman's incredulous look, Cat smiled. 'Send someone you trust to the banking house of Giscard Kira, and ask whether Madame la Comtesse de Glenkirk can afford such extravagance. You will find that I can. I wish to be gone from Chateau Petit within two weeks!'

Shuddering, Cat glanced at the now-empty doorway.

Chapter 45

TWO days before Cat's departure, an unfamiliar horseman rode into Chateau Petit. Within the hour Cat was summoned to the library. David Leslie de Peyrac looked uncomfortable and a trifle nervous. Sprawling in a chair was an elegant gentleman who leaped to his feet as Cat entered the room.

'My niece, Madame la Comtesse de Glenkirk. Catriona, this is Monsieur le Marquis de la Victoire.'

The elegant bowed low over her hand, kissing it reverently and holding it a moment too long. His blue eyes swept her admiringly, and he couldn't resist ogling her just a trifle, the waxed points of his moustache twitching slightly. 'Madame, I am your devoted slave,' he murmured with a violet-scented breath.

Cat's laughter rang clear, and her leaf-green eyes twinkled. 'You overwhelm me with such attentions, monsieur le marquis,' she protested prettily.

Delighted with this beautiful woman, who was obviously skilled in court repartee, the marquis spoke again. 'Madame, it is my unbelievable good fortune to have been chosen by the king to escort you to Fon- tainebleau.'

'Your king wishes to see me? There must be some mistake, monsieur le marquis. I am merely traveling through France on my way to Italy.'

'You are the widow of Patrick Leslie?'

'Yes.'

Then there is no mistake, madame.'

'I will need time to change, monsieur le marquis. And, of course, I must be properly chaperoned. I shall be accompanied by both my tiring women, my confessor, and my captain-at-arms and his men. And, of course, we shall travel in my coach.'

'But, of course, madame! All the proprieties will be observed.'

Another hour passed, and Cat found herself traveling the seven mile's through the forest between Chateau Petit and Fontainebleau. On Niall's advice she had dressed herself in an elegantly seductive dark-green velvet dress that emphasized the color of her eyes and the whiteness of her skin. The neckline was cut very low to reveal the full swell of her breasts. Over it she had flung a hooded cloak fashioned of alternating bands of dark-green velvet and soft dark beaver. It closed at the neck with a large gold clasp set with an emerald.

Niall spoke quietly to her as they rode along. 'Don't underestimate him, Catriona. Henri de Navarre is a shrewd man. Answer his questions candidly, but tell him only what you think he needs to know, no more. He enjoys women, especially women of spirit and intelligence. He has great charm.'

'But what,' she asked, 'can he want with me?'

'I imagine James Stewart has discovered your absence, and has sent to his fellow king for aid in obtaining your return.'

'I will not go back, Niall!'

'If that is why Henri wishes to see you, ma belle, then use all your charms to dissaude him. I know you can.'

'Mon pere!' Cat was shocked. 'What is it you are telling me to do?'

'Whatever you must. Do you or do you not wish to be Lord Bothwell's wife?'

'I do! Dear God, I do!'

'Then do whatever you must do to achieve that goal.'

A few minutes later they reached Fontainebleau, and the marquis was at the coach door to escort Cat to the French king. 'Your women and your other people may wait here,' he told her.

Niall slid easily from the coach to the courtyard. Looking directly at Robert de la Victoire, he said quietly, 'I