Read Online Cards & Caravans by Cindy Spencer Pape - Free Book Online Page B

an idealistic girl who wanted a more rooted life than the circus into a competent, self-reliant woman. Perhaps it was time for him to go home. She only had one question. But what will I do ?
    She felt, rather than heard his familiar chuckle. The Knights will help you . They employ gifted women , you know . You may well find a place amongst them . At the least , they can help you sell the farm and buy a cottage somewhere else . Perhaps they’ll even help you publish those stories you’ve been scribbling at for years .
    Knights ? She knew Connor had been knighted, but this sounded different. She made a note to ask Connor about it later. Meanwhile, she pondered Micah’s words. Perhaps she would make an effort to get her children’s stories published. She could think of no more rewarding endeavor. She loved her writing, but it had never been more than a private fancy. Before she’d married Micah, she’d never told a living soul about her notebooks. While her grandmother had taught her to read and write, literary pursuits weren’t highly regarded among her troupe.
    Aye . Knights . And if you choose to marry and have a family of your own , nothing would make me happier , lass .
    But I’m barren .
    Another chuckle kissed her spine. Are you ? Or was that me , after my bout of fever ? Perhaps one day you’ll find out .
    “What?” She shrieked that last out loud, forgetting to speak inside her mind. What did he mean she might not be barren? After last night, she had damned well better be.
    “Everything all right over there?” Connor called from around the divider.
    “Fine. Just thought I saw a deer in the road.” It was the first lie she could think of. Dissembling had never been her strong suit, despite being trained by her fortune-telling grandmother to gull the customers.
    “Well, keep an eye out. They’re pretty bold around here, though the noise should scare them away.” He started whistling an old folk song, and she absently began to hum along.
    Micah ?
    There was no answer. She was on her own. Squaring her shoulders as she drove, she smiled. She was up to the task. No more looking back. It was time for Belinda to take charge of her own destiny.
    While Connor whistled, she sang along, the clanking and wheezing of the engine adding a staccato counterpoint to their melody. Overall, it was so awful, she couldn’t help but laugh.
    “Let me know when we pass a low stone wall,” he called after they’d been on the road about an hour and a half. “We turn right at the next lane.”
    “We’re coming up on a wall now,” she told him. “There’s a pedestal at the corner, with something on the top. A lion, perhaps? No, it’s a dog of some kind.” It was hard to tell since the gray granite statue was so old.
    “A Scottish deerhound. My family’s been breeding them for centuries.” He dumped another shovelful of coal in the boiler. “Turn into the lane and keep going, another mile or so.”
    “A mile? From the entrance to the house?” She eased the throttle back and made the wide half circle necessary to turn the cumbersome wagon. “Just how wealthy is your family?” The vehicle barely fit between the two stone pillars. Off to the left, she thought she saw a small gatehouse.
    “Hell, I don’t know. Rich enough.” He heaped one last shovelful of coal in to the boiler and then came to stand beside her. “Home sweet home. Legend has it that when Camelot fell, Arthur’s Knights spread out over the island, each settling in a different part of Britain, to oversee and protect it. Sir Kay, Arthur’s foster brother, came here and built his tower, not far from the Scottish lowland home of his wife. Hence the name Kay’s Tower. The current castle only dates to the twelfth century but there are traces of the older one in the foundations and the curtain wall. Sir Kay is also the root of the name MacKay.”
    “You’re suggesting the legends of King Arthur are real, and that you’re a direct descendant of Sir