Annie waved a hand. “Ye’re not fat, m’lady. Ye’re rounded. ’Tis a different thing. As fer the prince, I would no’ know aboot him as I try to avoid the scandal sheets whenever possible.”

Kat laughed. Annie brought back every scandal sheet she could procure from her cousins in London. Kat knew because she’d read them all to Annie at one time or another. “So why did you bring me breakfast in bed?” She lifted first one cover and then another, the scent of hot bacon and ham wafting through the air.

“Whist now, Miss Kat. Can’t I do something pleasant fer ye without bein’ accused of false pretenses?”

Kat raised her brows. “No.”

Annie sighed and took a seat on the edge of the bed, the mattress barely sagging with her weight. “Ye’re talkin’ nonsense. Come, lass. We can coze a bit whilst ye’re eatin’.”

Here it came. “Yes?” Kat said politely, cutting her ham into small bites.

“I’ve been thinkin’, I have.”

Kat took a bite.

Annie sighed and folded her hands in her lap. “See, Miss Kat, ’tis like this; whilst I know ye think ye have everything under control where the Sassenach is concerned, I have to wonder if ’tis so.”

“Why is that?”

“Because there are signs ye’re not so immune to him as ye think.”

“Oh for the love of—Annie, I’ve only gone riding with him a few times. I’m not planning a hand fasting.”

“Aye, ’tis a good thing, that, fer you’d not get it. From what I’ve heard, the Sassenach is a libertine.”

“A liber—Who told you that?”

“Me cousin, Janie. She said she heard Miss Spalding say Mr. St. John’s only purpose in comin’ to see ye was—” Annie broke off, glancing away, her face red. “Ye know what I mean.”

Kat considered this. After a moment, she said slowly, “And if that is true? How would that change things?”

“Miss Kat!”

“Annie, he has been nothing but gentlemanly, though I’d not allow him to be else. Besides, he’s leaving in a week. I’ve nothing to worry about.”

“Are ye sure?”

“Aye. That I am.”

“Oh? How will ye feel if he leaves? I worry that ye’re already too attached.”

Kat picked up her bread and became very busy spreading butter over it. “I am fine. Really I am. Once Devon is gone, I will have some lovely memories. Where’s the harm in that?”

“Hmph. Just see to it that ye don’t have a baby full of memories.”

“Annie!”

“Whist now. Ye know what I mean. A man who looks like that, why, if he so much as stumbled, I’d fall flat on the floor and pray that he fell atop me.”

Kat had to laugh. “You are incorrigible.”