by Claudy Conn
How had he stopped? What had she said to make him stop?
* * *
It was a clear, bright April morning. Spring was flourishing, and Kitty took a long breath of the fresh air. Her spirits were high. She had quite made up her mind that the earl was in love with her, and she meant to show him this was so in a variety of ways.
Harry’s arrival in town was beyond soothing, though she never did find out what brought him to London. She left the dowager to haggle with the hawker over some ribbons and strolled away a few feet to look into the large window of a nearby bookstore.
“Kitty,” Magdalen said and made her turn her head around.
She gave him a haughty look and said, “I am not certain I wish to converse with you.”
“What? Why?”
“I am not certain about that either,” she said, relenting and giving him a half smile.
He grinned and said, “If we weren’t out in the open I would crush you in my arms right this minute.”
This made her laugh. “Well then, I am thankful that is where we are. I shouldn’t like to be crushed.” Unless it was the earl doing the crushing. Something caught her eye, and she glanced across the avenue and saw what that was: Felicia Saltash hailing the earl, who had just stepped to the curbing.
Alex followed her line of vision and said, “Ah … so your guardian picks up where he left off.”
“Does he?” she said, her chin up.
He eyed her and laughed. “Why you should care is beyond me.”
“Care? I don’t care,” Kitty said irritably.
His eyes narrowed, and he said, “Careful, Kitten. If you let your heart move in that direction you will find it broken.”
“You speak in riddles, and I was never any good at them,” she answered.
He was not destined to answer her, as at that moment the earl looked up and locked gazes with Kitty. He turned away from Felicia Saltash, and Kitty could only imagine the woman’s chagrin as the earl crossed the avenue and came up to greet them.
The earl glared at Alex and said, “Why is it, Magdalen, that you are always about when you are not wanted?”
Alex laughed and said, “Brandon, you madman, don’t look so black. I am but behaving the honorable gentleman, not the bold hunter. I was only keeping your ward company while you were … er … otherwise engaged.”
“My ward is in the company of my grandmother.” The earl inclined his head and spoke with his eyes as the dowager joined them. “And needs no other protection. However, as I am not otherwise engaged and am at both my grandmother’s and Kitty’s disposal, you can take yourself off.”
“My lord!” Kitty gasped at the earl’s rudeness.
“Offensive fellow, isn’t he, Kitten?” Magdalen said with a twinkle.
The dowager said, “Ah, Magdalen. You are an engaging scamp, but go be so elsewhere. I won’t have you turning my little one’s head.”
“But I object, my lady. Kitty has such a lovely head … how could I strive to do anything else,” Magdalen bantered with his charming smile.
The dowager gave his strong arm a rap with her fan. “Never mind, scamp, go find other game.”
“Yes, but, Minnie,” Kitty teased, enjoying this liveliness, “I do so enjoy having my head turned, for I promise you it is not so empty that it can be swept away.”
“Touché!” the earl said and laughed heartily as he winked at Kitty. “Ah … our coach.”
Their driver pulled up to the curbing, and they parted happily from Magdalen, who managed to catch Kitty’s eye and throw her a kiss. She laughed and the earl admonished, but both knew it meant nothing. What she had to do was worry him with someone else, someone he might be led to believe she could marry.
She needed to wake him up to what he felt for her—if he hadn’t already, and something told her he knew exactly what he felt and was fighting it. That notion made her smile.
Harry was the second person occupying her thoughts. Something was off with Harry.
Later that day, well into afternoon, Kitty sat looking towards the drawing room door with some concern. Where was Harry? She was sure he would have called on her by now.
* * *
The earl contemplated the papers his man of business had left for him to peruse and sign but shoved them all to one side. Kitty would be in the drawing room having tea with his grandmother, and all he wanted to do was join her there—hear her laugh, watch her eyes twinkle with mischief.
He had become not only comfortable having Kitty in his home but, he knew, enamored with her presence in his home. Home? It had become so because of Kitty. He couldn’t imagine living here without her. The servants adored her and flitted about laughing and happy. He liked a happy staff. He couldn’t remember ever having such an experience before. If she met someone and fell in love … all that would stop. Damnation. What was he to do? Bloody hell … he was in bloody hell.
The chit was driving him mad with desire, but it was more. He knew it was more. The devil take him, for he had done the unthinkable: he had fallen in love. He was madly, irreversibly in love with Kitty.
The library door opened, and the butler announced in dulcet tones, “Mr. Harold Brentley.”
The earl’s mind started clicking thoughts into place. Why would Harry want to see him alone? He had fully expected the lad to be calling, of course, but only to see Kitty.
He collected himself and decided to get up and meet the lad halfway, his hand outstretched, and was glad of it when he saw that Harry was in severe discomfort. He gave the lad a warm greeting, hoping to calm the boy’s obviously frazzled nerves.
“Harry, my lad. What brings you here this afternoon?”
“I … I thought that I would visit with Kit, you see … but apparently your man thought she was in here …?” Harry said.
The earl’s heart thumped uncontrollably. Why was Harry here? Had his separation from Kitty made him think he was in love with her? He had the look of a man in love and miserable.
He couldn’t allow it. Kitty was his and his alone. Dawning suddenly made a rush of heat flood his body. He was going to have to declare himself or lose her, and he couldn’t, wouldn’t lose her.
It was at that moment that Kitty stuck her head into the room and asked, “Do I intrude. I thought I heard someone at the door …?” She spied Harry and said gratefully, “Harry … oh, I am so glad. I was waiting for you in the drawing room, not here.”
“Hallo, Kit,” Harry said, relaxing a bit. “The butler showed me in here instead.”
Kitty wagged a finger and laughed before she said, “You know, I should be put out with you.” She stepped into the room and took his hand. “Come on, we can chat in the drawing room and be comfortable, and you can tell me why I hadn’t even received one letter from you.”
“Kit, you know I’m no good with a pen.”
“Do I know that? Well, here you are, so you are forgiven.” Kitty knew that something was towards. She sensed it in him. When he didn’t give her a jolly rejoinder, she raised her brow. “Ah, I smell a mystery.”
Harry pinked and glanced sideways at the earl. “Mystery, indeed. Stuff and nonsense.”
The earl, Kitty thought at once, had already sized up the situation. He inclined his head and said quietly, “Do you know, my grandmother wanted something or other from me earlier, but I was buried in work. Why don’t you two sit and be comfortable here while I go see to her before she takes a miff.”
Kitty was not fooled. He was a knowing and wonderful, dear man. He must have realized Harry wanted a private moment with her and was making his excuses.
He looked at Kitty, and she saw, absolutely saw, his blue eyes soften as he said, “My dear.”
Kitty was madly in love but never more so than in that moment. He was kind, generous, honorable, and dear. She said, “You are most kind, my lord. Thank you.”
The earl seemed to swell at her words. A smiled curved his luscious lips, and he said, “Till later, then.”
Kitty watched him
go, marveling at the display of affection he had shown her with those deep blue eyes of his. Eyes could say so much more than words. Eyes were, as the saying went, certainly that doorway to the soul. She truly believed that. Well, had it been only four weeks ago when she was cursing him beneath her breath? Absurd. Life was, at times, absurd. She plopped onto a leather chair and suddenly remembered Harry fidgeting and pacing a few feet away. “Stop, sit, and tell me all.”
He laughed, but there was no joy in the sound, and with a frenzied sweep of his hair he sat beside her and confessed, “Damnation, Kit … I am in a muddle.”
“What sort of muddle?”
“I don’t know where to begin,” he said and sighed heavily.
“Don’t you? Right, I shall give you a beginning then. I left for London, and you …?”
“Ah, me, indeed, I was left with nothing to do but make a mess of things,” he said, and his face darkened.
“Very well, I take it you missed me,” Kitty said on a laugh.
He eyed her then. “Missed you? Just told you I made a mess of things. Henrietta missed you as well. She fell, I think, into the dismals.”
“No, not Ree.”
“Well, that is probably doing it too brown, but, indeed, she wasn’t herself either.”
“Well, even she did not write very much. I only received two letters to my four, and hers were just a jumble of words. Very unlike her.” Kitty then mused over this to herself.
“Did … did she mention me in her letters?” Harry asked, hope glittering in his eyes.
“Yes, she said you were well, but nothing more, also odd, not like Ree at all. What the deuce are you not telling me?”
“Did she mention Clay?”
“Another odd thing. She did, and I was surprised because when I left for London, I rather thought she did not like Clay overly.” Kitty felt she was on the verge of sniffing out the mystery.
“Kitty, Henrietta should be arriving in London, sometime today!” Harry exploded with this announcement, stood, turned in place, and sat heavily down once more.
Kitty eyed him, for he seemed absolutely miserable. “This is thrilling news, at least for me, Harry … does it not please you for some reason?”
“She comes to do some shopping and to see you,” he said dolefully.
“Harry, I am beginning to feel as though I am reading a gothic piece, and it is being fed to me in chapters.”
“Right. Let me see if I can paint you a picture then. Do you know who accompanies Henrietta and her family?” He didn’t wait for her to guess. “Clay is with them.”
Kitty was stunned by this piece of information and saw at once why her friend was despondent and a touch angry. This was all terrible news. She had left thinking that her dear Harry and her closest friend Ree would make a match of it. How had Clay Bickwerth insinuated himself with her usually very intelligent and discerning friend?
“This is most irritating.” Kitty wrung her hands. “Ree … should realize that Clay is looking to her inheritance. Besides, I can’t believe that she even was comfortable in his company.”
Harry took both of Kitty’s hands. “Kitty, you must help me. I shall die if she chooses Clay over me.”
“La, of course I shall help you. You love Ree, do you—with all your heart?”
“Love her? I worship and adore her! But I think I have lost her to Clay. She seems … taken with him.”
“Nonsense, you and Ree are a perfect match,” she said, waving this off.
“Thank you, Kitty.”
“Has Clay offered for her yet?”
“No, but I believe he is expected to. And, Kit, I think her parents are well satisfied with the match.”
“But what of Ree? How does Ree feel about Bickwerth?”
“I am not sure. I am depending on you to ferret that piece of information out. Kitty, even if she doesn’t choose me … I can’t allow her to marry a man who will turn around after the honeymoon and spend her money on wine, women and gambling, and that is what he’ll do.”
“I rather thought Ree was not indifferent to your suit.” Kitty frowned over this and watched his face.
“Indeed, so thought I. But lately she has denied me her company.”
“Are you saying, for I cannot believe it, that Henrietta spurned you?” Kitty’s hand flew up.
“Not exactly spurned me … but after the Ritters’ ball, I came to call, and she wouldn’t see me.”
“Perhaps she was unwell.”
“She saw Clay …” Harry said, his voice falling with his dejection.
“How do you know that?”
“Because Henrietta told me.”
“What?” Kitty stood up, “Harry, this is not making any sense.” She sat back down.
“Not to me either. You see, if she chooses Clay over me, well, I could live with that, if he weren’t such a cad. He will break her heart.”
“I can’t believe any of this. Harry, you are missing something here. I am sure of it.”
He stood and paced away. Kitty got up and followed, putting a hand on his arm, and he turned to her and declared, “I shall go mad with hurting.”
“Harry, don’t worry. No one is going to break Ree’s heart, even if I have to shake the good sense back into her. You have naught to concern yourself about. I dashed well mean to take the reins of this wild team and slow them down!”
“Oh Kit … Kit!” Harry wailed and took her into his arms for a bear hug.
* * *
The earl had, in fact, gone off to seek out his grandmother, if only to pass a few moments before he could rejoin Harry and Kitty. He told himself theirs was only a friendship, but what if friendship in this case had led to love? After all, absence may just have made the heart grow fonder. Perhaps Harry had come to town because he found he damn well couldn’t live without Kitty?
This disturbed him on levels he had never before explored.
He found his grandmother busy in the kitchen planning a menu and left her to her own devices with a wink and a smile.
Had he left them alone long enough? Damn, but he bloody well had.
Thus, he headed back towards his study. There, in the open doorway, he pulled up short.
Love and jealousy slammed into him. He had no idea when or how this had happened to him.
He thought he was hardened against the dangerous emotion called love.
He thought he was well able to step aside and never be caught.
He had been wrong, and all it took was a bubbling, refreshing beauty with glittering green eyes and a laugh that made him want to scoop her into his arms and make her his for all time.
Now what was to be done? Was Harry declaring his love?
Did she return Harry’s love? She couldn’t … he wouldn’t believe that was so. He had seen feeling in her when they were together.
Hell and fire! He was damn well going to make her his bride, but first he had to make certain she returned his ardor.
The vision of Kitty in Harry’s arms slapped him in the heart. All at once he knew the time had come. He loved Kitty to distraction, and he dashed well was going to break every rule in creation as a guardian and make her his own in every imaginable way!
The two pulled guiltily apart. It was a quick, sharp movement. Harry stumbled over a few words of explanation, but Kitty, Kitty didn’t stumble at all.
She met his eyes and laughed.
That was his Kitty … facing the world in her own inestimable fashion, and he bloody well meant to step up very soon and make her his own.
~ Twenty-Seven ~
JEALOUS! KITTY ALMOST gasped out loud and clapped her hands with glee. She could see it written all over the earl’s handsome face. He didn’t want any other man hugging her, friend or not.
“I could not find my grandmother anywhere and thought in her absence I should stand chaperone.” The earl’s tone was frigid.
Harry blustered uncomfortably and finally got out the words. “My lord, I do apologize. The fault was mine … not
Kitty’s. You see, we are used to … well, we have been left to ourselves most of our lives and … well, what I mean is …”
“Harry,” Kitty said and chuckled as she cast the earl a playful look. “There is no need to explain. The earl already knows and understands our easy friendship.”
“Do I?” The earl’s brow was up, but she could see by the warm light of his blue eyes that he was already softening. The moment was saved.
The dowager appeared then and said with a thankful sound, “Ah, there it is …” She went to and picked up a jeweled case. “I have been looking for this for some time. I must have left it here this morning.” She then spied Harry and said, “Oh … here is another one. Who are you?”
Harry blushed, and Kitty laughed before introducing them, telling the dowager he was her very dear Harry, whom she had met at the theatre the other evening. She reminded Minnie that she and Harry had been friends since infancy.
“Very well, then, most unseemly calling this late in the day, but I shall allow it. Sit down, young man, and I shall call for refreshments … ah, my staff has read my mind. Here it is now.”
Harry inclined his head worriedly but managed a squeaking, “Thank you.”
Kitty roared and said, “Harry, don’t allow Minnie to make you cower. She is all bark and very little bite.”
The dowager preened. She adored Kitty and allowed her much license. “Indeed, young man, but do anything untoward, and my bite might just take you by surprise.” She then laughed with deep felt mirth and poured the tea.
The butler arrived and announced, “Lord Magdalen.”
The dowager’s brows drew together, and she leveled a look at Kitty. “Zounds, darling. Morning callers and now late afternoon callers?” She shook her head and clucked her tongue, but Magdalen came in like a storm embellished with sunshine, and they all fell into easy and light-hearted discourse.