Reckless

by Shannon Drake

  At last, he threw open the bathroom door. “Coffee?” he asked.

  “It’s outside the door,” she said, swallowing.

  “Why don’t you get it?”

  “Right away.”

  Of course there was coffee. Emma had conspired with the girl. She hurried out, found the waiting tray on the floor and brought it in. “Cream, sugar?” she asked.

  “Black.”

  She handed him a cup. Her hands were shaking, he noted.

  He sipped it, sitting at the foot of the bed, staring at her. Then he shook his head. “What on earth can I do for you?”

  She swallowed. “There is a way, I believe.”

  He arched a brow. “And that would be?”

  “You…um…you’d have to become engaged to me.”

  Chapter 10

  HE NEARLY CHOKED ON THE coffee; in fact, he did spit a mouthful across the room.

  Kat stared at him with both alarm and a growing sense of anger.

  “All right, all right, I understand that I have no title…that my home was less than elaborate!” she cried. “But…oh, Papa’s picture is in the paper today. It’s said that even the queen is anxious to look at his work. I will not be such an embarrassment, truly. And it need only be for the season! I only ask that you pretend.”

  How she wished he were dressed! With his dark hair and far too many muscles visible, he seemed more imposing than she had imagined. And she was flushed and shaking, remembering last night, unable to believe herself that she had come here like this, and yet…

  “Let me see if I really heard you correctly,” he said. “You want me to pretend that we’re engaged, so that you can go on a very long trip to pine after a man you can’t have?”

  “You have no intention of marrying anyone, anyway!” she said.

  He leaned toward her. She nearly jumped back. “How do you know that?”

  She waved a hand in the air. “Your affairs are notorious!”

  “Perhaps I’ve changed.”

  She shook her head. He was making this very hard on her!

  “What makes you think that this will help you any? I dragged you from the man’s embrace when I wasn’t your so-called intended!” His voice was like a growl. She was beginning to regret coming. He was just going to make her feel more and more like a fool. With ever less dignity.

  “I’m not going to flirt with anyone,” she said. “Or even try to influence David in any way.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “No.”

  “Then why must you go?” he demanded.

  She swallowed hard, certain that he was going to mock her yet again.

  “I seriously think that his life is in danger.”

  Hunter groaned, rising. She did back away then. He stared at her, dark hair awry, his strong features set in a mask, like that of a bronze statue.

  “Please, I don’t understand why you won’t believe me!” she cried.

  He strode across the room, planting himself in front of the fireplace. She flushed again, wondering why her mind was wandering from the seriousness of her intent to the muscled outline of his body.

  “Please!” she whispered.

  He turned. “Miss Adair, this is the largest pile of manure I believe I have ever heard.”

  She forced her eyes to remain level with his. She tried hard to still the trembling that had seized her.

  “But it’s the truth.”

  He shook his head, staring at her. “And what? If there were really someone out there intent on killing David, just what do you think you could do?”

  “I saved his life once.”

  “We’re going to the desert. Not the water.”

  “Please. I…I swear I would make it up to you.”

  “How?” he demanded.

  “I…I will be the best assistant you have ever had.”

  “Assistants are easy enough to come by.”

  She gritted her teeth. “I will listen to your every word, be at your beck and call. I will put pillows beneath your feet, fetch your drinks…cook, clean, anything!”

  “You’ve yet to know the meaning of ‘anything,’” he informed her harshly.

  She flushed to the roots. “Sir Hunter—”

  “If I agree to this insanity,” he said, setting his cup on the mantel and moving before her, then making her most uneasy as he walked a slow circle around her, “and we are still on an enormous ‘if’! If I agree to it, and you so much as go near the man, I’ll drag you away by your hair. You’ll rue the day you persuaded me to let you come.”

  She forced herself to remain very still. “That’s cruel, but understandable.”

  “I am a man of many sins, and I assure you, pride is high among them,” he told her.

  “I’ve noticed,” she said softly.

  “And then again…how will it look if I find someone alluring along the way?”

  “I’d simply look the other way,” she said.

  “What if I were to fall in love?”

  “Then you would have to cast me aside.”

  “Oh, that would be a drama you would love, eh?”

  “No!” Kat cried. “I’m just saying that…”

  She broke off. He had returned to the mantel for his cup, and now thrust it toward her. “Coffee,” he said simply.

  She stared at him hatefully for a moment, then retrieved the cup to pour more coffee into it and hand it back to him.

  “Ah, look at you! You’ll do anything, eh? So far, we’ve only made it to coffee, and I can see you’re ready to thrust a knife in my back.”

  “You are deliberately trying to irritate me,” she accused him.

  He took her by the chin, dark eyes, lips so close that she felt herself start to shake again, remembering.

  “It will get much, much worse!” he warned.

  “Then…you’ll do it?”

  He groaned again, deep and long. Then he waved a hand in the air.

  “Get out.”

  “But, Hunter…Sir Hunter…”

  “Out!”

  “But—”

  “Yes, yes, damn you! I’ll do it.” He spun around and looked at her. “I’ll give you a performance this very evening that you will not believe. But you will, I swear, pay for it!”

  “Thank you,” she managed.

  “Out!”

  “I’m leaving!”

  And she did. She ran out of the room as quickly as she could manage, nearly slamming into Emma in her haste. Of course, the housekeeping had been waiting just outside the door. She grasped Kat’s arm, drawing her farther down the hall.

  “He’ll do it?” she said excitedly.

  “Yes.”

  “I told you!”

  “But he’s so angry!” Kat said with a shiver.

  “He’ll calm down.” Emma clasped her hands together happily. “Oh, this will be such fun! But everything must be done quickly, as well.”

  “Wait, wait, Emma! There’s nothing to be done. It is a farce, a charade, nothing more.”

  “Good heavens, dear girl, don’t you see? It must be a good charade. If Sir Hunter has agreed, he will know that my words are true.”

  “Emma!” Kat caught the woman’s hands and stared into her eyes. “It’s not real!”

  “Miss Katherine, I helped you get in there and make it happen. Now you must humor me a bit, and also, believe this—if there is not some to-do about it, it won’t be believed. Now, you go home and make the announcement to your father and sister. Trust me. Sir Hunter will be down shortly, and you will see. Oh, dear. There’s today…tomorrow, and then it is time to sail. This will be wonderful!”

  “Emma!” Kat tried to warn again.

  “Go on, go on, now. I’ve a lot to do to plan the party by tonight.”

  “Party!”

  “Naturally. Oh, a small one, in the best of taste. Go on! You must get busy, too!”

  The entire idea had been insane. She hadn’t formed it in her mind when she had come; she had simply hoped that Hunter,
being Hunter, and ever willing to watch her make a fool of herself, would have an idea.

  But Emma had come up with this, assuring her that Sir Hunter may as well have a fiancée. He was, after all, ever being sought, and ever eluding those who would seek to claim his name. Now that it was done—and it had been such a rash ploy!—it seemed more insane than ever.

  She was going to have to lie to her father. That was going to be very hard. Not so much now—she would make the announcement and sail away, and he would be happy and working, and delighted that she had done so well—but later…

  When the engagement was broken.

  “Go home! And be convincing!” Emma said. “Ethan will see that you get there safely.”

  “Emma, it is broad daylight. I will be all right.”

  “Sir Hunter would never send his intended out on an omnibus, dear, not when his carriage was waiting.”

  And so Ethan took her home, and somehow it seemed, he, too, was aware of the charade, because he was grinning from ear to ear.

  When he helped her from the carriage, he said, “May, I, miss, give you my congratulations?”

  She let out a sigh, shaking her head.

  “Ethan!”

  “Go in, miss. I’ll come for you later.”

  When she went into the house, it was quiet. She thought perhaps that Eliza was still sleeping, but she knew that her father would be in the attic where the glass sheets on the eastward slant of the roof afforded him light.

  And he was there, as she had expected, serious as he studied one of his ships at sea, weighing color and scheme.

  He looked up as she came in, arching a brow. “Kat, what is it? You look so worried. Is something wrong?”

  Oh, something was very, very wrong. She shook her head.

  “My child, what is it that you can’t speak to your father?” he asked gruffly, setting down his palette and coming to her.

  “Papa, I need your blessing!” she said in a rush.

  He frowned deeply. “For…?”

  “I’m to become engaged.”

  “A man comes to a father when he would take a bride,” her father said sternly.

  She winced, having forgotten that he would feel this way. She opened her mouth, trying to think of the right thing to say.

  “Indeed, he should!” she heard, and swirling around, she saw that Hunter was there, in the doorway of her father’s workroom.

  He was dressed in a handsome gray suit and crimson waistcoast, clean-shaven and smelling of soap and leather. His eyes dusted over hers, then focused on her father.

  “Kat is a bit anxious. She loves you so. I have come to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage, Mr. Adair.”

  William’s brows hiked as his jaw dropped. He stared for what seemed like eons.

  Then his jaw snapped shut, and he grinned. “Well, well,” he said to Hunter.

  “She has enamored my heart and senses since I pulled her from the sea,” Hunter said.

  William was quiet again, then he started to laugh. He picked Kat up, holding her high above him, laughing. He lowered her, hugged her fiercely, set her down. Then he strode to Hunter and shook his hand. “Good heavens, yes, yes, yes! When Kat first walked in the room, I thought it was one of those boys…but, ah, yes. You and she. A perfect match. I saw it in my soul, but by God, it was never my place to speak, and if a parent were to point out such a perfect match to a child, well…daughters do not care to feel that they are being forced. After all, it is a new age.” He was still pumping Hunter’s hand. “This is quick, yes…but, you will have a voyage and more to know each other well before the marriage takes place.”

  He stopped shaking Hunter’s hand at last, but only to pick Kat up again. Then he let out a bellow that brought Eliza, in a robe, and Maggie, covered in flour, up to the garret. “They’re engaged!” William cried, hugging Eliza. “They’re engaged.”

  “Engaged!” Eliza gasped, looking at them both.

  “Lord above us!” Maggie breathed. “Ah, Kat, and would your sainted mother be glad and a-blessing you this day!”

  Kat’s cheeks burned. This, she knew, was the greatest guilt she had ever felt.

  Eliza hugged her, and their eyes met, and Kat knew that her sister was well aware of the lie, and yet, apparently, understood it. Then Eliza gave Hunter a sisterly kiss. Maggie hugged Kat as boisterously as her father had done, though without the lift off the floor, hesitated in front of Hunter, then hugged him, as well.

  When he was released at last, Hunter strode to Kat, taking her hand. “My dear,” he said, and she was certain that only she caught the terribly droll note in his voice, “if you will be so kind as to wear this ring…”

  She looked down at the item he slipped onto her finger, a gold ring with a yellow stone that shimmered in the light.

  He stepped away from her, addressing her father. “I am loathe to run off, Mr. Adair, after dropping such a stunning announcement, but I believe I rather surprised myself in all the haste of this! I must be about… Please, all of you, Emma would like a small celebration at my town house tonight.” He turned to Maggie, offering her a gallant little bow. “Miss Maggie, if you would be so good as to assist Emma, we’d both be most grateful!”

  Maggie clapped her hands together, staring at him with wonder. “My dearest sir! With all the pleasure in the world. She need have no fear, I will follow her every dictate!”

  “Good, then all is settled!”

  He started out, then stopped, swinging back around, catching Kat’s eye. “Good Lord! My beloved, in all the hurry, I forget the cause of all my joy!” He strode back to her. Then, as her father had, he picked her up and held her above him for a moment. Then he brought her slowly to the floor, letting her slide against the length of him. They, were, of course, both fully clad. And yet, as she slid down that length, she was vividly reminded of all that she had witnessed that morning. When she was solidly on her own feet again, he dipped his head to hers.

  It was not a kiss such as the one they had shared the evening before. This one was light and tender, a lover’s kiss, a promise. One that was entirely proper before a soon-to-be father-in-law. “Until tonight…”

  The sensual rasp he could apparently set to his voice at will still caused tremors within her. When he walked away, she could still feel his touch.

  And the mockery in his words.

  “OH!” ELIZA CRIED IN HIS WAKE. “Oh!” She spun on her sister, cheeks flushed. “Oh, but, Kat, he is so sumptuous! So—”

  Her words froze in her throat. “Um…so decent and kind,” she said quietly.

  “Sumptuous!” William roared. “Maggie, a wedding! There’s to be a wedding!” And music or no, he grabbed Maggie’s hands and began a jig about the attic.

  LORD AVERY CAME STRIDING into the pseudo great hall of his town house where Hunter awaited him by the fire. He looked grave, and as he came forward, he was shaking his head. “I’ve heard! It seems every servant in the city is speaking of nothing else. Hunter, my boy! I have forced this on you!”

  Hunter shook his head. “No, Lord Avery, and I am here because I was quite afraid you would think that the case. Perhaps you caused a quickening in my plan, but that is all.”

  “But, Hunter! You can’t mean to marry! Why, the finest mothers in the land have cast their daughters before you, women of independent wealth and means have made it quite clear that they’d be delighted to bear your name. Sir, you have escaped matrimony these many years, and it was surely your intent!”

  “Ah, but what man would escape forever, Lord Avery?”

  “But, Hunter…”

  “Lord Avery, yesterday you but pointed out to me the very assets Kat possesses that first stole my heart. She is a beauty beyond compare, but she is also courageous and bright, vivid, eager, young…tender, caring, loving. Dear friend, what was there not for me to fall in love with?”

  “Oh!”

  They both looked up, startled. Margaret was at the top of the stair, looking down, and of course, she h
ad heard all.

  She came sailing down the stairs and flew into Hunter’s arms, hugging him, then kissing both cheeks. “Oh, forgive me, I’m so happy! Hunter, such beautiful words. Had you ever said such things about me, I’d have swooned at your feet!”

  He laughed, gently setting her away, trying very hard not to grit his teeth.

  This was definitely a lot of work to maintain a good secretary. Yet the lies fell from his lips so easily! Because, of course, they were all true, he thought bitterly. She had inflamed his senses from the start, and even as she firmly set him from her, she had beguiled him further. So careless was she! And, yet, perhaps, after these many years during which he had kept his distance, broken a heart here or there, it was perhaps only what he deserved. Had he known then…

  “Lady Margaret, you are a golden angel, pure in heart and kindness and beauty, and some fellow out there will surely worship at your feet. In fact, I believe there are several.”

  Lord Avery let out a peculiar sound. “Yes, and she had best choose soon!”

  “Had I even imagined that Sir Hunter’s heart might be won, I’d have vied for it myself!” she said, smiling. “Oh, Hunter, seriously, I am thrilled for you both. We must throw a party, hastily, Father, since we’re to leave—”

  “There is a small get-together tonight, just our households, a few friends, at my town house,” Hunter said, anxious to be on his way. “You’ll come, please, say around eight?”

  “Of course!” Margaret said.

  “Indeed, Sir Hunter,” Lord Avery said, staring at him anew. And obviously, now, believing the charade.

  As he turned to leave, David Turnberry walked into the hall. The young man stopped short, seeing Hunter, and Hunter stopped, as well. “Good day, sir,” David said.

  “David,” Hunter acknowledged.

  Margaret floated across the floor, grasping David’s hand. “David! He’s to be married! Hunter is to be married.”

  David stared at him. “To…to…?”

  “Silly goose!” Margaret laughed. “To his mermaid, Miss Adair!”

  The color drained from the young man’s face.

  “David, you must congratulate Sir Hunter!” Margaret chided, obviously not noticing his sudden pallor.

  Stiffly, David extended a hand. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Congratulations,” he said.