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.You’re a good man.Bloody hell, what had he been thinking to tell her of his bargain with William? He snorted and dragged a hand down his face.Clearly, he hadn’t been thinking of dazzling her with his charm.Nor had he been thinking of that last night, when he’d gone off issuing unreasonable orders.But that, at least, had come from somewhere, and led to something.He’d been furious with her for going anywhere near Smuggler’s Beach and he wanted to be certain she never, ever, put herself in that sort of danger again.Granted, once his temper had settled he’d been able to admit the danger had been fairly limited…and his reaction fairly asinine.But asinine or not, there had been a point.For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out where the desire to suddenly share a piece of his sordid past had originated or what he had thought to gain from it.It had come from nowhere, this overpowering urge to give her some inkling of the kind of man he was, the kind of man she was getting involved with—which was perfectly stupid as he didn’t intend to give her much of a choice in the matter, and then he’d been on the edge of his seat waiting to discover what she thought of that man—which was equally stupid as he had no intention of changing who he was for her or anyone else—and then, finally, she had called him a good man.Which had elated, baffled, and irritated him all at once.He wasn’t a good man.He was wicked.Usually, he was rather good at being wicked.He’d been nothing short of ineffectual for the last eighteen hours.That would stop, immediately.He knew how to be effective.He knew how to be damn near everything.He had been damn near everything over the course of his life—wily street urchin, elusive thief, cutthroat businessman, charming gentleman.He’d managed that last well enough after his bizarre little confession.He certainly knew how best to go about getting what he wanted.And, despite his bizarre little confession, what he wanted bloody well wasn’t for Kate to absolve him of his sins.He liked being wicked, damn it, and he wasn’t the least bit sorry for it.He pushed away from the wall and resumed his walk to the billiards room where he knew both Lord Brentworth and Whit could be found.The former he intended to offer an unholy amount of money to keep quiet the matter of the vase.The latter he intended to have keep an eye—a watchful eye, this time—on Kate for a couple of hours.He had a wicked and charming idea.FourteenKate returned to her room with the intention of changing her gown and hiding it in a trunk.With any luck, she could dispose of it once she was back at Haldon without anyone being the wiser.Luck, it seemed, was in short supply.She opened her door to find Lizzy standing in the middle of the room, folding a blanket at the end of the bed.Lizzy dropped the blanket with a gasp and crossed the floor the second her gaze fell on Kate’s bloody shoulder, which was exactly one second after Kate stepped inside.“Lady Kate, what happened?”Kate closed the door behind her.“It’s nothing.”Lizzy stopped in her tracks and gestured at the bloodstained tear.“Nothing, is it? I’ve eyes, haven’t I?”“Yes.You also have ears and a mouth, which is why I’m not telling you what happened.”Lizzy sniffed, rather melodramatically in Kate’s opinion.“I have been known to keep a secret or two.”“Only when it’s my mother who’s asked it of you.”“Well…” Lizzy eyes darted away and she began to tug at the ties of her apron.“Well, she asks me doesn’t she? She…”“She what, Lizzy?”“She asks for my word.”Like a Cole, Kate realized, like family.How could she have failed to realize what that would mean to Lizzy? Rather than make an issue out of it, which would only make Lizzy more uncomfortable, she shrugged and spoke casually.“Well, promise me you’ll not breathe a word of it, and I’ll tell you what’s happened.”Lizzy gave one solemn nod.“I promise.”Relating a story to Lizzy was always something of a challenge.The woman asked an inordinate number of questions.But relating a story that involved a broken vase, an injury, a picked lock, and a substantial amount of time locked in a room with a handsome man—whilst simultaneously avoiding any mention of a smuggling operation, and changing her torn gown—was far more than a challenge.It was an event.And one that took the better part of two hours.It would have taken even longer if a soft knock on the door hadn’t interrupted Lizzy in midquestion.“Come in,” Kate called, fully expecting a maid to enter with news of tea in the parlor.What she heard was Hunter’s voice.“It is tempting.”“Good heavens,” Kate bounded off the bed, flew across the room and threw open the door.After a quick glance down both ends of the hall to be certain no one was about, she grabbed a handful of his waistcoat and pulled him a foot into the room, then thought better of it and pushed him back into the hall.Ignoring his deep chuckle, she stepped out, closed the door behind her, and took his arm to drag him away from her room.“What were you thinking, coming to my door?” she demanded.“If someone had been about—”“If anyone had been about, I wouldn’t have come to your door.”“That’s—”“The ladies are in the parlor and the gentlemen are in the billiards room, Kate, and I didn’t feel like hunting up a maid to fetch you.”She rolled her eyes.“Have you never heard of a bellpull?”“I’m not going to make a maid come all the way upstairs just to deliver a message six doors down from my own.It would be a waste of time.”She stopped and turned to him when they reached the top of the back staircase.“It is ridiculous, I grant, but it is also the way things are done.And not doing things the way they are done can result in…in…” She trailed off, remembering what he’d said.“Six doors? You counted?”He blinked once, then threw his head back and laughed.To her astonishment, he reached out to grip her face with his hands and placed a loud kiss on her forehead.“You never cease to surprise me.”She shoved him away, even as she battled the exceedingly odd combination of amusement and attraction.“That is not how things are done either.”“Come with me.” Still chuckling, he took her arm and led her down the stairs.“I’ve a present for you.”“A present?” No doubt it was silly of her to be so easily sidetracked from her goal of educating the man on proper house party etiquette, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care.She was far more interested in the fact that she was excited to be receiving a present from a man.Generally, whenever one of her admirers brought her a token, she felt awkward accepting it, guilty that she wasn’t thrilled to be receiving it, and in the case of Lord Martin, a little annoyed that he kept bringing them.Hunter pulled her down a hallway she knew went mostly unused by guests.“Where are we going?”“The ballroom.I want a bit of space for this.”“There’s quite a bit of space outside.” Though why they should need it was a mystery.“It stopped raining, hasn’t it?”“It has, but we need to do this indoors.That reminds me, why is it your family has not taken up permanent residence on the coast?”She couldn’t imagine how the first part of that statement could possibly remind him of the second.“I think perhaps you’re spending too much time in my company.”“The music you hear,” he began by way of explanation [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]