by Claudy Conn
“Oh yes, oh my lord, you are ever so thoughtful. Thank you.” She looked at him mischievously. “And in the frame of such cooperation, I shall endeavor to curb my spitfire ways.” With this she gurgled with laughter.
A few moments later, after their horses had been seen to and their meals ordered to be taken to a private room, Nanny and Max arrived with the barouche.
The earl took his charge’s ungloved fingers in his hand.
Kitty felt a thrill rush up her spine, blast open her brain, and then fork off to race through each arm. He was mesmerizing. As he walked her down the flagstone path, between garden beds of colorful flowers, she said, “Have you ever been in love, my lord?” What was she doing? Oh, she couldn’t fool herself. She knew what she was doing. She had decided that she would like to be kissed by the experienced rogue of an earl, and to that end she stalked.
He turned wide-open eyes to her. “In love? Ever? Well, discounting puppy infatuation when I was just a lad, no, I don’t think so.”
“Then you don’t have a poor opinion of women because one broke your heart?”
He laughed and took her chin. “No, minx, I do not.”
“The rumor is that you only … are connected romantically to married women. Do you only kiss married women?”
His face displayed his absolute shock. “What? Who told you such a thing?”
“Is it not true?” she asked eyeing him.
“Well, it is true, but no one should be speaking to you about such things,” he returned on a frown.
“They didn’t. I heard Clay and Harry talking about you being a rogue, and Harry said it was no such thing, as you only dally with women of experience. I supposed that to mean married women.”
He had stiffened and then all at once seemed to relax. “Kitty, Kitty …”
She didn’t know what made her do it. Impulse, she supposed, but all at once she was on her tippy toes and her hands were sliding up his chest. Before he could stop her, she hurriedly put a soft kiss on his lips and murmured, “I do so like you, my lord.”
His voice was a husky sound when he returned, “I am glad of it … but, Kitty … you shouldn’t be …”
“What? I thought perhaps you might show me just how a real man kisses a real woman?” Once again she pressed herself into him, murmuring, “For I mean to find out. I should much rather it be with you.”
* * *
Damn, but every fiber of his being was on fire, and in that moment he forgot everything, all the dictums, all the rules he had lived by.
Something snapped inside his brain when she suggested that she would learn about kissing from someone else.
What was wrong with him?
The next thing he knew he had her in his arms, pressed hard against his body, his manhood erect against her belly as he found her lips.
His tongue gently pried her lips open and explored. She was delicious.
She met his tongue with her own, in a tentatively curious fashion that left him hungry for more. She was using him to experiment, and he was excited beyond imagination.
The feel of her body in his arms was like nothing he had ever experienced before. It was as though rockets of energy shot through him, exploding on the way to his brain, neutralizing all rational thought.
Cad! He told himself he was a cad and managed to set her apart.
She said, “Oh … oh my, now that was a kiss. Shall we do it again?”
In spite of the hunger she had aroused in him, he stared and then burst out laughing. “No, we shall not. You have had your kiss, and if you liked it, fine. Now the next time you kiss a man, your heart should be in it.”
Cad, the voice repeated. She is a young maid whom you have no intention of marrying. He frowned when he saw the starry look in her eyes.
He said softly, “I should not have done that … forgive me … I … that was inexcusable.”
“Oh no, it was not. That was the very best kiss I have ever had or will ever have ever again,” said Kitty Kingsley!
~ Eighteen ~
NANNY WAS WIDE awake and chattering about the goodness of the earl and how nicely he had seen to everything. She remarked on the scenery’s loveliness and the pretty, thatched cottages they passed and in general was unaware that Kitty scarcely heard a word.
Kitty had other things on her mind.
“Indeed,” said Nanny, squirming just a bit in her seat. “Lovely scenery.”
Those other things that occupied Kitty’s thoughts were actually one thing—his kiss. She had meant the bantering as a tease and got carried away … and then, something had happened to her when she went into his arms. Somehow, her heart became involved.
Now all she could do was relive that kiss.
When the meal was at an end and it was time to leave the posting house, Kitty felt her mouth drop and her spirits fall when the earl announced that he would continue to ride as their outrider. She had expected—or at least hoped—he would keep them company in the barouche.
After what seemed a great deal of time had passed, she was beginning to feel cooped up. Now, she just seriously wanted to get out of the coach, and even Nanny looked as though she might need a ‘ladies’ break soon as she fidgeted beside her.
Kitty chewed her bottom lip, for at that point she had no further interest in the passing scenery, and said only, “Hmm …” She couldn’t bring herself to say anything much more than that.
The earl was an enigma. He had seen to their comforts at the Green Horse and behaved as though he had never kissed her lips and held her so wonderfully. Instead, he was all that was gentlemanly and appeared only politely concerned with their welfare and comfort.
He had made certain her dear Nanny was at ease and content with her meal. He had directed innocuous conversation towards her and never met her eyes once during the course of the meal. Frustrating was a mood, a hoary mood that threatened to ruin her day.
Had he not held her like a man hungry for a woman? She had been that woman. What then was wrong? She wasn’t a fool. She was certain—especially because she had felt his desire against her body—that he was more than a little attracted to her, but now he was behaving as though she were a hot iron made for branding, one from which he meant to stay clear.
It was most depressing.
The carriage began to slow, and she popped her head out the window but could see naught as it came to a halt. Once they’d stopped, the door opened on Nanny’s side of the carriage, and she felt an uncontrollable elation when she looked at the earl. Oh my, he was so handsome, and his smile … completely devastating.
Kitty’s heart raced in anticipation. Their eyes met, and she saw a warm twinkle in his blues. He did not direct himself to her but instead to Nanny as he tipped his hat and said, “Dear Nanny. I thought I would avail myself of the pleasure of your company for the next half-hour or so … if Kitty here wouldn’t mind?” He cast her a wicked look.
She felt an intake of breath and even though Nanny gushed that it would please her greatly, Kitty answered, “I don’t know … won’t you feel too cooped up with two women chattering your ears off?”
He laughed. “I suppose I deserved that for staying away so long, but I do assure you it was for a reason.”
“What reason?” Kitty demanded.
“There have been reports of highwaymen on the main pike, and I meant to make certain the road and its surrounding woods were clear.”
Nanny gasped, “Highwaymen?”
“You needn’t worry,” the earl said immediately. “There were no signs of any.”
“I should think not,” Kitty retorted, as she did not at all believe his excuse. “Not in broad daylight.”
He laughed, and their eyes locked. They both knew why he had stayed away. She, however, was inwardly too happy for his company to make any more of it.
She said with a tease, “No doubt we are receiving the pleasure of your company because you are saddle sore.”
“Kitty!” objected Nanny.
“Do not f
ret, Nanny. I am beginning to know our Kitty very well. She enjoys teasing.”
Kitty said nothing to this but thought that he was very comfortable, telling Nanny that he knew her so well.
“I thought we would stop for tea and eat enough cakes and such to hold us till dinner, for I mean to push on after tea for another hour or so, which will bring us to a very fine inn. It is called the Red Bull and is a charming posting house where …” He inclined his head and smiled at Nanny. “… my ladies may be comfortable for the evening. I am only sorry that I did not arrange for posting horses along the way so that we could have picked up our pace.”
“Oh, how very thoughtful,” Nanny said, approving of this plan. “I must confess that I would dearly love a spot of tea.”
“Indeed, and the horses need water and rest as well. It has been a long day for them,” Kitty agreed.
“And you?” he asked, and something in his voice made her lift her eyes to scan his face.
“Yes, being cooped up in a carriage … is wearing.” She stretched a bit and said, “Ah, tea and cake. My favorite food—cakes, little iced cakes. I am famished. I should have eaten more when we stopped earlier … but I didn’t have much of an appetite then.” She looked directly at his face, and her lips curved with her implication as she tried to remind him of their kiss.
“Minx,” he said softly and then straightened. “But I am sorry. I have been most remiss. I should have realized that both of you might need a stop.”
“Your timing is perfect,” Nanny said sweetly and turned to Kitty for confirmation. “Isn’t it, dear?”
“Why, of course. Timing is everything …” Kitty returned, her eyes bright with the tease she was sure he would understand.
To her astonishment and Nanny’s surprise, the earl burst out laughing. Kitty observed Nanny seemed uncertain about what was funny but joined in nervously.
“That is my girl, forever a tease.”
His blue eyes were filled with a warm light that made her catch her breath. What was he saying? “Oh, I am not teasing,” she answered. “As I said—timing … because one can never tell what a hungry woman will do.” She was behaving outrageously. Only he would understand the underlining of her words.
His eyes glittered appreciatively, and he said, “A reminder to me to keep you well fed.”
“Indeed, we wouldn’t want this country bumpkin wench to make a mull of it, would we?”
“Od’s life, child. You might have arrant manners, but there is nothing of a country bumpkin about you,” he answered staunchly.
“Now that is a bang-up thing to say. Famous. Arrant manners but not a country bumpkin. What then? Should I take insult or be flattered, my lord?” Kitty’s eyes glittered dangerously as her temper tickled her senses. She could see that Nanny’s face displayed confusion, and she curbed herself.
Nanny apparently decided to intercede and said, “Kitty … Kitty?”
However, though the earl cast Kitty a warning smile, he glibly and skillfully dodged her quip by quietly pointing out, “Ah … time passes so quickly in your delightful company. There is a fingerpost sign. We aren’t too far now.”
Kitty strained to look out her window and avoid his twinkling blue eyes. He was looking at her—inconspicuously, but she knew he was looking at her—all the while making conversation with Nanny.
What had come over her? Why had she kissed him and allowed it to come to this? He was most certainly a challenge, and she so dearly loved challenges, but there was more to the banter they were forever engaging in.
And her heart? What was wrong with it? He made it race. The actual sight of him made it beat so hard she couldn’t think. He made her want to … seduce him.
Oh no! She was thinking and behaving like a tart. Henrietta once told her that, while being staid and demure was what was expected of well-bred young ladies, being a tart was, she was sure, much more fun. Ree had sighed then and added, “Though very few of us dare to go beyond a stolen kiss.”
“The Godwin sisters …” Kitty had pointed out.
“Oh yes, but look how they gossip about them,” Ree said. “We wouldn’t be comfortable having people talk about us like that … would we?”
She was right. She wouldn’t want such talk to get back to Nanny, but she did so want to kiss the earl again … and perhaps again after that.
The inn came into view, and she exclaimed excitedly, nicely diverted from such thoughts, “Oh! How quaint. Nanny, look how charmingly they have set all the flowers around the garden table and chairs. Oh my … so many tulips. What a lovely spot.”
“Indeed, I was sure it would be,” Nanny said and smiled at the earl. “His lordship knows just where to go.”
The carriage had come to a complete stop, and a bevy of young neatly clothed hostlers rushed to the horse’s head.
Max jumped from his driver’s seat and went around to open the carriage door wide. The earl jumped out first and turned to help Nanny. She moved forward, bending her neck a bit as she stretched, and the earl turned toward Kitty.
She realized she had not put on her gloves but did not take the time to retrieve them, leaving them with her purse as she gave him her hand. A bolt of excitement shot through her fingers, up her arm, into her brain, turning it into a mass of gruel before shooting another bolt into her heart.
What was this? What was wrong with her? Why did he have such an effect on her?
She heard Luts following them as he grumbled loudly about his aches and pains.
She lost her balance, tripped slightly on the step, and caught the hem of her skirt on the door hinge. She felt the tug on her skirt and, as she looked around, she totally lost her balance and went flying forward.
The earl had dropped her hand only to throw a steadying arm around her waist. He held her firmly up against himself.
Blue eyes gazed into green ones, and Kitty was conscious of a magnetism she was sure she had never before experienced with anyone else in her life. “Thank you,” she managed to whisper over the pounding in her head.
“Don’t move,” he answered as he held her and still was able to reach and bend. He released her skirt from the door hinge. “There. I don’t believe it has been damaged.”
His voice was soft and soothing, and Kitty was aware that she was holding her breath. What the deuce was wrong with her? She wasn’t missish. Why was she behaving like an infatuated schoolgirl?
The moment was lost to the sound of her name resonantly hitting the air waves in merry accents. “Kitty! My own little Kitty!”
Kitty looked up and past the earl’s broad shoulders at a tall, well dressed Corinthian coming towards her. “Alex! Oh, Alex!” she called as she hurried towards him.
Lord Alexander Magdalen picked up Kitty and spun her around in full view of the earl, who had turned sharply to eye the newcomer. He said with something of a rueful smirk, “Alex, I usually allow you more license than I do others, but even so, I must ask you to unhand my ward.”
“Brandon!” the newcomer exclaimed. “By all the Saints! What the devil are you doing in these parts?” And then before his friend could answer, he said, “Ward? What in blazes are you saying?” Then in quick succession, Kitty saw the dawning light in his dark eyes. “Ward? Lud! Do you mean?” He turned to her then once again and pulled her back into his arms. “Kitten, never say the old fellow is gone?”
Kitty nodded sadly. “Yes … for months and months now.”
Magdalen patted her back and then hugged her strongly. “There, there, poor girl. I know how much you loved him, and I was ever so fond of him as well. But how do you come to be in this rogue’s company? Where is Nanny?”
“Here, my lord,” Nanny said, coming from the boot of the coach. “I was just getting something I needed from my traveling bag.” She put out her hand and enveloped Magdalen with a warm smile. “How nice to see you looking as lively as ever.”
“She means looking as devilish as ever but is too polite to say so,” Kitty bantered.
“Bu
t you are not polite in the least, are you, my Kitten?” he returned amiably as he flicked her nose. He frowned then, and pursued his earlier line of inquiry. “Still, what does Rogue Halloway mean, calling you his ward?”
“Ah, that is an odd thing—” Kitty started.
“Because, in a manner of speaking, that is precisely what I am, but I rather think we should take this conversation indoors,” the earl answered. He took Kitty’s elbow, swiftly extricating her from Lord Magdalen, who immediately and good-naturedly offered Nanny his bent arm.
The innkeeper appeared and respectfully inquired if they needed a private parlor. The earl secured this and asked for tea, cakes, and little sandwiches as well.
Magdalen said, “Ah, good … good, now we may be private, and you may tell me, Brandon, what this havey cavey business is all about.”
~ Nineteen ~
JUST AS THE Earl of Halloway’s lively group sat to tea at the Red Lion, Lady Jersey, London’s most renowned hostess, stood up from her yellow satin chair and set her dainty china teacup down on the Hepplewhite side table.
She was deep in thought and took a slow turn around the elegantly furnished parlor of Halloway House. She came to stand finally at the bowed window overlooking the quiet square. She rarely allowed the sun to shine full on her face anymore. She had been an attractive, almost beautiful young woman in her day, but though many still called her lovely, she knew her age was beginning to show.
Well, well, this certainly was an odd turn of events indeed. The dowager continued her chatter, seemingly unaware that the Jersey was scarcely listening. Just how should she handle this matter? The earl was a favorite flirt. Oh yes, he was younger, but if she were not sleeping with the Prince Regent, she would have dallied her way into the earl’s bed. He was magnetic and intriguing, and she chewed her lip because he would be out of reach.
His grandmother, Minerva, was a highly respected and extremely influential former London hostess herself. In addition to that, her family name carried weight with even the regent himself. The Jersey could not afford to insult her.
