Sir Edmund’s second obviously took Jules at his word for he very nearly dragged him across the field, the doctor following hastily.
“Right decision, old boy,” Glady nodded. “I’ll see the bounder off.”
“Thank you, Pennington. I don’t see Jacko’s horse. Before you leave have the postboy bring it here from the inn. I must get him back to London.”
“Jacko!” Glady glanced over to where Kat stood. “Must bid him farewell. What a shot, Saville! Proud of him!” Glady beamed.
“Take care of Trigge for us. I’ll see to Jacko,” Jules commanded and with a small salute Glady followed the others.
At last they were alone. He turned to Kat. She had drawn Jacko’s coat on and placed his hat over her riotous curls.
Jules began to walk toward her, then he started to run. He was nearly there, was even reaching out to draw her into his arms, when the postboy ran up, holding Jacko’s horse by the reins.
Kat’s eyes were enormous pools of aquamarine; her cheeks were drained of all color.
“Yes, I know, it is you.” Jules murmured. “Mount. We must return to London as quickly as possible.”
Kat took the reins and flung herself into the saddle. Jules flipped a guinea to the astonished postboy. Wheeling Noir, he led her from the field of honor, gathering speed as they passed the Four Feathers. They were miles south before Jules slowed to a trot, Kat beside him.
Nervously, she slid him a frightened look. “Jules, please let me explain…”
“Incroyable!” Jules lapsed into French in astonishment. “You are unbelievable! Here I ride ventre à terre to save you, and you, my beautiful wife, have saved the day.” His dark eyes turned stern. “Never do anything like this again. You must promise me!”
“I promise,” Kat returned firmly. “I hope never to be so frightened again. But, Jules,” she put her hand on his arm to stop the horses. “I did it!” Her voice was full of pride and wonder.
“Yes, but now we have no time to waste, Kat. We must have you safely back in town and inform Jacko of his exploit on the field of honor today orall might be lost.”
He was holding himself tightly in check. There was nothing he wished for but to be able to take her in his arms and tell her how proud he was of her, that the courage she possessed amazed him, that he loved her. But he couldn’t do that, here, on the open highway. So he urged her forward.
They were in luck; the city traffic was still thin so they were able to weave their way through it quickly to Culter House.
They slid off their horses and stood facing one another in the mews. Excitement warred with apprehension, marring the beauty of Kat’s eyes. Her delectable lips quivered slightly.
Unable to contain himself, Jules stepped closer. “My beautiful wife,” he murmured, steeling every fiber of his body not to touch her just yet. “I’m not angry with you. On the contrary, the moment we get inside and I have you to myself, I am going to remove every article of Jacko’s clothing and kiss each sweet silken inch of your body.”
Jules smiled in delight as Kat’s cheeks flushed a brilliant scarlet. He saw, with joy, the response in her eyes.
“My lord,” Kat breathed, suddenly finding it difficult to take air into her lungs. “I think we should enter immediately.”
With a joyful laugh, Jules clasped her arm, leading her up the short flight of steps.
They had not reached the door before it was flung open. There in the wide rectangle back hallway stood Kat’s entire family, except for Jacko, and the Duchess of Culter.
“You’re all here!” Kat gasped, meeting Willy’s shrewd eyes.
“Kathryn!” Willy shrieked, her hand clasped to her throat. “I need my smelling salts!”
“I think she means it this time!” Kat cried, rushing forward as Lady Tutwilliger crumpled into the arms of one of the Culter footmen.
With Jules’s help they carried her up to the main salon and laid her gently upon the blue velvet couch. Carefully, Mariah arranged pillows under her head while Kat burned a feather beneath her nose.
“Kathryn, I didn’t expect you to change places with Jacko!” Hannah scolded, wringing her hands over Lady Tutwilliger. “When I told Gwynneth this morning about our plan, she flew up into the boughs. We rushed over here to stop you but were too late.”
“You’re not hurt! Did you kill him, Kat?” Mariah asked softly, her Thistlewait eyes glistening with revenge. “The bounder deserves to die!”
“No, he lives. I hit his pistol hand before he got a shot away,” Kat said carefully, trembling ever so slightly, remembering Glady’s precise count … twirling at twenty paces, and firing at Sir Edmund’s hand as if it were nothing more than a target.
Lady Tutwilliger, under their combined ministrations, began to stir, her lashes fluttering wildly before she opened her lids.
“Willy, dearest, I’m sorry for frightening you,” Kat soothed, kissing her cheek. “Everything’s all right now.”
“But, where is Jacko?” she demanded, recovering to pin Kat with a steely stare.
“Oh, yes, where is Jacko! He could have been killed!” Caroline cried, leaping from the deep wing chair where she had collapsed in a bout of tears.
“I’m here,” a weary voice called from the doorway. Her twin stood, leaning heavily against the wood, his lawn shirt open at the throat below a face ashen with fear. “Kat?”
She ran to him, and he gathered her fiercely close so she could feel how fast his heart was beating. “Please forgive me, Jacko. I didn’t know what else to do,” she sobbed into his chest, relief that she had saved him finally cracking the dam of desperation she had somehow kept in check.
Her head jerked back as he gripped her shoulders, and shook her. “Forgive you! I should give you the thrashing of your life for being so foolhardy!”
“Oh, you beast!” Caroline cried, flying forward to pummel his arm with her small fists. He let go of his sister to protect himself.
“Caroline, what in—?”
“Oh, be quiet, you brute!” she sobbed. “If Kat hadn’t been so brave and daring you would be lying on that dueling field. And if you died my life would be over!”
Sobbing, she threw herself against his chest, and Jacko wasted no time in taking the opportunity to kiss her.
Kat felt Jules come up behind her and she leaned back into his embrace.
“I know exactly how she feels,” Jules murmured seductively into her ear, causing a strange ache low in her abdomen.
“Well, that settles that!” Lady Tutwilliger declared, making a remarkable recovery. She rose from the couch to flick out the folds of her gown. “I assume you have enough places set for breakfast, Sybilla.”
The duchess lifted her chin, sniffing. “I am always prepared for guests, Gwynneth.”
“Kathryn and I will not be joining you,” Jules drawled, pulling his unresisting wife toward the doorway. “We are retiring.”
As he dragged her out of the salon, Kat heard a little murmur of pleased shock from her family before they began to discuss Jacko’s imminent engagement to Caroline.
“Jules, I … what are you doing!”
To the obvious horror of two footmen, Jules swept her up in his arms. The Hessian on her left foot fell off.
He lifted that wonderful eyebrow in question and she shrugged. “They are much too large for me. Jacko will find it.”
At the top of the stairs she wiggled her foot and the other boot was discarded to tumble down the steps.
Jules glanced at it and Kat smiled, nestling against his chest. “I am simply helping you.”
She felt his laughter, and turning her face, pressed a kiss on his neck. A pulse leapt to life beneath her lips.
Jules kicked her bedroom door shut behind them and placed her carefully, barefoot, on the floor.
Then he kept his unspoken promise—boldly unlocking the door between their chambers. “This door shall remain open always.” It was a command she would be happy to comply with.
She turned to go into her dressing room to find her prettiest night robe, the one from their wedding.
“Where are you off to, wife?” he demanded. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again!”
Once more, he swung her up in his arms, and in two strides they fell onto the bed together.
An instant later, somehow, he had removed his coat and hers.
“Jules, how…?” Her words were smothered by a deep kiss, his lips teasing hers open so she could draw him even closer to her.
Bemused, she lay in his arms as he began to undress her. With each shirt button undone, he pressed a searching kiss on her heated skin. “I’ve been wanting to do this since our wedding night when I realized I loved you,” he murmured, his skillful fingers moving to the trouser buttons.
“Why didn’t you?” she asked, cupping his cheeks to draw his face to hers. As he had done to her, she dragged his lips across her mouth. “Why didn’t you?”
“I wanted to woo you … make you love me.” He searched her eyes, a tiny shadow of doubt in his chocolate gaze. She must eradicate it at once!
More deftly than she believed her trembling fingers could be, she began to unbutton his shirt. “I vowed I would only marry for love. I kept that promise.”
“Kathryn, I love you,” he whispered, his searching lips brushing the shoulder her shirt slid from.
“Jules,” she breathed against the hard tawny chest she had spied the first instant she laid eyes upon him. “This is exactly how we met. On a bed, both in scandalous states of undress. Did you ever dream it would turn out like this?”
Sliding his fingers into her curls, gently, he tilted her head back so their gaze entwined.
“My darling, it was our destiny.”
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Scandal's Child Page 16
