Charming a Spy (13 page)

“You caught me, Katherine. I have to confess, I did not,” he answered. He looked her up and down. It made the tiny blonde hairs on her arm stand up on end, a feeling resembling her tabby cat, back arched, sensing trouble.

Danger. She was in danger. They were far enough from the others that no one would be able to see them from the picnic spot. Worse still, they were far enough away she doubted they would even hear her if she shouted. Time to distract him again, at least long enough to get him to walk back towards the others.

“What if…” But Kat couldn’t finish the sentence because Rafe’s lips were already crashing down on hers. The kiss was revolting. His breath smelled like sour tobacco. She tried to pull away, but he grabbed her waist and pulled her tighter.

He was forcing himself on her and she wasn’t strong enough to fight him. She struggled to stay calm.
Think
.
Get away
.

As she fought for a breath, he thrust his sickly sweet tongue into her mouth. By instinct, she chomped down.

“You bitch,” he yelled. “What the hell was that? Why did you bite me?”

“Because I didn’t want you to kiss me!” She fired back, shocked it wasn’t obvious to him.

“You didn’t?” he asked. He really did sound as though he wasn’t expecting her response.

“No. Why would you think I wanted you to kiss me?”

“Last night… the way you sought me out to talk after dinner. You kept leaning over me in that gown, flaunting your chest in my face the whole time. Don’t pretend it wasn’t intentional.”

“It wasn’t!” Kat defended herself. “I wanted to ask you about Luke, not flirt with you.”

“Then today, why did you partner with me?”

“Because you asked,” Kat said. “I didn’t know you were going to accost me with your tongue.”

“You’ve been fawning over me this whole time, Katherine. Going on about how this is the perfect day and I’m the perfect partner.”

“Oh no.” Kat groaned. This was a mess. “Look,” she said. “I was not flirting with you last night or today. I’m sorry if you misunderstood, but all I want from you is friendship, Mr. Grier.”

“You have been giving me mixed signals, Ms. Dubois. I swear, I think you’ve used me. If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were trying to entrap me in marriage,” he said.

“How dare you accuse me of such a thing! That’s ridiculous. It doesn’t even make any sense. I am going back to the others,” she said turning to stomp back up the hill.

“Fine with me. I can’t wait to tell Stamwell how you came on to me.”

“What?” she said, whirling around. “Why would you do that? I didn’t come on to you. You’re the one who kissed me.”

“I guess it’s your word against mine, Ms. Dubois. Which one of us is he going to believe? I’ve seen the way you look at him,” he said. “I bet you’ve been throwing yourself at Stamwell also, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you already gave him your favors,” he said.

His words stung. They weren’t entirely untrue. She did, in essence, throw herself at the duke. She had been acting like a doxy, dressing provocatively and doing things no gently bred virgin should be doing. No wonder other men were confused about the type of woman she was.

Geoff probably wouldn’t be surprised if Rafe told him she was trying to seduce him too. Maybe he would think she was trying to extract aid out of both men at once with her body. Would he think her a common whore?

Oh, but he couldn’t think that. She couldn’t risk Geoff turning away from her.

“You will not breathe a single word of this to another living soul,” Kat commanded Rafe sternly.

“Fine. Then we agree neither of us will speak of this again. It shall be our secret.”

“Don’t worry about me saying anything. I would rather stop breathing than speak of this ever again.”

Kat was seething with anger as she plodded up the hill with Rafe trailing behind her. How she wished things were different. She wanted to call him out in front of everyone. If she were a man, she would challenge him to a duel. To think she had actually felt bad about making him uncomfortable last night. She could see now he was cut from the same mean cloth as his sister.

The others were all back by the time they returned. “We were about to send out a search party,” Maribel joked when they got back to the hill.

“We thought you were hiding behind that tree,” Rafe said pointing towards the Sycamore. Kat didn’t say a word.

“You walked all the way to the tree?” Trig asked, laughing. “I was behind the church. The others found me in almost no time. You two are definitely the sardines for the next game!”

“I think I will sit the next one out,” Kat said. “I’m feeling a little parched,” she said glaring at Rafe.

“Here darling, come have a lemonade and sit with us old ladies during the next round,” Aunt Ellie said.

“Thank you, I think I will,” Kat said, sitting down while the others went to count while Rafe hid as the sardine. He should be a real sardine. He was a disgusting slippery fish of a man.

The lemonade didn’t wash away the nasty taste of Rafe still lingering on her lips. She might vomit thinking about it. It was amazing how different a kiss could feel with the wrong person.

With Geoff, her lips were so hot they might melt, like chocolate, into his mouth every time he kissed her. As soon as he pulled them away, she wanted to touch them, taste them again. His kiss was rapidly becoming her addiction. She thought about it all the time. Craved it. Wanted it.

But with Rafe, it made her shudder to remember. Kat unconsciously raised her hand to her lips. They were swollen from how rough he’d forced his mouth against hers. She hoped no one noticed. She especially hoped Geoff didn’t notice.

A sudden urge came over her, to get Geoff alone, and soon. She had to get him working on a plan and finding Luke before he had a chance to change his mind… or before someone else changed his mind for him.

‡

U
nfortunately, getting time
with Geoff before anything could change his mind was proving difficult. He completely disappeared after the picnic. At dinner that night, Kat was again seated at the opposite end of the table. She couldn’t help but wonder if he arranged the table seating assignments purposely. Maybe Rafe already talked to him and said something about their fight yesterday. Maybe he already convinced Geoff that Kat came onto him.

Or perhaps Geoff was trying to be discreet. He and Kat should be careful about how much they spoke with one another in public, lest others think she was actually in the running for the next duchess. He couldn’t be seen to be favoring her if at the end of the week he asked for Jessica’s hand.

Still, today was the day he promised to start helping her find Luke. She didn’t know how he intended to fulfill his promise if they didn’t have the opportunity to even speak to one another.

After dinner, the ladies decided to entertain the group with an impromptu musicale, or rather Mrs. Grier decided for everyone. Kat could see clearly that Jessica and Rafe inherited their pushiness from their mother. All of the ladies were expected to perform their musical talent for the duke. Luckily, Kat didn’t have one so she was able to sit and brood quietly during the other performances.

She still couldn’t get past what had happened at the picnic. Was it possible she accidentally had given Rafe mixed signals?
Bollocks
. Maybe she did. She did wear a scandalous dress (even though it wasn’t for him.) And she had approached him directly to engage in conversation.

But it wasn’t as if the conversation was intimate. They talked about Luke. In fact, it was downright awkward. She all but brought on his past war trauma the night before with her insipid questions. He couldn’t possibly interpret conversation as flirtation, could he? This seduction business was incredibly complicated.

What was even more infuriating was that he was the only person who definitely saw Luke in battle firsthand, yet now her chances of getting any real information from him were even slimmer. Talking to Rafe meant she would have to be near to him and she honestly never wanted to be in reaching range of him again.

Maybe she didn’t need his information anyway. Geoff was going to find Luke. She knew it. Well, if she ever got the chance to talk to the man. Kat watched him, pouring Jane a glass of punch on the other side of the room. Jane was a vision of loveliness in a pale blue chiffon dress, beaded with tiny pearls. Her blonde hair was pulled into a beautiful chignon, several ringlets falling free around her face. If Kat squinted, Jane looked exactly like one of the goddesses painted on the ceiling of the duke’s foyer, only with slightly more clothing on. Perhaps Geoff would marry her instead of Jessica. At least then she could maintain a modicum of respect for him.

He laughed out loud at something she said. She also laughed, in her characteristic hyena-sounding cackle. Surely he couldn’t find that attractive, could he? Kat wondered which fate would be preferable: to marry a witch or a hyena.

Maribel slid into the open seat next to Katherine, preventing her from considering the question too seriously. “I’m so nervous, Kat,” Maribel whispered clutching the sheaves of music to her chest.

“Why? You play a wonderful pianoforte,” Kat whispered back. “And I can see from the calluses on your fingers you’ve been practicing for weeks.”

“It’s not the playing. You’re right. My hands could play the tune without me even knowing what I was doing. But I’ve never sung in front of this many people before. Listen to Ivy right now. Her voice is angelic. I will sound like a dying swan compared to her.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Maribel. You have a beautiful voice,” Kat reassured her.

“I wish I could be more like you,” Maribel said. “You’re so sure of yourself all of the time.”

“That’s a beautiful compliment, but completely undeserved. Believe me, there are times I feel like a fish out of water.” When she tried to seduce a man for example and ended up misfiring so poorly, and other men apparently thought her attentions were for them.

The room erupted into applause. “Oh no, she’s finished. I’m on next,” Maribel said. She sounded truly terrified.

“Take a deep breath. You will do wonderfully,” Kat said, patting her hand. Maribel gathered up her papers and went to take her place at the piano bench. She took a moment and drew in a deep breath of air, then tentatively, but beautifully started to play a melody. Kat was relieved for her. She played perfectly. Maribel didn’t have anything to be nervous about.

Then she started to sing. She didn’t sound like a dying swan, but unfortunately, she did resemble a squeaking mouse. She was not off pitch per se but drowned by the sound of the piano filling the enormous room. The audience grew eerily silent except for the booming piano and her too quiet, too squeaky voice. Maribel’s face was red as a tomato and Kat didn’t think she was going to make it through the first verse. When she did, she seemed to hesitate, like she was considering stopping, when the most astounding thing happened.

Trig Trannen stood up from the audience and began to sing aloud. He walked forward as he sang with the piano and stood behind Maribel. She glanced over her shoulder at him curiously but never stopped playing or singing. In fact, the louder Trig sang, the louder Maribel became until they were both singing at full volume. Trig had a beautiful voice and it complemented Maribel’s to a tee.

He was saving her from public mortification. It was one of the most romantic things Kat had ever seen.

When they finished the song, the room burst into applause with the audience rising to their feet. Someone shouted “Bravo.” Trig took Maribel’s hand and led her in front of the piano to take a bow. Maribel smiled and blushed as if she had finished a concert at Vaux Hall.

Mrs. Grier declared that the group would take an intermission before returning for the next round. Kat rose to congratulate Maribel, who was standing near the punch bowl with Trig.

“You were brilliant,” Kat said hugging her friend.

“Thanks to Trig,” Maribel said, smiling at him. “I was so scared I was going to stop altogether.”

“Nonsense. You played so brilliantly I was moved to my feet and could not stop the song from pouring out of my mouth,” Trig said.

“You are a wonderful liar,” she said, laughing.

Mrs. Grier joined their group, “That was wonderful. You two must have practiced together for months,” she said.

“Only several weeks,” Trig answered. Both Kat and Maribel laughed together while Mrs. Grier looked between them smiling, trying to pick up on the joke. Maribel was positively glowing.

“Your friends are quite talented.” Geoff’s deep voice suddenly filled her ears, from out of nowhere.

“Yes, Your Grace, they are,” she said, turning to face him. “And you are quite talented at sounding like a ghost. I didn’t hear you approaching.”

“It can be quite a useful talent,” Geoff said, taking her arm and leading her away from the group.

“For scaring young ladies at musicales?”

“Precisely,” he said, laughing.

“How did you enjoy today’s picnic?” she asked.

“Truthfully,” he said, “I detested every game-filled, sitting-on-the-ground, chatting-about-nothing bit of it,” he answered. “But that’s a secret just between us.”