My Lord Deceived (16 page)

“I am going to
take a well earned early night. It doesn’t happen very often,” she
acknowledged with a hesitant smile.

He wanted to
assure her that once they were married she could stay in bed and
lounge about to her heart’s content, and take as many early nights
as she chose to, preferably with him. They were words that hovered
on the tip of his tongue, but now wasn’t the right time, or place,
and he sighed them away.

He studied the
dark shadows beneath her eyes and frowned. The temptation to hold
her was so strong that he struggled to keep his arms to himself. He
wanted to slide them around her and draw her closer to his warmth.
Eventually, after several moments of quiet contemplation, he gave
in to the need to at least touch her.

Kat’s gaze was
ensnared by his and she stood mesmerised as one blunt fingertip
trailed slowly down her cheek and along the gentle sweep of her jaw
until it stopped at the small indentation of her chin. Once there,
he held her steady while his head slowly lowered. The briefest,
whisper-light kiss that swept over her lips was barely there. If
she hadn’t had her eyes open the whole time she would have put it
down to her imagination. As it was, the tender moment was over far
too swiftly. It was a jolt when he suddenly dropped his hand and
stepped back. She watched his face fall into almost stern lines as
he studied her.

“Get some rest,
Kat. I will see you tomorrow.”

He didn’t look
back at her as he made his way down the street. Kat knew because
she watched him until he turned the corner at the end of the row of
houses. She was about to turn to go back inside when she caught
sight of someone in the window of Hester’s house. She was about to
lift her hand to wave at her friend only for Hester to drop the
curtain and move away without even so much as a smile.

“Have you
fallen out with Hester?” Kat asked as she closed and bolted the
door behind her.

Agnes sighed.
“No, but there is something very odd going on with her at the
moment.”

“How so?”

Billy sat at
Kat’s feet and rested his chin on her knee as he usually did.
Rather than be annoyed, she merely stroked his head and studied
him. “Harold was saying that they are going to stay at grandma’s
house for a while.”

“Is that
right?” She lifted her brows in surprise.

Agnes shook her
head in consternation. “Hester denied it though, but seemed really
flustered when I asked if it was true. She said it wasn’t but I am
sure she was lying.”

“You cannot
blame her really,” Kat offered thoughtfully.

“Why?” Agnes’
brows lifted enquiringly.

“Well, it
cannot be easy living on charity. With all of those children to
support, it has to be difficult. If I were in her shoes, I would
much prefer to live on a farm. Although there is work to do, life
in the countryside would benefit all parties. The kids can get
involved and help out with chores but can otherwise run free, and
food would be much more plentiful.”

“Well, there is
that, I suppose,” Agnes muttered and turned to stare into the
fireplace absently.

“Well, I am off
to bed,” she stretched and tapped Billy on the head as she passed.
“You get to bed at a decent hour. I have to read tomorrow at
Dentham Hall. Do you want to come with me?”

Billy’s eyes
lit up at that and he drew himself onto his knees, his face
wreathed in excitement. Kat knew that he loved his visits to the
hall. He was always stuffed to the gills when he came back and
chattered on for hours about the things he had seen while he was
there. She had no idea why she had just asked him, and wondered
whether it was for company on the long walk there, or protection
from any more of Jonathan’s advances.

Not that she
had any real cause to make strong objection to his kisses. He had
pecked her on the cheek on a few occasions, and brushed her lips
with his a couple of times, but not pressed her for anything more.
Was he dallying with her because she was the only female for miles
around? She had no idea, but she was aware that until she knew what
his ‘responsibilities’ were, she could not allow anything else to
happen between them.

That led her to
consider what she actually did want to happen between them, if
anything. She wasn’t sure if she was honest, but one thing was
certain, she would miss him when he left.

CHAPTER
NINE

Later that
night, Kat rolled over in bed. Something had awoken her, but she
didn’t know what. She stared out of the window for several moments
and listened to the silence. When she had gone to bed, she had
forgotten to close the shutters and stared directly up into the
night sky. Dark clouds hovered in the sky, but they did little to
banish the moonlight. It cast the buildings at the rear of her
garden in a menacing glow that made her shiver and snuggle deeper
beneath the covers.

She was so very
thirsty. Should she go for a drink? She frowned as something
creaked loudly downstairs. Her heart began to hammer in the throat
and she sat slowly upright. Her thoughts immediately snapped to
Brian. Had he decided to pay a night-time visit? As quietly as she
could, she eased her legs out of bed and shivered when cool night
air snatched the warmth from her skin.

Every sense was
tuned to danger as she tip-toed silently down the stairs. She was
relieved to see embers still in the fireplace. They lit the darkest
corners of the sitting room sufficiently for her not to need a
candle. She paused and looked around her. Her ears picked up the
slight scratch of metal on metal in the kitchen. She clutched at
the heavy boot in her hand with fingers that trembled and eased her
way through the sitting room, into the kitchen doorway.

All trace of
fear evaporated in an instant and was immediately replaced with
anger. Despite the fact that she was still in her nightgown, she
put her boot on the floor beside her feet, rested one elbow
nonchalantly on the door jamb beside her and crossed her ankles
while she waited. She watched Billy reach up on tip-toe to slide
the bolt at the top of the door open and wondered whether she
should scare the living daylights out of him, or just shout at the
top of her lungs.

Instead, she
waited until the last bolt had been opened and Billy had started to
pull the door toward him. At the first brush of cold air, she
stalked forward, slapped the flat of her palm against the solid
wood and slammed the door closed. She towered over her brother when
he squeaked and spun around in alarm. He had to tip his head back
to look up at her, and she watched guilt sweep over his face when
he realised that he had been caught trying to sneak out of the
house.

“I don’t think
I need to ask you where you think you are going,” Kat drawled
matter-of-factly. Her voice was deceptively soft, but held a hint
of anger that wasn’t lost on the young boy.

“I-I -” Billy
faltered.

“Shut up,” Kat
snapped in exasperation. She closed her eyes against the horrifying
realisation that if she hadn’t snapped awake when she had, her
brother would have made his way to the beach to help the smugglers
bring in the cargo. “You promised me, Billy Baird.”

“I just thought
that because you weren’t available to help, you know, because of
what happened to you with Brian Meldrew, and all, that I should
take your place.” He knew his argument sounded feeble and his voice
trailed off. He lapsed into silence while he waited for the
scolding he knew he was going to get.

“You agreed
that you would not get involved Billy. It is dangerous. There are
the tides, heavy barrels and boxes. The horses alone take two
people to hold them. The grown-ups don’t need to keep a close watch
on you too. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you
could get crushed, stood on, or swept out to sea, and there would
be nothing anyone could do to stop it.”

Billy sighed.
Kat knew he was about to argue with him but could feel her anger
and frustration build to mammoth proportions. She actually shook
with temper and, right now, wanted to paddle his backside, but knew
that with Billy, it was better to scare him.

She bent down
and looked him in the eye until they were nose to nose. Her gaze
was cold and hard. “What are you going to do if Brian catches you?
Hmm? You do realise that Jonathan fought them all off
single-handedly, but he has spent many years in the army and has
been trained to do so? Brian, right now, has been humiliated in
front of half of the village. Do you really think that he is going
to let you wander around in the middle of the night, and not take
advantage of the fact that you are all alone?” She hated being so
brutal with him but knew that if she had any chance of getting
through his youthful ignorance, she had to knock him down a peg or
two. “You can barely hold on to Molly when she is frightened by Mr
Partridge’s hunting rifle. How in the hell do you expect to be able
to fend off a vengeful Brian with his friends?” She looked him up
and down snidely. “You are nothing but a mere strip of a boy. The
smugglers don’t want to have to babysit you and will paddle your
backside for me if they catch sight of you.” She leaned down to
whisper in his ear. “I know, because I have told them to.”

She saw the
tears pool on Billy’s lashes and felt awful for having made him
cry. She turned her back dismissively and snapped the heavy bolts
on the door closed with a thump that echoed around the quiet room.
She didn’t care if the noise woke mother, Agnes would be told in
the morning anyway. She glanced down at Billy and pointed silently
toward the stairs.

“If I ever see
you even attempt to leave this house in the middle of the night
again when you have been told not to, I will not be responsible for
what I do,” she warned darkly. She stood perfectly still and
watched Billy rush up the stairs. She heard his loud sniff at the
top and knew that he had started to cry. Everything within her
wanted to go upstairs, comfort him and assure him that she didn’t
mean it, but she really couldn’t. If she did, she knew that at the
first opportunity, he would sneak out into the night and head off
toward the beach. Whether he got there or not, or returned home in
time for morning, depended on whether Brian Meldrew was up and
about.

Her thoughts
turned toward Jonathan, and she suddenly understood the wisdom
behind his determination to ensure that Brian and his gang were
enlisted and removed from the village altogether. Her biggest fear
wasn’t the smugglers, or having her lies uncovered by Jonathan, it
was the stark reality that Billy could very easily be targeted by a
vengeful Brian and convinced to join Brian’s gang. She knew that
Brian would undoubtedly encourage the youngster to join them, if
only to get back on Kat and that was something she could never
allow to happen.

With a sigh,
she slowly returned to bed. When she passed Billy’s room, sure
enough, she could hear him sobbing quietly. She hesitated just
outside his door, but firmly quashed the guilt that rode heavily on
her shoulders. Since her father had passed, she had adopted some of
the parental duties toward the young boy because her mother was not
always around to discipline him. It was a duty she usually did with
careful consideration and tenderness. Tonight had been the first
time she had ever truly scared him, and she hated it.

The following
morning, Kat stood in the window of the library at Dentham Hall,
and watched Billy kick absently at the stones on the driveway.
Although he had accompanied her to the house, he had barely spoken
all morning and had shown no interest in going to the kitchen to
talk to Mable, the cook. It was highly unusual for the young
chatterbox, who now looked so lost and forlorn that Kat wanted to
rush outside and gather him up for a huge hug.

“Good morning.”
Jonathan’s deep rumble, so close to her ear, made her whirl around
with a start.

“I didn’t hear
you,” Kat gasped and threw a quick, worried look at Billy.

“Is he
alright?”

Kat wanted to
explain about last night but couldn’t. The need to confide in
someone, especially Jonathan, was so strong that she had to clench
her jaw to stop the flow of words that threatened to spill out. She
needed to tell him about her fears for her brother, but didn’t know
what to say without having to betray the village and tell him about
her involvement in the smuggling.

“I am just
worried, that’s all. He is young and impressionable and I really do
fear that he will be targeted by Brian Meldrew and his gang.”

“Do you think
that Brian will start to bully Billy now?”

“I don’t know,
but he may try to get Billy into his gang, and in trouble, just to
get back at us,” Kat sighed. She had to tell him something; the
need to confide in at least a few of her worries was so strong that
she simply could not ignore it completely.

“I think that
is something Brian Meldrew would undoubtedly do and Billy is too
young to understand what is happening until it is too late.”
Jonathan studied Billy for a moment. “Is he getting defiant?”

“It isn’t in
Billy’s nature, for now at least. He is too young. But he does get
lonely. The only children he gets to play with are Hester’s
children, who are lovely, don’t get me wrong, but the opportunity
to play doesn’t happen very often. With Molly, the stall, the house
chores and everything else to contend with, there isn’t the
time.”

Jonathan
nodded. He knew that Kat’s life was busy, and had watched Billy
help out at the stall. They all had their allotted tasks which they
put their efforts into with admirable enthusiasm, however for
Billy, it also meant that there wasn’t much time left to simply be
a child.

“Uncle Bruce
will be here in a minute. While you read to him, I will go and keep
an eye on Billy. I will also have a word with him about Brian, and
have a special project for him that should keep him occupied for a
while,” Jonathan murmured. He stood back and put a decorous
distance between them when the door opened and Bruce shuffled in.
“I am going to see Harper Hamilton-Smythe this afternoon and I will
talk to you later about what happens.”