No Choice but Seduction (4 page)

He’d approached the bed as he spoke, but he backed away from it now with a gasp and turned around to snarl at the woman. “What is that?”

“That’s yer fortune,” she said with a chuckle.

The cloak was snatched off her. The lamplight in the room blinded her for a moment, but as soon as her eyes adjusted, Judith stared wide-eyed at a tall man with bright carrot-red hair and light blue eyes. He wasn’t ugly or mean-looking. He was dressed decently, too, like most gentry. And she watched his face grow pale as he stared down at her. She was frightened, but for some reason the man seemed to be even more frightened of her.

He turned his horrified expression on the woman. “Her hair?
His
eyes?” he choked out. “D’ye think I didna ken who she belongs tae?”

“Did ye think I’d be trying tae hide it?”

“Ye’ve lost yer mind, there’s nae other excuse!” he exclaimed. “Look at this crooked nose. Did ye think I was born wi’ it? Look at these scars on my face! D’ye know how many bones of mine that mon broke? I’m lucky tae be alive after the beating he gave me, and ye steal his daughter? How could ye do this? Why?”

“Every time ye put a few drinks in ye I’ve had tae listen tae ye whine aboot the fortune that should’ve been yers. Well, ye should be glad I’ve finally agreed wi’ ye. Aye, it should’ve been yers, it ne’er should’ve gone tae some silly chit who didna need it then and certainly doesna need it now, after marrying intae a rich family. So it’s coming home where it belongs, tae us.”

Geordie Cameron shook his head incredulously. He’d never really regretted marrying this woman—until now. He’d hired her to run his first shop in Edinburgh, since he knew nothing about owning a shop. He’d ended up succumbing to her flirtations and asked her to marry him. She was from the lower classes, but at that point in his life, he didn’t care. He might have done something like this himself back then. In fact, he had tried to force this child’s mother to marry him. In the end, Roslynn had changed his mind with her generosity.

“What a mon says when he’s foxed isna usually what he thinks when he’s sober. I gave up on that fortune years ago. My great-uncle had every right tae give it tae whom he pleased, and my cousin was his closer relative, so he gave it tae her. He would ne’er ha’ give any part of it tae me, hating me as he did.”

“Ye still should ha’—”

“Shut up, womon, and listen tae me. I’m telling ye why ye’ve lost yer mind. My cousin Roslynn gave me the means tae open our shops. Ten thousand pounds she gave me, slipped it in my valise wi’oout my knowing, wi’oout wanting a thank ye for it. It was enough tae open all three of our shops, and they’ve supported us well enough. We’re no’ rich, but we’re no’ lacking, either. And this is how we repay her?”

“And ye think I’ve lost my mind when ye just told the lass who we are?”

“Ye did that the moment ye mentioned that bloody fortune in relation tae her mother.”

She tsked, then grumbled, “And I took such precautions tae hide who we were. I even stole an old coach this morning afore I set oout tae London Town, just in case I might be noticed hying off. But nae one saw me. It was all tae easy. I had a plan tae get intae their house, but while I was watching it, oout comes the bonny lass here wi’ her father. Sae I followed them instead tae a big park, a much better place for a nabbing, I was thinking, until I realized the mon wasna letting her oout of his sight. I was aboot tae leave when the lass rode right intae my hands.”

“I dinna care how ye did this, I want tae be hearing how ye’re going tae
un
do it. Ye’re taking her back.”

“Nae,” she replied flatly. “And it’s tae late for that. Afore I left London, I arranged for the note to be delivered tonight, telling them where tae bring the fortune to. They’ve received it by now.” But then she smiled at him. “Ye’re the best thing that ever happened tae me, mon, there’s nae denying that. And now I’m paying ye back in making us richer than a few shops ever could. Sae what if we may ha’ tae leave the country because of this,” she added with a shrug. “That’s a small price tae pay for a fortune. Sleep on it. Ye’ll see I’m right in the morning.”

She then scooped up the child and set her down on the floor in the corner of the room so they could have their bed back. Geordie immediately grabbed both pillows from the bed as well as the top blanket and put them around the child to make her more comfortable. His wife laughed at him. He gritted his teeth, hoping a night’s sleep would make
her
see the error in what she’d foolishly done. He didn’t like thinking that he’d have to put his own wife in prison just to save her life. But he had no doubt at all that what she’d started was going to get them both killed by Anthony Malory if the lass wasn’t returned to him posthaste.

“Please,
please
tell yer father I had nothing tae do wi’ this,” he whispered to the child as he gently covered her. “It wasna my idea, I swear.”

“What are ye mumbling aboot?” his wife demanded.

“Nothing, m’dear.”

Chapter Three

T
HE MEWLING WOKE
K
ATEY
T
YLER
for the second time that night. A cat? A baby? It was hard to tell exactly what was making that noise, but it was very irritating, and it seemed to be coming from the room directly next to hers. Her bed abutted the wall that divided the rooms, and while she had briefly considered trying to move the bed to get farther away from the noise, it was a big bed and she didn’t think she could manage it without waking everyone else on the floor.

They had arrived at this inn on the outskirts of Northampton quite late last night. It wasn’t fully occupied so Katey had been able to get her maid, Grace, a room, too. She wished that hadn’t been the case, because if Grace were here, they could probably have moved the bed together.

The adventurous thing to do would be to get up and go investigate the sound. After all, hadn’t Katey come to England to have adventures? Well, not England exactly, it was merely the first stepping-stone on her trip around the world. But the whole point of her trip was to see and do new things and to put some excitement into her life. Adventure, excitement, maybe even a little romance if she was lucky.

She’d gotten more of the latter than she’d bargained for on the Atlantic crossing from America to England, or she would have if she hadn’t panicked and set herself up with an identity that wasn’t really hers to avoid being bothered by men. But it was just as well that she’d presented herself as a married woman. She was just starting her grand tour and didn’t want it to end immediately by her falling in love with the first handsome man she came across.

That had been a definite possibility when she’d met Boyd Anderson. When he’d held her in his arms there on the dock in Bridgeport, Connecticut, saving her from a nasty fall off the crates she’d climbed up on, she’d been quite flustered. But when he smiled at her! Good grief, what that had made her feel inside was so strange it frightened her, so she’d been glad of an excuse to run off.

And she hadn’t really calmed down from that encounter by the time he approached her on the deck of his ship a short while later. What did she know about men, after all? Having three marriage proposals from old men in her village hadn’t prepared her for someone like Boyd Anderson. Even having a sixteen-year-old lad chasing after her carriage when she was riding out of Danbury with her mother had engendered no feelings but amusement. The boy had followed them about during their brief shopping trip to the bigger town, but hadn’t said a word until they left. Then he’d shouted after her that he’d make her a fine husband! She’d been twelve at the time. She’d done no more than giggle while her mother rolled her eyes.

But Boyd Anderson with his curly, golden brown hair and those dark brown eyes that so easily mesmerized her was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. And if he hadn’t approached her again there on the deck, so soon after their first meeting, how differently that trip might have turned out. But he did. He even brushed against her, overwhelming her with his masculinity. And then that new smile, so sensual it stole her breath and produced a wealth of new sensations that unsettled her enough to bring the panic back. It was no wonder she had jumped on the idea that
he
gave her, when her maid had approached with the two children they were escorting to England, and he’d teasingly asked if they were hers.

He hadn’t approached her again, so pretending to be married had served her purposes. It had kept him from making any more overtures. But, oh, how exciting that had been! Knowing he was attracted to her, seeing it in his eyes, in his expression, every time he got near her. His restraint had been especially admirable because he had seemed like a powder keg of passions!

Thinking about him was keeping her from getting back to sleep immediately, but that wasn’t unusual. She regretted having panicked when a man as handsome and masculine as Boyd had expressed interest in her, but that’s why she’d come on this trip—for adventure and experience. The next time she encountered the attentions of a handsome man, she’d know how to handle the situation.

The annoying mewling noise started up again. If she were in her own home, she would immediately have investigated. She couldn’t bear to think of animals in pain, hungry, or being abused. She’d chased farmer Cantry about the village square once with his own stick, having grabbed it from his hand when she caught him using it on his horse. Deer ate apples from her hand, they had such trust in her. And two of her neighbor’s cats left field mice on
her
porch regularly as gifts.

Again the sound grated on Katey’s ears and heart. Finally she threw off her covers, grabbed the robe she’d left at the foot of the bed, and was out the door before she’d even belted the robe. She was about to pound on the door to the other room when she arrested her fist just in time. She didn’t
really
want to wake anyone else just because her sleep was being disturbed.

She pulled her long black hair out from under the robe as she debated what to do. It was probably just a cat trapped in an empty room. This would be the second time she’d come across that situation in her travels, if that was what this was. It had been late summer when she’d arrived in England, it was now early fall, and innkeepers left windows open, even windows in their vacant rooms, to keep them fresh-smelling as long as they could before the weather turned too cold. Stray cats found their way in through those open windows looking for food, then forgot how to get out and made a racket about it.

Trying the door would tell her immediately if the room was occupied. If it was locked, she’d have to consider going downstairs to complain to the innkeeper. If it opened, the noisy cat would likely scurry out into the corridor and run off, and her problem would be solved.

The door opened when she turned the knob. She pushed it wide enough for the cat to run out, but no cat appeared. There was an orange glow in the room as if a fire was dying out, or a lamp was turned down low, which indicated the room was occupied by people rather than stray cats.