Say You Love Me (7 page)

Oh, yes, she remembered the housekeeper all right—too clearly, in fact, the woman’s contemptuous tsking and disparaging looks that had made Kelsey feel like the lowliest gutter rat. And her parting remark the night before that Kelsey would never forget.

“And don’t be wandering about and stealing anything, ’cause we’ll know who done it, we will.”

It was extremely hard to stomach such disdain when she had never experienced anything approaching scorn in her life, but she’d already figured that she would have to get used to such attitudes. She’d just have to put a shell around her feelings so eventually it wouldn’t hurt or embarrass her as it did now.

Kelsey wished the housekeeper would hurry up and leave. But she was still mumbling to herself, apparently not aware yet that Kelsey was even awake. And then Kelsey changed that opinion when she started listening more intently to what the woman was saying.

“Comes from trusting Hanly’s opinion. But what does he know, I ask you? Tells me you’re a tart His Lordship’s brought home and I go and believe him. My own fault, though. I know it. I admit it. I should’ve had a closer look-see. It’s in the bones, you know. The bones won’t deceive you, and you’ve got ’em.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“See? What did I tell you? You should’ve begged my pardon last night, m’lady, and I’d have known right off that you didn’t belong down here. It was that dress, you see. And my eyesight ain’t so good, like I said.”

Kelsey stiffened, sitting up in the lumpy bed. Last night she hadn’t even noticed it was so uncomfortable. Good God, the woman was
apologizing
. That’s what all her mumbling was about. For some unknown reason she’d decided that she’d made a mistake in classing Kelsey with gutter rats. And how was Kelsey supposed to deal with that? She didn’t
want
anyone thinking she was a lady.

She could just say nothing. Let the woman think whatever she liked. It wasn’t as if she would be staying in this house, where she’d have to deal with her on a daily basis. But there was a chance that Mrs. Hershal might take her guilt straight to Lord Derek to continue her apologizing to him, and that wouldn’t do at all.

So she gave the woman a somewhat weak smile and said, “It’s not what you’re thinking, Mrs. Hershal. It’s true that gaudy dress wasn’t mine, and if I never see it again, I couldn’t be happier. But I’m not gentry, really I’m not.”

“Then how do you explain—”

Kelsey quickly interrupted. “My mum was a governess, you see, and we didn’t have it so bad. She was employed by the same family for most of my life, and we got to live in a nice house like this. I was even privileged enough to get to share the same tutors with the young
ladies my mum had charge of—which is probably why you’re thinking I’m other than what I am. Believe me, you’re not the only one to have made that mistake because of the way I talk.”

That lie was getting easier with repetition, but Mrs. Hershal was frowning doubtfully and studying Kelsey’s face as if the truth were written there for any discerning eye to note. In fact, that was exactly what she was still thinking. “That don’t explain the bones, m’lady. You’ve got the fine bones of the upper crust, you do.”

Kelsey thought frantically for a moment, then said the only thing that came to mind. “Well—I’ve never met my father, actually.” And there was no need to try to simulate the blush that came with that lie.

“A by-blow then?” Mrs. Hershal replied thoughtfully, then nodded to herself, seeming well pleased with such a logical, obvious answer. Then sympathetically, “Ah, well, there’s enough of that goes around, ain’t there now. Even Lord Derek, bless him, came out on the wrong side o’ the blanket. ’Course his papa, the marquis, acknowledged him and made him his heir, so he’s accepted well enough by the
ton
, though it weren’t always so. Had many a fight, he did, younguns being as cruel as they are, up until Viscount Eden befriended him in their college days.”

Kelsey certainly hadn’t expected a history of Jeremy’s friend Derek, and didn’t know quite what to say. His illegitimacy was none of her
business, certainly, but since she had just, sort of, claimed to be the same thing, she supposed she should pretend some understanding.

“Yes, I know how that is.”

“I’m sure you do, miss, I’m sure you do.”

Kelsey relaxed then, hearing Mrs. Hershal using “miss” instead of “m’lady.” Mrs. Hershal didn’t look so fretful either, apparently having been satisfied that her mistake wasn’t
too
far off the mark, so she wouldn’t be getting into trouble for it.

And the housekeeper was quick to conclude on her own, “Having a bit of trouble then, are you, for Lord Derek to be helping you out?”

It was easiest to just say “Yes” and let it go at that, but wouldn’t you know, the housekeeper was too nosy to take the hint.

“You’ve known His Lordship long, then?”

“No, not a’tall. I was—stranded. I don’t know this city, you see, only just arrived and had been lucky enough to find lodging right away, but unlucky enough to have the building catch fire last night. That’s why I was wearing that horrid dress. Someone had lent it to me before my valise was recovered, and—and Lord Derek had been driving by, saw the smoke, and stopped to help.”

Having improvised as she went along, Kelsey was feeling rather proud of creating a fire to explain the dress as well as her presence here. The housekeeper nodded with approval.

“Yes, our Lord Derek is kindhearted, he is. I remember once—”

A knock at the door interrupted her remi
niscing. A young maid opened it and poked her head in to say, “The carriage has arrived and His Lordship’s awaiting.”

“Goodness, this early?” Mrs. Hershal said as she waved a hand to dismiss the maid, then with a glance to Kelsey, “Well, then, no time to press this, is there? But I think I’ve worked out enough of the wrinkles for it to do, and I’ll leave you to ready yourself. No time for breakfast either, so I’ll have Cook do you up a basket to take with you.”

“That isn’t necessa——” Kelsey quickly began, but the woman was already out the door.

Kelsey sighed, hoping the whopping lie she’d just told wouldn’t go any further. Not that it mattered, since she wasn’t staying there.

But this lying business didn’t sit well with her. And she certainly wasn’t very good at it, never having had the practice. She and Jean had both been raised to be scrupulously honest, and neither of them had ever had cause to deviate from that—at least Kelsey hadn’t—until now.

The tea wasn’t quite hot any longer, but she gulped down a quick cup as she hurriedly washed and dressed. She thought about leaving that red dress behind, she really did, but she recalled some of the advice that May had imparted to her at Lonny’s about always looking her best and enticing for her lover, and she had nothing else that fell into the category of enticing.
She
might think the dress was in appalling bad taste, but apparently men didn’t,
or the bidding would never have gone quite so high.

But if she ever did wear it again, it would only be late of an evening, and only behind closed doors. For now, she dressed in the gown Mrs. Hershal had brought out, the winter-thick woolen beige that matched her spencer jacket. And goodness, it felt good to dress decently again, even if “decent” wasn’t going to be part of her future.

When she went downstairs, she found Lord Derek waiting in the foyer, rather than Jeremy, and he was slapping a pair of gloves against his thighs in an impatient manner. He looked different in the lighter colors of day wear, though no less handsome.

Actually, the strong light in the foyer pointed out just how handsome he was in every way, from his tall, lean physique to his finely chiseled face and…his eyes really were hazel. It must have been a trick of the light last night that had made them appear green.

And they were certainly going over her in a critical manner this morning, giving her the impression that he didn’t care for her demure dress. Which was quite likely. After all, now she looked like a lady, and he wouldn’t have expected that. But he wasn’t the one she needed to impress or entice, so she wasn’t going to worry about it.

She had assumed “His Lordship’s awaiting” had meant that Jeremy had come to fetch her, but the younger lord was nowhere about. Of course, he could be waiting in the carriage.

“You slept well, I trust?” Derek asked her when she reached him, his tone somewhat challenging, as if he didn’t think that was possible.

“Yes, very.”

She was amazed that that was true, but now she thought of it, she must have fallen asleep the moment her head touched the pillow. But, then, the fear and anxiety she had undergone the day before had seriously worn her out.

“This is for you, I believe.”

She hadn’t noticed the basket he’d been holding partially behind him. She nodded, hoping Mrs. Hershal hadn’t handed it over herself, or if she had, that she’d done so without comment. But no such luck…

“So I’m credited with doing a good deed I don’t quite remember doing?”

Kelsey blushed furiously to have been caught in the lie. “I’m sorry, but your housekeeper was badgering me with questions this morning, and I didn’t think you’d want the truth known to her.”

“Quite right, and none of her business in any case. You really slept well?”

She was surprised that he’d ask that again, and again in a tone that implied he found it impossible to believe that she could have.

“Yes. I was apparently exhausted. It was a…trying day.”

“Was it?” More doubt that was impossible to mistake, but then he smiled. “Well, hopefully today will be better. Shall we?” He indicated the door.

She sighed and nodded. The man was behaving exceedingly strangely, but it was nothing to her. Perhaps it wasn’t strange at all and he was naturally skeptical about every little thing. Not that it mattered, when she doubted she’d be seeing him again after today.

He assisted her into the waiting carriage, and the moment his hand touched hers, she felt one of those disturbing reactions again. But that wasn’t why she frowned as he settled into the seat across from her. It was because the carriage was empty.

She didn’t put off asking, “Will we be picking up your friend Jeremy?”

“Jeremy?”

His momentary confusion annoyed her, coming on top of her own confusion, but she repeated calmly, “Yes, Jeremy. Will we be picking him up this morning?”

“Whatever for?” he countered. “We hardly need his company on the way to Bridgewater.” And then he smiled, and she could have sworn his eyes were green again. “Besides, this is a perfect opportunity for us to become better acquainted, and I find I can’t resist another moment finding out what you taste like.”

Before she realized what he was going to do, he was pulling her onto his lap. But she wasn’t the least bit slow in reacting. Before he’d barely got his lips close to hers, she slapped him. He looked at her then as if she had gone crazy. She looked at him in a like manner.

And then he was dumping her back on the
seat across from him and saying, albeit quite stiffly, “I don’t know if I’ll be begging your pardon or not, Miss Langton. Considering the hole you put in my pocket yesterday for the exclusive use of your sweet self, I believe an explanation is in order. Or are you under the mistaken impression that I’m like those select few who frequent Lonny’s place because they like their sex a little rough? I can assure you that isn’t the case.”

Her mouth had dropped open at the same time her cheeks had flamed with color.
He
had bought her. Not Jeremy. And she’d just begun their relationship by slapping him.

“I—I can explain,” she said, feeling a bit sick to her stomach.

“I do hope so, m’dear, because at the moment I’m about to demand my money back.”

9

Kelsey was feeling rather sick. She didn’t know how
to explain what she’d just done. And she didn’t know how to explain it because she couldn’t think clearly with Derek scowling at her. The only thing that
was
clear in her mind just then was that he’d bought her. Him. The one who disturbed her. The one out of the three she had hoped wouldn’t be the one.

And goodness, now she knew why she had hoped it wouldn’t be him. He flustered her so much, she couldn’t think.

“I’m waiting, Miss Langton.”

For what? For what? Oh, yes, for why she’d slapped him.
Think
, you ninny!

“You startled me,” she said.

“Startled?”

“Yes, startled. I wasn’t expecting you to attack me like that.”

“
Attack
you?”

She cringed at the volume he was fast reaching. She was making a muck of explaining. How to make him understand without admitting what an idiot she was. Why hadn’t she
asked immediately which one of them had bought her? She
should
have asked. Actually, she should have been told. But she never should have assumed.

“A bad choice of words,” she allowed. “But I’m not used to being yanked onto men’s laps and—well, as I said, it startled me and—and I reacted before I thought…”

She didn’t finish. He was still scowling, and she’d run out of excuses. There was nothing for it but to own up to the truth of the matter.

“Very well, if you must know, I didn’t see which of you had bid on me. I only heard Lord Malory mentioned, and when Jeremy was called Lord Malory—”

“Good God!” he exclaimed. “You thought my cousin Jeremy bought you?”

His amazement showed. She was blushing as she nodded.

“Even after you were brought to
my
home?” he wanted clarified.

She nodded again, but added, “You said that was only temporary. I guessed that as young as Jeremy is, he might still be living with his parents, and so he must have asked you to see me settled for the night. Why else do you think I asked if we would be picking him up this morning?”

At that point he confounded her by smiling. “Actually, dear girl, I was worried that you might have become smitten with the scamp. It wouldn’t be the first time. He has that effect on the fairer sex despite his tender years.”