The Danger in Tempting an Earl (10 page)

“My intentions?” Mr. Goodard looked confused.

“They had best be honorable, or I will personally call you out.”

Katherine’s eyes widened. “You will do no such thing. Mr. Goodard has done nothing wrong.”

“Then please explain why he was being so familiar with you just now,” Lucien said. Noting the look of alarm in Katherine’s eyes and the tightening of Mr. Goodard’s jaw, Lucien realized his mistake. In his frustration, he’d embarrassed Katherine horribly in front of everyone.

Mr. Goodard stepped toward him, undoubtedly intent on admonishing him for his thoughtlessness.

With tremendous effort, Lucien reined in his annoyance, determined to salvage the situation before he and Mr. Goodard came to blows. “My apologies,” he said, perhaps a bit too hastily. “I meant no disrespect. I am just surprised, that is all, but since Mr. Goodard
is
here and Lady Julie was good enough to join me, there are now four to our party. What say you if we go for a ride together? I know we discussed a race, but perhaps we could visit the old ruins for a game of hide-and-seek instead?”

Katherine looked skeptical, and Lucien knew that she had not yet forgiven his public insistence that she explain the nature of her relationship with Mr. Goodard. Thankfully, Lady Julie’s youthful spirit applauded the idea of a game of hide-and-seek. “Oh yes!” She clapped her hands together while her eyes implored them all to agree. “It’s been so long since I’ve played.”

“Then we mustn’t disappoint you,” Katherine said, eyeing Lucien with some degree of reservation. “It’s lovely weather for a ride, so I suggest we leave behind the carriage.”

“Would it be all right if my maid remained here in the meantime?” Lady Julie asked. “I mean, I brought Sarah along to chaperone, but if Lady Crossby is there, then I think I’d rather give my maid a little time off—she’d love to see your garden, my lady.”

Katherine smiled, and Lucien caught his breath. “I think that would be acceptable, Lady Julie. Is she very fond of gardens, then?”

“Oh yes, and yours is one of the most famous ones. In fact, she could barely keep her enthusiasm at bay as we approached, isn’t that so, Lord Roxberry?”

“Her interest was very much apparent,” he said, his eyes fixed on the only object of his own interest—Katherine.

“Y
ou surprise me,” Lucien told Katherine as they rode along the dirt road that would take them a couple of miles away from Cresthaven and to the ruins of an old medieval castle. Lady Julie was not an expert horsewoman and had fallen behind. Lucien knew he probably ought to have remained at her side, but when Mr. Goodard had seemed more than willing to oblige, Lucien had taken the opportunity to ride ahead alongside Katherine, leaving Lady Julie to enjoy the company of the man she loved. Well, one of them deserved to be happy on this wretched day.

“How so?” Katherine asked.

“I think you know perfectly well,” he muttered. Finding her like that with Mr. Goodard had made him glum and raw with jealousy. He hated the feeling.

“I can only assume that you are referring to the unfortunate situation you found me in with Mr. Goodard upon your arrival.”

“Indeed I am.” He angled his head so he could look at her and was immediately taken aback by the sight, for she held her chin high, jaw firmly clenched while her eyes drove into the horizon. Swallowing any reservations he had about continuing with this issue, he said, “I only want what’s best for you, so unless Mr. Goodard is proposing marriage, I beg you to reconsider your actions.”

She didn’t respond right away, but he could see that her throat was working, as if she was struggling with finding the right words. “I told you just the other night that I have no intention of remarrying. Do you really suppose that I would change my mind so quickly?”

“Then it is as I feared,” Lucien muttered, his heart slamming against his chest as he tried to digest what she had told him. “He has propositioned you and you have . . . please don’t tell me that you have accepted.”

“Do you know,” she said, her voice disturbingly quiet, “that of all people, I never thought that you would have questioned my judgment.”

“Then give me a reason not to,” he blurted.

“I shouldn’t have to.” She looked at him then, her hair falling in soft tresses around her face. “Considering all that you know of me, you should be able to trust that I will do the right thing. Instead, you have presumed the very worst, not only of me but of Mr. Goodard as well.”

“How so?”

“It’s silly, really, but just as you were arriving, I lost my balance while trying to straighten the tulips. Mr. Goodard caught not only the vase but me as well, which I daresay was fortuitous, or you might have found me lying on the floor instead.”

It sounded like a perfectly reasonable explanation, but Lucien didn’t entirely believe it. In his opinion, it seemed far more likely that Mr. Goodard had tried to use the vase to his advantage—as an excuse to play the knight to her damsel in distress. Katherine, on the other hand, had been gazing up at him all dreamy-eyed. Lucien’s stomach twisted. All he could think of was pulling her off her horse and shaking her until her teeth clanged together. She was completely wrong for Mr. Goodard. She should be with
him,
Lucien Marvaine, Earl of Roxberry—the man who’d loved her since she’d slipped and fallen into the lake at the tender age of sixteen.

Christ, what a mess!

Untangling it would be harder than combing out the knots in Katherine’s hair when she was eight years old and had gotten jam in it. How she’d managed it, Lucien wasn’t aware, but she’d been too afraid to go to her maid for help, since she would only have informed Katherine’s mother. Instead, the little sprite had thrust a comb into Lucien’s hand and begged him to do the job for her. Which of course he had, although the chore had taken the better part of an hour.

Fleetingly, Lucien wondered if Mr. Goodard would have been so obliging. He forced the thought away. If Katherine planned to dismiss her embrace with Mr. Goodard as something meaningless, then he had no choice but to give her the benefit of the doubt. Not unless he wanted to lose her friendship forever, which was precisely what he feared might happen if he failed to assure her of his faith in her.

“T
his is splendid,” Lady Julie announced as she and Mr. Goodard rode into what had once been the bailey of a solid stone fortress. The walls had long since begun to crumble, leaving a jagged silhouette against the background of the sky.

From far above, the twitter of birds reached their ears. Looking up, Katherine spotted a nest. It was sitting on a ledge that had probably once been part of a window. It was years since she’d last been out here, and she couldn’t help but note the extra bits of moss and weed that squeezed between the cracks in the stone.

Dismounting, Katherine led her horse over to a tree that had sprung through the ground in a corner, then she secured the reins to a low branch. “Shall I go first?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at the others. “I don’t mind doing the searching.” It would give her an opportunity to reacquaint herself with the ruin at a more leisurely pace than if she had to run and hide.

“I think we ought to draw straws,” Mr. Goodard said as he dismounted. “What do you think, Roxberry?”

“It sounds fair enough to me,” Lucien said. Already on the ground, he went to help Lady Julie down, his hands lingering about her waist just a second longer than required.

Katherine watched the display with an aching heart. She looked at Mr. Goodard, who looked just as depressed as she felt. It was no good. Lucien was clearly smitten and Lady Julie equally so, evident in the way her gaze never veered from Lucien’s.

Picking up a pair of twigs, Katherine snapped them in half so three of the pieces were of equal length while one was half an inch longer. Her hands were trembling and her heart was beating somewhere closer to her belly than to her chest. Damn her for listening to all the stupid gossip. There was no merit to it, yet it had made her think of Lucien in a new light. Tragically, he clearly didn’t feel the same way about her, or he wouldn’t have been treating Lady Julie as if he’d already begun courting her.

She felt a hand upon her arm and looked up to find Mr. Goodard staring down at her. “I know it isn’t easy to watch, but you must be strong, my lady.”

“Perhaps it’s for the best,” she whispered. “I’m not sure I can give him what he wants anyway.”

“Discussing strategy?” Lucien asked as he approached with Lady Julie on his arm. His eyes met Katherine’s and she instinctively took a step back. There was something fierce in his gaze that quickened her pulse. She didn’t understand it, but it made her wary.

“Just preparing the straws, or, in this case, twigs,” she said, her voice a little weaker than she would have liked. Holding them in her fisted hand, she extended them so they could each pick a twig.

“Oh!” Lady Julie squealed with excitement. “Looks like I’ll be hiding.”

“Me too,” Mr. Goodard said.

“And I’ll be seeking for the lot of you,” Lucien said as he drew the longest one. “I’ll stay here and count to fifty.”

Determined not to lose a second of precious time, Katherine hurried through an archway toward the gaping doorway of the keep. All was still within, the air cooler between the confines of the large walls than it had been outside in the sun. Looking up, Katherine saw nothing but clear sky dotted by the occasional cloud. At the far end stood the remains of a staircase that would lead her up inside one of the towers. When Katherine reached it, she started upward, her feet a little unsteady on the steps, which sloped and sagged with age.

“Mind if I join you?”

Spinning around with such speed that she nearly lost her balance, Katherine scowled at Mr. Goodard. “What are you doing here?” she whispered.

He shrugged. “You seemed to know where you were going, so I decided that you probably know of a good spot in which to hide.”

“But you can’t possibly hide
with
me. You must find a place of your own,” she insisted as uneasiness claimed her. If Lucien was prepared to turn Mr. Goodard’s steadying hand in the parlor into an amorous embrace, there was no telling what he would think if he found her hiding with Mr. Goodard. Having always valued Lucien’s high regard for her, Katherine hated the thought of disappointing him.

Mr. Goodard frowned. “I don’t think I’ve enough time for that now, and besides, the rules say nothing about not being allowed to hide in the same location as someone else.”

“We ought not be alone together,” she said. “It isn’t appropriate.”

“It’s just a game, Lady Crossby, and since you already know that my intentions lie elsewhere, I daresay you’ve little to worry about. Besides, you’re a widow now and entitled to a little fun. No?”

Katherine hesitated. She looked toward the doorway of the keep through which Lucien would probably be arriving any minute, and then at Mr. Goodard, who was looking mildly impatient. Taking a deep breath, Katherine made her decision and continued up a few more steps until she knew she was hidden from view. She then seated herself on the chilly stone. Mr. Goodard immediately plopped down next to her. “You ought to have followed Lady Julie instead,” Katherine muttered.

“I doubt she would be swayed by amorous advances in a ruin,” he said. “She is a debutante after all, and—”

“Oh no! I should have stayed with her,” Katherine said, feeling suddenly remarkably guilty about her own determination to get away. She hadn’t spared Lady Julie a thought.

“So much more reason for you to be thankful that I am here with you and not with her.”

“But what about Roxberry? If he is hoping to—”

“Calm yourself, my lady. Roxberry is a gentleman. He would never do anything untoward.”

Katherine knew he was right, yet she couldn’t stop her treacherous mind from imagining Lucien and Lady Julie in a lover’s embrace while she sat on these cold steps with Mr. Goodard at her side. It was not the least bit heartwarming.

A
s soon as Lucien finished counting to fifty, he set out with the express purpose of finding Katherine as quickly as possible. Seeing her in private discussion with Mr. Goodard had swiftly stirred his ire once more, and he was convinced more than ever that Mr. Goodard was determined to make Katherine his, even if she was unsuspecting of his intentions. Lucien’s pace quickened. He couldn’t lose her to that man.

Fists clenched, Lucien strode through the archway, where he knew one, possibly two, people had gone—he’d heard their fading footsteps. It didn’t surprise him. The keep had always fascinated Katherine, so he’d suspected from the very beginning that she would choose to hide somewhere in there.

Entering it, he paused to listen, the flutter of wings catching his ears as a bird darted back and forth. Continuing his progress, he strode to one of the towers and looked up, but found nothing. Perhaps he should climb the stairs? He decided against wasting time on that, for he knew that Katherine would not have forgotten the warning he’d issued when he’d first taken her and Patricia here all those years ago. The building was in decay and had to be treated with respect unless one planned on getting hurt.

Again he paused to listen, and he became aware of the quiet falling of pebbles, as if part of the structure had just been disturbed. It had come from the opposite tower, and Lucien now hastened toward it, his strides long and determined. As he came closer, however, he heard voices and immediately softened his footfalls.

“Who knew that we would one day be more than mere acquaintances?”

Lucien froze as he recognized Mr. Goodard’s voice.

“Not I, though I daresay Roxberry must have thought we’d get along splendidly.”

“And why is that?”

There was a slight pause before Katherine said, “The other night at the ball, he suggested I set my cap for you.” Lucien gritted his teeth as he was once again reminded of his own idiocy. What the hell had he been thinking?

“Did he really?” Mr. Goodard asked. “But surely he must know that you don’t intend to remarry.”

Lucien breathed a sigh of relief. If Mr. Goodard was aware of this, then surely he’d stop pursuing her. He reminded himself of the man’s reputation and muttered an oath.