The Elusive Heiress (31 page)

Kate had nodded. Sean was bound to try again.

She was furious with herself for falling for his trick. It had been stupid of her to assume that the note had come from Randal!

Gossip and her own behaviour must have convinced the Irishman of her attraction to Lord Redesmere and he had used her susceptibility to lure her away from the safe companionship of her friends. Like a fool, she had rushed into his trap.

Worse, she dare not denounce him and he knew it!

Well, he would be laughing on the other side of his face now! Kate smiled grimly. She hoped her bite had poisoned him!

Still, she was going to have to be very careful. He was getting desperate and she couldn’t hope to avoid him completely. Until those papers were safely signed every minute spent in his company would be fraught with danger.

A little chill feathered down her spine.

For that matter, just how safe was she in the company of the man she loved?

Kate shifted uneasily against her pillows, trying to flick the thought away, but, once again, it stubbornly persisted.

She had once angrily declared to Mary that Randal Crawford was probably in league with the Sullivans. She had long since dismissed the idea as ridiculous, but during these last two days it had come back to haunt her.

He said he didn’t like Sean but he had invited him to dinner. Such civility, like the invitation to Emma’s ball, could be excused on the grounds of their distant connection, but Alicia had mentioned that Lord Redesmere had taken Sean along to his club. Jack Hewitt had also seen them together at a prize fight on Saturday evening.

Try as she might to dismiss these events as unimportant, Kate was uneasy. Was it just a stroke of luck that Randal had been on hand to save her the other night? She felt terrible for doubting him, but his explanation lacked conviction. For heaven’s sake, it was a very odd route for him to take to the theatre!

Kate bit her lip, struggling to ward off a sense of panic. She
must
be mistaken! She could trust Randal, of course she could.

It
had
to be a coincidence that Mr Hilton had departed town just when she was about to sign the papers. The alternative was too horrible to contemplate!

* * * *

Ablaze with lights, Crawford Hall put Kate in mind of an enchanted castle in a fairy tale. Stepping down from Alicia’s carriage and making her way inside the house the illusion was strengthened. Everywhere she looked cavaliers and knights, shepherdesses and queens, Romans and more Tudors than she could count abounded.

To her intense satisfaction, she didn’t spot anyone wearing a costume similar to her own.

‘Kitty!’ Her hostess, dressed with lavish splendour as Queen Elizabeth in a silver farthingale and red wig, greeted her with a pleased cry. ‘Oh doesn’t she look lovely, Matthew!’

Lieutenant Lattimer, who might have stepped out of the frame of one of the Hilliard miniatures kept in the Library, nodded speechlessly.

Kate smiled at him and turned to greet the man on Emma’s other side. ‘Good evening, Randal,’ she said, lowering her painted eyelids demurely.

For a moment, like his brother-in-law, Lord Redesmere seemed to have lost the power of speech. Recovering, he made her a flawless bow.

‘Greetings,
my serpent of old Nile
.’

Recognising the quotation, Kate laughed in delight. ‘I cannot claim to be Cleopatra, sir. I ask only to be taken for one of her subjects.’

‘And you have succeeded brilliantly.’

Quickly turning to his sister, who was now welcoming Lady Edgeworth, stately in hooped petticoats and a towering powdered wig, Randal murmured a few words. Then, offering Kate his arm, he led her swiftly away.

‘You are deserting your post, my lord.’

‘It’s Emma and Matthew’s party.’ He smiled lazily at her. ‘Let them do the honours. I want to be with the most beautiful Egyptian lady I have ever seen.’

The approval in his eyes warmed Kate’s heart and more than made up for the hours spent in concocting her outfit…and Alicia’s disapproval!

‘You cannot wear that!’ she had shrieked when Kate had finally let her into the secret of her costume earlier that evening. ‘It’s indecent!’

‘Dear God— Ma’am, it is no more revealing than a nymph’s costume,’ Kate had declared laughingly. ‘Please, please don’t say no or I shall have to stay at home since I haven’t got another outfit to wear.’

‘You are scarcely wearing
that
one!’ Lady Edgeworth retorted waspishly.

However, as she didn’t want her charge to miss what promised to be the most glittering event of the summer she’d reluctantly swallowed her objections.

Alicia had high hopes for this evening. Let Randal see the child looking so incredibly lovely and he was bound to declare himself! Besides, she consoled herself, everyone knew that costume balls were an occasion when daring behaviour was acceptable, particularly if the perpetrator was a rich heiress.

‘She even lent me these bracelets.’ Kate confided the anecdote to her host, indicating the two wide gilded bracelets ornamented with turquoise with which she had adorned her upper arms.

Randal stared at them. The gold gleamed softly against her bare arms and he experienced a fierce desire to reach out and touch her ivory-tinted skin.

Her shapely shoulders were also revealed almost in their entirety, save for the two broad straps which held up her dress. Made of dark red gauze, it was cut low and straight across her breasts and fell in a slim sheath to just above her ankles. It was obvious she was wearing very little beneath it for when she moved, the material was sheer enough to hint at her voluptuous curves.

Thin gold sandals exposed her equally bare feet and she wore an intricate necklace shaped like a gold collar studded with large blue stones, which he thought must be glass. Matching earrings dangled from her dainty ears. They provided a very dramatic effect, particularly when combined with that long blue feathered fan she carried.

Her new hairstyle was also striking. Dressed
a la Egyptienne
, her sable locks had been brushed smoothly back and caught with a gold comb high at the back of her head, but instead of curls, a myriad of tiny plaits cascaded to graze her shoulders. A row of blue beads, looping above her ears from the comb, hung horizontally across her forehead.

They drew attention to her long slanting eyes, which looked more exotic than ever since she had outlined them with some black paint and dusted a gold powder over the lids. She had also reddened her wide full mouth.

Shocking, provocative…and utterly seductive! She looked good enough to eat!

His opinion was evidently shared by most of the men present and to his annoyance she was instantly besieged by admirers clamouring to dance with her.

‘Remember you are promised to me for the next cotillion,’ he said, struggling to keep jealousy out of his voice as he reluctantly acknowledged Jack Hewitt’s prior claim.

‘How could I forget?’ Her eyes sparkled teasingly at him. ‘You might cut off my head!’

Since a sensible wish to avoid an uncomfortable costume had led him to dress in the plain attire of one of Cromwell’s Roundhead soldiers, her sally made him laugh as he released her.

Watching her glide away on Jack’s arm, his smile faded and he said softly, ‘Oh, but I can think of much better things to do with you, my little Egyptian!’

Honour be damned! He wasn’t going to delay any longer for the Hogans. Whatever else she was, she had the manners of a lady and his father’s shade would have to find comfort in that!

* * * *

‘I’m not sure we should be doing this.’ Kate’s voice trembled slightly as she watched Randal unbuckle the broadsword which added a lethal veracity to his Ironside captain’s uniform.

‘You said you didn’t want to dance.’ Randal shed his buff leather coat and cast it carelessly over the back of a chair.

‘I know, but if anyone were to come in—’

‘My study is strictly off limits,’ he interrupted. ‘No one will disturb us here.’

Kate remained by the door, which he had closed firmly behind them a moment ago. The candelabrum he’d placed on the rosewood desk lit the room’s quiet darkness.

She thought he must be able to hear the wild banging of her heart. Now clad only in a pair of breeches and a white linen shirt his tall strong body was arousing a devastating reaction in her.

Was it only yesterday she had doubted him? Overwhelmed by his virility, she could barely breathe and yet in some befuddled corner of her brain a warning voice was shrieking.

‘All the same, I think we should go back,’ she murmured, her fingers playing nervously with the feathers of her fan.

Randal walked over to her and firmly removed it from her frantic grip. ‘What are you afraid of, Katharine?’ he asked, laying it aside. ‘Yourself or me?’

He began to slide one of the straps down off her shoulder.

Kate gasped. ‘I’m not afraid of anything!’ she exclaimed hotly, pushing her strap back up.

‘Then kiss me,’ he challenged with a lazy smile.

‘No!’

‘I’ll wager I could make you change your mind.’ He ran one fingertip lightly along her bare collarbone.

‘Coxcomb!’ Kate retorted unsteadily.

‘Am I?’

He drew her slowly into his arms, giving her every chance to withdraw. Deafened by the pounding of her own heart, Kate watched his mouth come closer and closer…and then his lips found hers in a long, slow and thrillingly expert caress.

Stars exploded behind her closed eyelids and, just as he had predicted, her resistance melted.

‘You see?’ A gleam of triumph lit his brilliant gaze. ‘You cannot help yourself any more than I can. We were made for each other, sweetheart.’

Dizzy with passion Kate broke away from him. He was right, but she couldn’t let sensuality blind her! ‘I won’t bed with you! It would be wrong!’

‘You think I asked you here to
seduce
you?’

Suddenly realising that his voice was full of amusement Kate hesitated. Had she read too much into his actions? ‘I…I, oh damn it, Randal, what am I supposed to think with you stripping off the minute we were over the threshold!’

He let out a shout of laughter. ‘That jacket is very heavy and I’m hot, you goose.’

A flood of colour washed into Kate’s face as he added wickedly, ‘However, if you’ve a mind to sample my poor skills I should very much enjoy playing Anthony to your Cleopatra.’

Feeling a complete fool, Kate glared up at him. ‘Don’t flatter yourself that I wore this costume to please you,’ she snapped, lying through her teeth.

‘I’m sorry. I thought you knew you could trust me not to take advantage of our privacy,’ he apologised.

Kate supposed she did. ‘It was unfair of you to tease me,’ she muttered, wishing it was possible for both of them to forget all restraints.

‘You looked so adorably shocked when I started to undress that I couldn’t resist the temptation to do so,’ he confessed with a grin.

His smile faded. ‘However, you are right to suspect my motives for seeking a chance to be alone with you tonight.’

Kate felt the colour drain rapidly from her cheeks. ‘What…what do you mean?’ she faltered.

‘I haven’t been completely honest with you, sweetheart. In fact, there’s something I must tell you. I ought to have confessed earlier, but I’ve been putting the moment off.’ His expression hardened. ‘It won’t wait any longer.’

Kate stared up at him, her head whirling.
He
hadn’t been honest?

Seeing her confusion, Randal guided her towards the leather-upholstered couch which stood opposite his desk and gently pulled her down to sit next to him. Holding both her hands in his, he said quietly, ‘Honour demands that I tell you about Walcheren.’

Kate blinked in surprise. ‘I know you took part in that campaign,’ she replied uncertainly.

‘I suppose Emma told you?’ A slight frown touched his brow.

‘She didn’t say much,’ Kate asserted quickly, not wishing him to think they had been gossiping about him.

Randal nodded and, taking a deep breath, said evenly, ‘She knows I don’t like talking about it. You see, I caught the infamous fever.’

Kate’s eyes widened. She had read all about this dreadful affliction in the newssheets at the time. The low-lying ground of Walcheren island bred a malignant ague which had devastated the entire army. The effects were so bad that the campaign had to be called off.

‘Only five men in my company escaped it, but I was luckier than most. I survived.’ Randal shrugged. ‘Not that I appreciated my good fortune at the time. I was shivering and shaking so hard I thought my teeth would snap into pieces.’

Kate had heard that the ague-fits came thick and fast, several in a day and every one was followed by high fever and a thirst so intense it felt as if the throat was on fire. Afterwards the victim was left utterly exhausted.

‘We landed back in Ramsgate in mid-September. Thousands of sick and dying men.’ Randal shook his head at the memory. ‘My father came to fetch me home. I don’t remember much of the journey, I was delirious most of the time. The doctors told him that I would die.’

His well-cut mouth twisted. ‘My father wouldn’t listen. He scoured the country for a cure until he found a doctor who treated me with infusions of Peruvian bark. The method seem to work, although I think it was my father’s prayers which pulled me through.’

Kate nodded, thinking privately that his recovery probably had more to do with his own stamina and determination.

‘It was weeks before I could even get out of bed, but the toll was heaviest on my father. The anxiety had aged him and his heart was weak.’

‘And you felt guilty?’

‘Aye. He had never wanted me to join the army.’ A muscle twitched by Randle’s well-cut mouth. ‘When he asked me to resign my commission, I did not think I had the right to refuse. I owed him my life.’

Indignation rose in Kate. ‘That’s blackmail!’

Randal agreed. ‘However, I could see his point. He’d lost my brother and he’d nearly lost me and possessing an heir mattered a great deal to him.’ He shrugged. ‘Truth to tell, I found that I didn’t mind leaving the army as much as I thought I would. Maybe I’d been a soldier too long. Certainly, the bungling at Walcheren had opened my eyes to the stupidities of war.’