A Taste of Honey (14 page)

Garrett shook her shoulders lightly, trying to pry the answer from her stubborn throat.  “Kat,” he whispered as his lips hovered over the strong pulse at the base of her throat. Breathing against the veins beneath the soft white skin.

When her eyes at last opened, he stared into them with his own.  “Tell me that you need this Kat.  I can give you what you're craving,” he said while his hands moved across her dress, never quite touching her skin until one of his fingers skimmed along the length of her throat.

Katherine's chest shook with the strain to contain all of the feelings that he was creating within her.  When she tried to move him aside, his hands pushed against her ribs, keeping her pinned to the door while he refused to give her body the friction that she needed.  She was surprised that this lack of physical contact was driving her crazier than the two previous kisses that they had shared.  It seemed that Garrett knew what he was doing, slowly trying to drive her mad.

A part of her wanted to consent, to tell him that she did need to feel his lips against her own; to urge his hands to hold her.  Yet, she feared the admission would only strengthen his resolve, and she decided that it was not a concession she was willing to make.

She knew her arousal was
apparent to him.  His smile beca
me almost devilish as he leaned in closer to her once more, licking along the delicate tip of her ear, forcing her over the edge as a small moan finally escaped her lips.

Pulling back from her, Garrett looked into her flushed face.  Gently, he ran one finger along her neck and down to the pale bulge of her cleavage to pinch lightly at the small hard buds that stood out beneath the fabric of her day dress.

Rubbing his thumb over a small bite mark on her lip, Garrett watched as her tongue came out to wet the dry area, accidentally licking his finger as she did so.  That was when she felt him lose his restraint, pushing his body against hers, rubbing deeper into her billowing skirts and nearly lifting her toes off of the ground with the force of his desire as his hands came up to cradle her head.

Another moan escaped her lips as she stood lost inside all of the emotions that she felt but couldn't fully accept.  “Tell me that you need this like I do,” he insisted and her light blue eyes flew open to stare deep into his.

Katherine was startled when she realized how far she had let him take her, like a dream that she had no control over its path or progression.  Her treacherous hands were gripping his arms as she fought to pull him to her.

“Tell me, Kat,” he whispered as his lips descended to the rise of her breasts and he licked at a drop of sweat that trailed along her neck.  “You don't have to keep torturing both of us.”

“No.”  Katherine was barely able to whisper as she fought not to moan at the feel of his touch.  Her hands came up to his shoulders, trying weakly to push him back.  “No.” She spoke more firmly as his teeth nibbled the side of her neck.  Finding her strength, Katherine pushed harder against him.

While she couldn't move him, the effort broke the spell that had been held over them and Garrett stepped back drunkenly as he stared at her lightly disheveled form as if wondering how he had lost all of his control.  “Kat?” he said questioningly but was stilled by the pressure of her hand on his chest that attempted to keep a distance between them.

Turning to grasp the door for support, Katherine waited until she could breath
e
normally before looking back at him.  There was a slightly lost look in his eyes as if he had taken her and himself too far this time.  At that moment Katherine could relate to him, having felt her body take over and her mind completely shut down to all thoughts of reason.

“I am not interested in you,” she told him as evenly as she could manage. “You need to stop trying to see me.”

“I can't do that,” Garrett said gravely to her as he watched her re-straighten her clothing and hair.  It was no use, anyone who saw her in the hall or on her way up to her room would know what she had been doing.  “And you can't deny that this is happening Kat, even if it wasn't what you had planned.”

Turning to unlatch the lock and open the door, Katherine refused to look back at him.  “Don't call me Kat,” was all she managed to say, before slipping out of the room to escape.

Katherine had worried about explaining to her sister why Garrett had teased her earlier that morning, why she had disappeared from breakfast, and why she had arrived in their room looking disheveled and winded.  However, the questions about Garrett never came.  Instead she found that nothing except thoughts of Victor were crowding Robin's brain.  The roses that he had brought earlier were later placed in their room where Robin could coo over them every time that she walked past them.  They seemed to remind her of all of the wealth that Victor could offer her.

The rest of the day Katherine found herself jumping at every sound in the house and fearing that Garrett was lurking in the shadows to catch her off guard.  But the hours came and went without further interruptions.  He did not appear later that day or the next. It began to bother Katherine that she held her breath every time a door was opened and someone entered the room.  She seemed to be expecting him every time instead of her sister, Winnie, or Mrs. Brentley.

It was not because she felt a need to be near him, or she told herself.  It was that she feared seeing him again and she wanted to be prepared.  But the feeling of loss, each time that it wasn't him entering the room, betrayed her emotions.  She resigned herself to looking forward to the next dance, as an excuse to be out of the house and as a chance to search for a more suitable man to fill her thoughts with than Garrett.

Winnie had kept quiet about Katherine's strange behavior since witnessing the exchange between her and Garrett.  Only once did she try to prod Katherine about what was going on between them.

“I appreciate your concern Winnie, but there is nothing to discuss.  Your brother and I have already decided to set the issue aside,” Katherine assured her as they prepared the dresses for that night's dance.

It was clear Winnie knew that she was lying but luckily Winnie decided not to call her out on it.   “I've never known him to 'set something aside' when he seemed as interested as he did with you,” Winnie warned her.

“I can handle Garrett,” Katherine said, trying to convince both her and Winnie at the same time.

Before leaving for the dance, Robin was gifted with another set of roses waiting for her at the door; however, they were a different color than the previous set.  The short note informed her that Victor would also be attending that night's dance and asked her to wear one of the pink roses in her hair.

Pink was not Robin's favorite color, in fact she detested it.  But because she wanted to please Victor she quickly borrowed Katherine's new pale pink dress to comply.  It worried Katherine to watch her sister become so willing to change herself on a whim for her new beau.

“Is she normally this willing to wear something that she doesn't even like, just to meet someone else's demands?” Winnie asked after having helped freshly press Robin's new light green dress for the dance, only to now re-hang it and put it away.

“No,” Katherine answered.  She watched Robin cringe at the light pink color before asking for help with placing one of the roses in her hair.

Katherine had more things to worry about than her sister's poor choices at the moment.  The first thing on her mind was that she needed to find at least one bachelor that she could start to consider.  The sooner that she was engaged the sooner that Garrett would leave her alone.  Although she didn't know if the sight of a new suitor would really keep him away.

Next, she had to make sure that she was not caught alone with Garrett.  After finding another small note under her perfume bottle that morning, she had no doubt that Garrett's absence from her would end, and much sooner than she wanted it to.  Opening the letter she had found only one word sketched out on the paper.

Tonight.

Katherine could handle seeing him again as long as she didn't allow him to corner her alone once more.  It was at those times that she lost her senses.  It was strange that he appeared to lose his as well.

The last time that Katherine had seen him she had been able to pull herself away, she had been able to tell him no.  But could she be so strong again?  Thinking about him and his wicked little seduction sent a pleasant shiver racing along her back.  She took that to mean a firm no.  Caught alone with him again she was terrified of what could happen.  If he had not held back they both would have found themselves going too far.

She didn't mind feeling lightheaded and desirable.  In many ways she loved how being around Garrett made her feel.  But she would have to find some other man to have those feelings with if she wanted to please her mother.  Although he had told her that there was something special between them, Katherine thought that he had been exaggerating it to scare her into saying yes.  It must be that amazing between everyone, or so she hoped.

The only way that she could ignore him and the feelings that he created was if she knew that what they had wasn't as special as he had insisted.  That the feelings weren't unique to just him.  She had to believe that she could find that same feeling with someone else.  Had she been bold enough, Katherine would have planned to kiss another stranger tonight to find out, but she blushed at the thought of being so forward again.

After dressing Katherine opened the door to find Winnie standing outside with one of the servants who held a new tray of tea with honey on the side.  “You'll want this,” Winnie told her as she came to stand behind her vanity chair and the maid placed the tray on her bed stand before leaving.  “I found out that Garrett is going to be there tonight, and I know he plans on finding you,” Winnie whispered in her ear so that Robin couldn't hear them.

Smiling at her new little spy, Katherine whispered back, “I know.”

If Garrett had hoped to torment her for most of the night, he had better hurry, Katherine thought to herself.  The first two hours of the dance had rolled on without a single appearance from her unwanted suitor.

Each man that she danced with, she could hear Garrett's negative comments concerning lords and dukes.  The men were old, most were fat, and many were inexcusably boring.  One had wanted to discuss his son who she later discovered was two years older than her.

Another had gone into great detail about the Corn Laws in England and wanted her opinion on whether or not they would be repealed this year.  After she had told him that she did not agree with the laws and how they affected the country's poor, he had quickly dismissed her for being a light headed woman who couldn't understand the theories of free trade.  He had lectured her on how it could hurt the aristocracy's fortunes, something that she and her father had already discussed at length.  Katherine felt rather put out to have been asked for her opinion and then dismissed because of it.

Two of the other men had been younger than forty, but they were only interested in themselves and their huge family lineage, explaining to Katherine that they could trace their family back farther than Queen Victoria's.

She filled most of her dance card with respectable men at the event and at Robin's urging had also added Victor.  She was the only dance partner other than Robin that he would accept being with.

After Robin's display the other night, young women had st
arted asking Victor to dance
with them as well, mostly because they hoped to become as famous as Robin now was, but he had refused them all.  When they asked his other friends, the women were turned down again and had to go pouting back to their sponsors and the more suitable men that were much less exciting.

“He would like to get to know you better,” Robin had said when she told Katherine of the dance between her and Victor that she had planned.  After a short private talk with Mrs. Brentley, Robin was better behaved this time.  She even danced with other men, though Victor looked glum and upset each time she did so.  He only smiled again when the dance was over and Robin returned to his side.

“You and your sister are very similar in appearance,” Victor had commented when Katherine stepped forward to do her duty of dancing with him.  “The rose in your sister's hair is the only way that I have been able to tell you apart,” he confessed, unaware the he was insulting her to some degree.

“That's why she began wearing it,” Katherine admitted, happy to grasp any slight conversation that would make the dance less awkward.  “Too many of my parent's friends had been confusing us, even our mother did on some occasions.”

Victor made a quick turn that nearly caught her off balance and she struggled to match her steps and pace to his.

“I look forward to spending more time with you sister, and getting to know you better as well.  Being twins I'm sure that you are both very close.”

“Yes that would be nice,” Katherine said as politely as she could without committing to any future plans with him.

“Do you enjoy horseback riding as much as your sister does?  She has mentioned joining me for a ride sometime soon.”

Katherine looked at him and was shocked to think of her sister telling anyone that she enjoyed the sport.  Robin had never liked the smell of horses, the feel of them rocking beneath her, nor the training and discipline it involved.  If Robin had told him that she liked riding horses, then she had lied.  During the hours that her sister had spent alone with Victor, how much of that had been her sister telling him whatever he wanted to hear without regard to the truth?  She knew that marriages founded on lies often ended up unhappy for all of the people involved.