Teach Me Under the Mistletoe (16 page)

“And would you care to explain why I came in to find the two of
you
locked together like common mongrels?”

Hugh drew a sharp breath. His fingers flexed against his thigh but he said nothing, merely shook his head slowly.

Kitty gasped and began to tremble. How could her own father make it sound so seamy and distasteful?

“I was frightened. He offered comfort, Papa,” she said, struggling to speak over the lump in her throat. For in truth, it had been more than comfort she’d found when he held her. Her heart had stirred.

And it had been stirring for days.

Kitty’s mother crossed the room to stand with her husband. She touched him on the arm and when she had his attention, spoke quietly. “Darling, wouldn’t it be best to return to our guests and sort all of this out in the morning?”

Grant cleared his throat and straightened his coat. “Yes, I suppose you’re correct.” He turned to Strathern. “I’ll have a footman show you to a room where you may tidy up. If you’re agreeable, we can announce your engagement to my daughter at a small dinner party tomorrow.”

Unbelievable! They were discussing her like she was nothing more than property. A possession — and not even a cherished one — to be passed from one to the other.

Strathern cast a dark glance at Hugh then turned to Kitty’s father. “If I might suggest, Strickland. It would be better if this gentleman were… not present to cause further trouble.”

No…
She couldn’t let Hugh be sent away.
He
was the one who’d done nothing wrong. She must protect him.

“I will never marry you!” Kitty shouted at Strathern, grateful the words came out strong and no longer in tiny mouse squeaks.

“Papa!” Jenny moved to the fore. “Please listen to her. She can’t marry Lord Strathern when she’s in love with Randall.”

“Randall!” Recoiling at the thought, Kitty took an instinctive step in the opposite direction.

“Me?” yelped Randall, his eyes wide.

“That’s absurd!” snapped Strathern.

“Yes, with Randall.” She grasped Kitty by the wrist and tugged her forward. “Tell them. You and Randall have been meeting in secret for a fortnight.”

“What?” barked Grant. “Where?” He leaned closer to Kitty. “Is that where you’ve been running off to every day? To meet a man in secret?”

“I…” She sent a pleading look to Randall, praying he would agree with Jenny. If her father found out about Hugh, he’d be run off the estate before the end of the night.

“That is absolutely untrue!” Randall puffed out his chest. “I would never— Kitty would never—”

Her father pounced. “Then who? Caroline, you’ve been leaving the manor every day, giving us some nonsense about walking in the cold. I knew you weren’t telling the truth of it, but I foolishly let you go on. I never dreamed—” He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave a little shake. “Now, I want to know what you were doing. Who were you with?”

Hot tears welled, but Kitty blinked them back and rolled her lips inward. She’d never tell. She wouldn’t hurt the man any further.

“Me.” Hugh pushed his way between Kitty and her father. “She was meeting me.”

Chapter Fourteen

Hugh stood between Caroline and her father, and forced his fists to unfurl. He’d spoken the words out loud. It had become apparent that his time at Rose Hill was going to be cut short, so
he
no longer mattered. But the thought of lovely Lady Caroline married to a man who was at best a rake… a man who would have assaulted her had Hugh not interrupted them. He squashed the image of the woman he loved lying helpless beneath her assailant.

“Darling, our guests…” reminded Lady Strickland, wringing her hands.

Behind him, Hugh sensed Caroline’s movement. “Papa—”

“Enough!” Lord Strickland slashed his hand through the air, silencing his wife and daughter. The measuring gaze to which he subjected Hugh teemed with hatred, but it was his daughter whom he addressed. “You have managed to disappointment me, Caroline. Consorting with servants, leading on decent men—” He shook his head, disdain evident in his sneer. “Of the three of you, I never expected it would be you to bring disgrace to this house.”

Hugh’s fists formed again. What father would speak in such a way to his own child? Did he not love his daughter?

But the earl wasn’t finished. “I expect you to leave immediately,” he told Hugh. “I shall have Warwick dispense what pay you are owed.”

Jaw clenched, Hugh merely nodded. Dougal would surely want to murder him, but little could be done about that now.

The earl turned and faced Strathern. “I imagine you shall need time to reconsider your honorable offer to marry my daughter.” His malevolent stare slid briefly to Hugh. “Particularly since not only is her good sense in question but apparently so is her virtue.”

A tiny sob escaped from Caroline’s lips. Jenny edged closer and draped an arm around her sister.

“Oh, dear. Oh, dear.” Lady Strickland’s chest heaved with her gasps for breath. “What’s to happen now?”

The case clock in the corner chimed thrice, reminding Hugh of the lateness of the hour. Surely the majority of the guests would be retiring shortly.

Strathern snapped to attention. “I shall be delighted to marry Lady Caroline.” He smirked at Hugh, his cold eyes heated with triumph. “Regardless of any indiscretions she may have committed, she is a lovely woman and I am aware of certain, er discreet practitioners who can assure any issue from our union will be mine alone.”

Lady Strickland’s gasps for air became faster, reminding Hugh of a fish that had been plucked from a stream and dropped on the bank to die. Why did the woman not speak up? Hugh clenched his jaw. That he knew without doubt Caroline could not be with child, the very notion that some filthy practice might be implemented to eliminate any possibility of one set fire to the rage already simmering inside him.

Strickland cleared his throat. “That’s right honorable of you, Strathern, considering the way she’s behaved. My daughter apparently has the morals of a whore.”

With a final gasp, Caroline’s mother slid into a boneless heap on the floor. Lady Jennifer quickly left her sister and stooped to assist Lady Louise. But it was Caroline’s cry of distress that set Hugh into motion. No longer trying to arrest his temper, he firmed his fist and slammed the pompous earl, striking that quivering jaw with the full force of his fury.

Lord Strickland fell backward. Caroline gasped and clutched her sister more tightly, but at least she didn’t faint. Hugh cast a glance around the room, but none of the other men seemed inclined to come to the earl’s defense. Strathern edged a few steps toward the door.

“I am a commoner without question, m’lord, and proud of it. I have little in this life but my name.” He took a step forward, pleased when the earl matched the movement in reverse. “But I’ll tell ye, I have more love in my heart for yer daughter after a fortnight of knowin’ her than apparently ye have after a lifetime o’ being her father.”

Lord Strickland’s jaw clenched and unclenched. His own hands balled into fists, and he seemed to be considering using them. Well, let him. Hugh widened his stance, prepared to fight.

“How dare you?” blustered Caroline’s father. “You know nothing of me.”

“No, my
lord
, I do not.” Hugh narrowed his gaze, fighting to control the rage that wanted to tear the man limb from limb. “But I do know yer daughter is no whore, and I canna’ fathom the father who would call his daughter such a vile name. I know ye would seek to marry her to a blackguard who’ll do naught but abuse her and make her unhappy for as long as she lives only to save yer precious name from any sort of embarrassment.” Disgusted, he shook his head. “Far be it from ye-ew ta ever defend yer own blood.”

Having spoken his mind, Hugh turned his back on the earl, dismissing the man the way the man had dismissed his own child. He took up Caroline’s hand, holding just the tips of her fingers as he captured her gaze. “Ye’ve done nothin’ wrong. Ye know that and so do I. Don’t let yer father pressure ye into marrying anyone ye don’t want to marry. Better ye be Lady Fluff than a man’s chattel bride.” He squeezed lightly. “Promise me.”

Tears cascaded along her cheeks. The pain he saw in her eyes knifed through his heart, but nothing could be done about it. Even if her father would have entertained him as a suitor, he still had nothing to offer her of the life to which she was accustomed.

I love you.
He sent the message silently, with a mere look, for it was hers alone. He prayed she understood the message in his eyes, prayed that she understood it was because of his love for her that he would leave. When she rolled her lips inward, surely a sign that she knew, he nodded. Then he turned and stalked across the room, opened the door and left before he could succumb to the temptation to drag her along with him and the devil’s consequences take them both. Lady Jennifer slipped through the door directly behind him and streaked toward the salon.

* * * *

“Leave it to you to ruin my plans,” Jenny had hissed before rushing out, leaving Kitty with her senses reeling.

The ticking of the case clock seemed to explode throughout the room. Warwick appeared in the doorway with one of the housemaids. After scanning the room, he gestured to the brandy-soaked carpet. He glanced toward the broken table and snapped his fingers. Two footmen scurried into the room and began unobtrusively collecting the pieces of wood.

Poor Randall had gone a bit green. Perhaps the idea of her compromise had made him ill enough to be put off.
I can only hope.

Lord Strathern had made it to the door, but with Hugh’s exit the disgusting scoundrel had lingered, his eyes indecently roaming over Kitty, leaving a dirty feeling in their wake. She gritted her teeth and affected a harsh glare in his direction.

“Caroline, your mother will see you to your rooms and the two of you will stay there until we get this sorted out.”

Kitty’s heart thudded against her ribs. Sorted out? Did he mean make arrangements to sell her into what would be essentially a slave marriage? “Mother has no need to stay with me,” she said quietly.
I do not need a guard.
“She should see to the guests, make certain they get settled for the night. I can ring for Henrietta.”

Her father looked her up and down, taking her measure, perhaps assessing how far he could make her go. Or maybe how far she might go on her own.

As if she’d leave… Kitty suppressed a wry chuckle. Where would she go? She had little of her own that she could get her hands on and no way to get anywhere. She had never felt more dirty than she did under her father’s disdainful regard, not even when Lord Strathern had been handling her. Certainly never when she had been in Hugh’s company.

Hugh. He’d just walked away and left her. Had he meant that he loved her? Her heart skipped a few beats. Even if he had, it meant nothing since he’d gone.

Tossing her head, Kitty pushed past her father and marched from the room. A few guests littered the foyer, several more lingered still in the salon, though the music no longer played. Only one person watched as she crossed to the staircase. Penelope.

Kitty turned her head away in a deliberate slight. She had no time for the childish games her one-time friend seemed inclined to play.

In the sanctuary of her room, Kitty shut the door and drew in a deep breath. Her father couldn’t make her marry Lord Strathern. The very notion of life with that man made her stomach turn. How had she not seen what a black-hearted villain he was?

At the cursory knock, Kitty looked up expecting to see Henrietta. But it was Ellie who slipped inside, closing the door behind her.

Confused, Kitty frowned. “El? Is something amiss?”

“I think there might just be.” Her eldest sister stared hard for several breaths. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I should have warned you about Lord Strathern. I never thought you’d go off with him.” She closed the distance between them. “Tell me quickly, did he… did he…?”

“No!” Kitty shouted as understanding dawned. A shudder wracked her at the memory of his foul touch, the stench of his breath. “A few kisses is all. And I feel like I need a bath to erase the feel of him on me. What do you mean you should have warned me?”

Ellie paced the room, her slippered feet mere whispers on the carpet. “You are not the first to fall for his charms. No doubt he led you off to the drawing room, offered you a glass of wine, sat beside you and complained about the crowd…”

“Brandy,” murmured Kitty absently. She stepped up to her armoire and yanked open the door. As she lifted out a nightdress, the implications of Ellie knowing what had gone on struck her and she turned. “He did the same with you?”

Ellie grimaced then gave a brief nod.

“Did he… with you?”

“Absolutely not.” She barked out a harsh chuckle. “I threw a glass of red wine in his face and left the room.” Her smile became genuine. “Ran straight into Walter. Quite literally fell at his feet. When he picked me off the floor, he asked only one question. Would I care to dance…?”

Kitty’s lips lifted. Her sister’s fiance truly was an amazing man.

“Do you love Randall?”

The question gave her pause. Kitty shook out her nightdress while she considered. If she said yes, perhaps Ellie and Jenny would go to Papa on her behalf. She’d be married to Randall, true, but at least she didn’t think he would be mean to her, force her to… “No.” She couldn’t do that. She didn’t hate Randall. He was young and weak and bumbling. But he deserved to find someone who could love him. “No, I don’t love him.”

Ellie’s lip curled with revulsion. “Not Strathern, surely! Because I’ll tell you, he’s rumored to be completely destitute and looking for a wealthy wife.”

Kitty wrinkled her nose. “Heavens, no!”

“Then who—” Her breath caught and her mouth dropped open. “The groom. Oh, Kitty…”

“Spare me the lecture.” Kitty tugged the gold and red silk over her head and dumped it into a heap on the floor. “I understand we can’t be together. Besides, he’s gone. I’m certain he’s left by now.”

“I heard he more or less declared his love just after he pummelled Papa.”