Page 97 of In the Prince's Bed

Katherine forced a smile, though her unease increased by the moment. “I’m Lord Iversley’s intended, Miss Katherine Merivale. My mother and I have come to see him.”

There was no mistaking the poor man’s alarm. “All the way from London?”

“Yes. If you could just announce us—”

“Forgive me, miss, but his lordship isn’t here at present.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Where is he?”

“He’s…er…in town. So you’ll have to come back later.” He actually started to close the door, but she was too quick for him and thrust her foot in the opening to block it.

“Then let us in, and we’ll wait for him to return,” she said.

“Oh, no, miss,” the man said, so violently she feared he might keel over in shock right there. “You mustn’t come in. But if you’d be so good as to wait outside with your carriage—”

“We will do no such thing.” She pushed past him into the house. She’d been right all along—Alecwashiding something. Scarcely noticing the frayed carpets and sparse furnishings, she turned a dark scowl on the man. “Now where exactly has he gone?”

“Wait here, and I shall send for him at once.”

That was thelastthing she wanted—for this fellow to warn Alec. “Never mind. I’ll find someone else to tell me.”

Hearing voices upstairs, she headed for the main staircase. Mama followed right behind her.

So did the annoying servant. “I beg you, miss,” he said as he struggled to keep pace with her, breathing hard, “do not go up there. I know that his lordship would prefer that you wait while I fetch him—”

“Oh, I’m sure he would,” she retorted, her steps more resolute the farther she marched up the stairs.

If she hadn’t been so upset, she might have noticed the lack of other servants coming to the man’s aid or the shaky banister that clearly needed repair. But her entire focus was on the laughter coming from upstairs. Because she recognized it. Alec was up there, along with some female. The masculine laughter was interspersed with decidedly feminine giggles.

As she reached the next floor she caught sight of beds through open doors. This was where the bedchambers were, and the laughter was coming from the one at the end of the hall, probably the master bedroom.

She stalked toward the sound of laughter, growing sicker by the moment. How many times had she gone to fetch Papa, only to find him with some tart he tried to pass off as a servant? How often had she had to turn away while he fumbled with his breeches even as he lied to her?

Now she could make out the voices, and they only spurred her on.

“What do you think?” said the voice she definitely recognized as Alec’s. “Is it too wicked?”

There came that feminine giggle again. “Not for a bedchamber, master.”

Some grunting ensued. “Is that all right?”

“It’s fine.”

“I don’t think it belongs there.”

“It’ll be fine if you put it more to the back.”

“A naked woman should never go to the back.”

That sent the female into peals of laughter. “Oh, go on with you, now. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, my lord.” Then the only sound was more grunting and groaning.

Katherine rushed the last few steps to the end of the hall. She would make the wretch ashamed of himself, only see if she didn’t.

He was cursing now, but that didn’t stop her from bursting through the open door to cry, “What is going on here?”

A fully dressed Alec jumped and lost his grip on the three-foot-high marble sculpture he was taking down from atop a massive mahogany tallboy. It plummeted from his raised hands, glanced off his skull, and went crashing to the floor…with Alec close behind.

“Alec!” she screamed, racing over to where he lay prone.