Page 81 of The Affairs of Ashmore Castle (Ashmore Castle #2)

‘Well, I can,’ Alice said, turned the surprised Pharaoh and with a sharp kick sent him careering out of the stableyard, ignoring the shouts behind her. She’d get into trouble later, but later was later. And maybe it wouldn’t happen.

When Maud brought Rachel home for the hunting season, Giles had been gone five days. She was furious.

‘How could you let him go off like that?’ she demanded of Kitty. ‘You should have stopped him.’

‘That was not possible,’ Kitty said unsteadily.

‘ I would have stopped him if I had been here,’ said Maud.

‘Why was I not informed of this ridiculous, this unseemly plan? It was one thing for him to go digging in ruins when he was Lord Ayton, unmarried and without responsibilities, but for the Earl of Stainton to run about in that fashion! There has been some mismanagement here. He would not have gone if everything was as it should be. You have driven him away!’

‘I didn’t want him to go,’ Kitty said. ‘I had no idea until the last minute that he was’ – she almost said ‘unhappy’, and changed it at the last moment to – ‘restless.’

‘Restless!’ Maud snorted. ‘It is pure self-indulgence on his part. A dereliction of duty. It is only a step from this to gaming and extravagance and – and other things. I blame you ,’ she said, fixing Kitty with a gimlet eye.

‘You have allowed him to become unregulated. Who knows what the consequences will be?’

‘It wasn’t my place to stop him,’ Kitty said.

‘Milk-and-water nonsense! Well, I am here now, and I shall take charge of everything in his absence. We will continue with the hunting season as usual. We will entertain as if nothing had happened, and our entertainments will be so splendid people will forget the earl is absent. Richard can act as host in his place – I will make him behave himself. I shall arrange it all. First we must—’

‘I beg your pardon,’ Kitty interrupted her, with an unusual steel to her voice. Maud looked at her in surprise, as if a mouse had barked. ‘We shall entertain at Ashmore Castle. That has already been decided. But I shall see to the arrangements.’

‘You?’ Maud said. ‘Nonsense!’

She turned away; and Kitty actually caught her arm, her fingers biting. Maud stared in shock at being touched. ‘Remove your hand at once. How dare you?’

‘No, Mother-in-law, how dare you ? I am mistress of Ashmore Castle. Orders given in this house will be given by me. Any guests invited to this house will be invited by me. Everything will be arranged as I like to have it done. You are welcome to stay here for as long as you wish, but it’s my house, and if you can’t accept that – well, there’s the Dower House in the village. ’

Maud opened her mouth, and shut it again.

It was a different Kitty who was staring her down.

Something had happened. Her previous rebellions had been those of a child half-scared with its own daring.

Now there was no passion in the stare, only steady determination.

And, unwillingly, Maud felt a stirring of respect.

‘Mistress of Ashmore Castle is not a title you take, it is a title you earn,’ she said.

‘I disagree,’ Kitty said. ‘It is simply a matter of fact.’

‘You are very bold,’ said Maud. ‘But we shall see. I shall step back and watch you dig your own grave. And when you beg me for help, I shall step in and take back what was always mine.’

‘Thank you, Mother-in-law,’ Kitty said, with irony.

‘And don’t call me Mother-in-law,’ Maud snapped, and walked away.

Only after she had left the room did Kitty allow herself to tremble. It was not fear, but the unfamiliar sensation of triumph

Axe came out from his cottage, wiping his hands on a cloth. He looked at Pharaoh in surprise. She hadn’t come on horseback since Josh had forbidden her to ride alone. He sensed trouble ahead.

She had halted and freed her foot, and he had to hurry to jump her down, or she’d have jumped by herself, and he didn’t think jolting on the ground like that was good for young ladies.

‘Something wrong?’ he asked, taking Pharaoh’s rein. The horse nuzzled him, happy to renew old acquaintance.

‘Not yet,’ Alice said, ‘but there will be. Mother’s back from London. They were just leading the greys in as I got home, and somehow I couldn’t face seeing her right that minute.’

‘So you ran away?’

‘Don’t make it sound bad. You’d run away from her if you could, in my position. She’s bound to be in a bad mood.’

‘Will she be in a better one for you running away?’

Alice narrowed her eyes. ‘Oh, you always talk such horrid good sense! I know I’ll get told off, I just wanted a bit more freedom first. Can I have a cup of tea before I go back?’

‘Just finished one,’ he said. ‘I’ll make another pot.’

It was growing colder, and the clouds were heavy, as if it might snow soon.

But the cottage was lovely and warm, and Dolly and two cats were jumbled up together in a furry mass on the rug in front of the fire.

Dolly lifted her head and wagged her tail, but was too comfortable to get up and do a proper greeting.

Axe put the kettle on the trivet and pushed it back over the heat. ‘Won’t be long warming up. I only just finished my cup.’

He straightened up and stood looking down at her. ‘You’ll get into trouble,’ he said. ‘What’d they think if they knew you were here?’

‘They can’t possibly find out. Nobody comes here – nobody from the house.’

‘Going to snow soon. I can smell it.’

‘I’ll go as soon as I’ve drunk my tea,’ she said with a sigh. ‘Anyone would think you don’t like me visiting.’

‘’Snot that,’ Axe said. ‘And you know it.’ She’d grown taller again, he thought. She wasn’t that much shorter than him, now. He wouldn’t have to stoop very far if he was to—

He stopped his thought, shocked with himself.

‘What?’ she asked. ‘You just thought of something.’

She was too quick at reading him. ‘Just worried about you getting into trouble,’ he said.

‘But your face went red,’ Alice persisted.

‘Heat of the fire,’ Axe said. She was staring up at him intently.

She was so lovely, he thought dispassionately.

He didn’t understand why they didn’t notice it up at the house.

He knew from her conversation and things overheard that Lady Rachel was ‘the pretty one’ and Lady Alice was shrugged over.

But there was far more character in her face, to his mind.

She was more beautiful than her sister in the way that an Arab horse is more beautiful than a kitten.

‘You shouldn’t be here,’ he said, his voice suddenly husky. ‘It’s not safe.’

‘How could I not be safe here, with you?’ she asked, as if it were a simple question. But then the focus of her eyes changed, and they seemed to darken. The fire spat a little, the kettle hissed quietly, and Dolly stretched out her hind legs and groaned with comfort.

Axe could not look away from Alice; their eyes seemed locked disastrously together. He bent his head, slowly, as though trying to resist a terrible power; the muscles of his neck almost creaked with the effort. Her face, rosy in the firelight, grew closer; her sweet breath touched his face.

‘What do you really come here for, Lady Alice?’ he asked softly.