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Chapter Nine

K itty stared at Zeke, recumbent on the coach bench across from her. “You’re actually going along with the earl’s mad scheme?”

“Leave it to two men,” Lady Lillian intoned in disgust. “You didn’t bother to fill the poor girl in on any of this?”

“There wasn’t time," Zeke replied neutrally. "Grandfather and I worked it all out last night after she’d gone.”

“You and the earl worked out precisely what?” Kitty asked.

Zeke glanced at her, his expression inscrutable. “In brief, we shall act out the part of a betrothed couple. Announcements will be posted in the Times , documents will be produced, etcetera, etcetera.”

“You said…acting?”

“Acting.” He enunciated the word with precision. “As a favor to the earl, I’ve agreed to act the part of your fiancé until you’ve reached your majority, or your cousin has ceased being a nuisance, whichever comes first.”

A nuisance. That was one way to put it. She folded her hands in her lap. “What will happen at that point?”

“You will break off our engagement, and I will get on with my life.”

She nodded, thoughtful. It could work. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

He nodded once. “So long as you don’t get the idea our betrothal is legitimate, all will be well.”

Kitty felt her cheeks blossom with heat.

Lady Lillian spoke up on her behalf. “Ezekiel Thurgood, that is quite unnecessary. You should apologize immediately.”

Kitty sniffed. “That’s quite all right, Lady Lillian.” She lifted her chin. “To put your mind at ease, my lord, no, I do not expect to find the two of us betrothed in six month’s time. In all honesty, I fail to understand why we’re bothering with the pretense.”

“My sentiments precisely. But the earl was adamant.”

So the earl had cowed him into it. It shouldn’t hurt. It did. “I could disappear again? It seems a far less convoluted plan.”

“For you. But it’d leave the earl wide open to accusation and scandal when your guardian goes screaming to the authorities and anyone else who might choose to listen.”

Kitty’s shoulders slumped. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“That much is obvious.”

She gritted her teeth.

Lady Lillian turned to Zeke. “How long did you say 'til Maidstone?”

“With stops, we’ll arrive before nightfall,” Zeke answered.

“Excellent.” She turned a bright smile on Kitty. “My dear girl, I learned of your existence for the very first time last night around midnight, and was given only the briefest of details. I’m exceedingly curious as to how all of this came about.”

Zeke eyed Kitty. “As am I.”

“You don’t know?” Lillian asked him.

“Obviously I’m privy to the basics, as I am the groom in this melodrama. Still, I’d love to hear Kitty’s rendition.” He sent her a banal smile.

Kitty focused her attention on Lady Lillian. “I’m not sure where to start.”

“Start with your relationship with my brother, Claybourne.”

Zeke spoke up. “The earl and Kitty’s grandfather, the late Baron of Maidstone, fought together in the Crimean War.”

Kitty glanced at him in surprise. “That’s right. My grandfather trusted Lord Claybourne implicitly. He told me to go to him if ever I felt…” threatened . She cleared her throat. “If I needed safe harbor for a time.”

“Your grandfather? What of your parents?” Lillian asked.

“Both deceased. They passed some four years ago. Cholera.”

Lillian’s brows furrowed. “I’m terribly sorry to hear that, Kitty. Do you mind if I call you Kitty?”

“Please.”

Lady Lillian flashed a brief smile.

“My parents traveled a great deal due to their chosen professions. Cartographers, both of them. They contracted the disease in America, shortly before they were to sail for home.”

“How dreadful. I’m sorry.” After a moment’s pause, Lillian went on. “Cartographers, you say? They must’ve travelled extensively.”

“Almost constantly, from as early a time as I can remember.”

“That must’ve made for an interesting childhood,” Zeke sounded as if he found the notion intriguing..

Kitty slanted him a glance. “They didn’t take us, generally. Their destinations were, by design, uncharted territory. Hardly fit for children.” Turning back to Lady Lillian she added, “My grandfather filled in during their absences.”

Lillian shot her great nephew a fond smile. “Zeke had a similar upbringing.”

“Just so.” He flashed his Aunt a brief grin, which faded the instant he shifted his attention to Kitty. “You said ‘us.’ Do you have siblings?”

She regarded her hands in her lap. “I had an older brother.” Her valiant, charming Collin. “He died two years ago.” If only he had stayed home with her and their grandfather instead of sailing to America, none of this would be happening.

Lillian shook her head and took Kitty’s bare hands. “Poor darling. Losing your parents, your brother, and your grandfather, all in the span of four years.”

Kitty found she couldn't speak.

“I’m so glad you came to us. So very glad.”

“Thank you, Lady Lillian. That’s very kind of you to say.”

“I still don’t understand how James figures in all this—save for the obvious,” Zeke said.

“What, pray tell, is the obvious?” Lillian asked.

Exactly what Kitty wanted to know.

“He’s obviously the new Baron of Maidstone, obviously Kitty’s guardian, and obviously wanted to find her. What I want to know is what he intended to do with her once he did.”

An image of Garrick’s face caught in a flash of lightning the night she’d fled came to her. We’re going to marry. Tonight I’m going to make certain. “I believe he wants to marry me.”

“Why marry you? After all, he has the title, the properties, the associated wealth. Is it your inheritance?” Zeke asked without preamble.

For some reason, hiss inability to fathom Garrick wanting to marry her for any reason other than mercenary irritated her—never mind his analysis of the situation matched her own. “I don’t know his motivation. Only that it isn’t love that drives him.”

Zeke’s brows rose in disdain, as if the mention of love as a basis for marriage was laughable. “What about you? I assume you have good reason not to marry him?”

Kitty felt herself flush under their combined scrutiny.

“Ezekiel, I think it’s fair to say Kitty has her reasons. Is that not so, dear?” Lillian asked in a gentle voice.

“Quite,” she answered.

“That eases my mind greatly,” Zeke drawled.

“Ezekiel Thurgood.” Lillian chided, clearly exasperated. She turned to Kitty. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He’s normally quite charming.”

“Why Aunt Lillian, you wound me,” he said with a grin, turning on the aforementioned charm at will.

“Oh, posh,” his aunt answered with a fond smile.

Kitty could tell Lady Lillian what had happened to foul her nephew’s mood. She had. He’d disliked her from the start.

In fairness to him, the earl had used her as fodder to provoke Zeke’s temper, yet here he was, escorting her to Hastings House, then back to Derby to act as her fiancé. She supposed she could extend him a modicum of patience.

“That’s all right, Lady Lillian. This situation has put us all on edge, for one reason or another.”

When Zeke gave no indication he heard, she went on, “I’m very grateful for what you all are doing for me. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay your kindness.”

“I can’t speak for the rest, but for my part, I haven’t had this much excitement in years.” Lillian’s eyes twinkled with warmth.

A lengthy silence ensued, during which Kitty stared out one window and Zeke the other.

After a while, the landscape blurred before her eyes as the rocking and rumble of the carriage lulled Kitty into drowsiness. She fought it, feeling almost as if sleeping would be a show of weakness.

***

Zeke surreptitiously witnessed her struggle. Watched her eyelids drift shut, then widen. Watched her head bob, then straighten. Finally her head lolled back onto the cushion as sleep overtook her.

A soft snore coming from his aunt told him she also dozed.

Good. He could do with some peace to quell his growing irritation, which would be a lot easier if he understood why he was irritated.

He’d left Claybourne Manor this morning feeling damned good about his decision to team up with the earl.

It didn’t matter if the project involved Lady Kitty Hastings, a pauper from the streets, or the queen herself.

The point was, through this endeavor, he had a chance to heal the growing rift between himself and Claybourne.

He’d arrived at the boarding house keen to thwart the baron’s attempt to steal Kitty out of town, the lying bastard. Initially he’d scoffed at the earl’s suspicions concerning James’s intentions. What kind of idiot pulled a fast one on the Earl of Claybourne?

Then the footman the earl had watching the man reported James had hired a carriage from a nearby mews.

The telling part hadn’t been in the where, but the when.

James specified a dawn departure—not midmorning, the time he’d agreed upon with the earl.

The fool. Zeke had been only too happy to crush the baron’s ill-conceived plot.

When he arrived to find Kitty disheveled and clearly dispirited, he’d had to quell a strong compulsion to squash the newly ennobled baron like a bug.

Then she’d given him one of those looks. Those odd, misty green gazes resembling nothing short of hero worship that at least didn’t seem so strange coming from her now he knew her to be a she.

In retrospect, that’s when his irritation began.

Which again begged the question—why?

He’d been thoroughly vexed the afternoon he ordered her to help him undress, intent on interrogating the lad, Kit, only to catch him—her—staring at his naked chest like he—she—wanted to lick cream off of him. The dazed look in Kit’s eyes now took on an entirely different meaning.

He raked a hand through his hair. What about Kitty vexed him?

His gaze slid to her and a reluctant smile pulled at his mouth. Her cheeks were soft with sleep and looked exactly right on a female.

Now, at least, he understood why she’d always looked so wrong to him. Instead of a square jutting jaw, she had delicate bones, instead of a broad mouth, she had plump, rose-colored cupid-bow lips, instead of bold, thick brows and sprouting facial hair, she had wispy black brows and porcelain skin.

She shifted slightly, murmuring something nonsensical, and brought one furled hand to her chin.

The corners of his mouth curved higher still, remembering the day his grandfather goaded him into giving her shooting instructions.

She’d pulled the trigger, reckless in her attempt to get the lesson over-with, and had bounded into his chest. He’d commented on Kit’s too heavily padded rear at the time, and she’d glowered at him—just like a woman.

Nothing too-lush about that padding, he understood now.

He stifled a chuckle and allowed his eyes to drift over her, taking in the supple curves visible even her staid, high-necked mourning gown. How in hell had she kept those magnificent breasts hidden?

His gaze lingered for several seconds, measured by the steady rise and fall of her chest. Her breasts were perfect.

Round and full looking. Exactly the right size for his palms. An image came to him, unbidden, of Kitty sans clothing.

Her thick black hair unbound, draping over her shoulders, almost, but not quite hiding alabaster white breasts, with small, pink nipples.

An unholy shot of lust tore through him at the conjured image and without warning the fly of his trousers grew uncomfortably tight, protruding with a noticeable bulge.

He tore his eyes off her in disgust. She was practically his ward.

Jesus , his palms were sweating under his gloves.

He tore at them, desperate to get them off.

Focus on something useful, Thurgood . Like how to rid them all of Lord James. He pinched the bridge of his nose and gritted his teeth.

“Are we nearly there?”

His gaze shot to Kitty. Her green eyes were open to half-mast. How long had she been awake? Long enough to see him ogling her breasts?

He tossed his gloves over his hips. “Over halfway,” he replied in a brusque tone. “Sleep well?”

“Mm,” she answered, noncommittal, and stretched, her breasts straining against her bodice as she arched.

“We’re due for a stop. The horses could use a break, and I need some fresh air.” And a dip in an ice bath . He rapped on the trap and instructed the coachman to stop at the next available inn.