How dare he!Admittedly, she had not talked to the people who worked her father’s land lately, but that was because she no longer had any power over the estate.Uncle Jasper controlled the rents and the collections, as he did everything else.But what gave Grayson the right to meddle?
What made him think he could poke his nose intoeverything?The more she thought about his arrogant usurpation of her role here at Hargate, the angrier she became.
Although she had once longed for someone with whom to share her burdens, she never had any intention of relinquishing all her responsibilities and her very existence to some overbearing lord.
It was bad enough that Grayson had taken over her household, installing his servants without asking her permission,and throwing the contents of his deep pockets around.But now he was acting as if he owned the very land beneath her feet, hills and pastures that had been in her family for centuries.
Kate would have taken off after him, but she had no idea in which direction he had gone.She could do nothing except wait near the stables, hoping to catch him when he returned.And as she stalked back and forth, her frustration mounted.He was nothing to them, not a relation or a guardian or even a… suitor, Tom’s ridiculous efforts notwithstanding.
His only connection to them was the imposter who had used his name, and that was a tenuous bond at best.What gave him the right to barge into their lives, disrupting everything, taking over all her duties and leaving her with nothing?
With a strangled moan, Kate sank down upon a hillock and buried her face in her hands as resentment and rage and despair welled up inside her, threatening to spill out.What was happening to her?
How often had she rued her position as head of the faltering family, serving as cook, maid, groom, groundskeeper, and general jack-of-all-trades?Ever since her father’s death, she had taken on more and more duties until they became overwhelming.
But better to be overwhelmed than not needed at all.
Kate had nothing to do, nothing important anyway, and it frightened her, because her work was who and what she was, and without it, she felt as nothing.She was little more than a well-bred oddity, an earl’s daughter who wore breeches and mucked around in the dirt or the ovens, who could swear like a sailor and tend her horse, but who had no place in the noble world into which she had been born.
In her sensible fashion, Kate recognized that she could not resume a life long gone.She could not don a fancy gown and turn into a lady again.She could not spend her days watercoloring and playing the pianoforte and prattling on about trivialities.
But if she could not go back and had lost her place here, what was she to do?How was she to go on?
Kate was not certain how long she sat there, immersed in misery, but the sound of hoofbeats finally roused her.She quickly straightened, dashing away the telltale tears.She would never let Grayson see her cry.
She was not a weepy whiner like Lucy.She was made of sterner stuff, and he was about to find out just what.
“Kate!”
Ignoring the warmth that spread through her at the sound of her name on his lips, she turned on him, forcing herself not to watch the clean lines of his body as he dismounted: long legs, muscular thighs, wide shoulders.Surely, there had never been such a handsome Judas.
“How dare you?”she asked him, as coolly as she could manage.
In response, he lifted that infernal brow of his, and she wanted to yank the dark hairs from his head.Instead, she kept her gaze level, her tone even.“You overstepped your bounds, my lord.”
“Did I?I was not aware that you had set any bounds for me, Kate.”
Kate could feel her cheeks blaze, but she refused to be drawn into another one of his games of taunt and parry, one of his sophisticated London plays of flirtation.She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.“You have no right to speak to our tenants.”
She had his complete attention now, for both brows went up, and his eyes glittered.“I was trying to discover just how they fare, Kate.Yesterday I came across one of your families leaving the land because of their ill-usage.I would think you would like to see your uncle called to account for his greedy practices before he destroys your heritage.”
Kate blinked.How had he found out about Jasper?And why had he said nothing of it to her?Of course, she wanted her uncle brought to justice, and she was both grateful and envious of Grayson’s efforts when her own had come to nothing.But he was running roughshod over her, and she refused to be dashed into the ground.
And while she seethed, he stood there, so cool and contained and fine-looking that she lashed out, striking his broad chest with one fist, then another.Long held back, her anger exploded with the pain of her humiliations, including the marriage offer forced upon him by her coachman, an offer he had yet to discuss with her.
But her efforts had little effect on the hard expanse, and he soon seized her wrists, seemingly unfazed.“What is this all about?”
“You have no right.Who are you to come in here and take over?Can’t you see what you are doing?No, you just stand there, as stiff as your valet, without even blinking.Don’t you feel anything?”
His eyes narrowed.“I feel.I feel too damn much where you’re concerned.”Grayson growled out the words in a low, threatening tone that pulled her up short.
Kate glanced at him, startled by the leashed fury that showed on his features.Too late, she remembered he was dangerous, and she tried to step back, but he held her fast.
The gray depths of his eyes glittered, and Kate watched, stunned, as he lifted one of her wrists and pressed his open mouth to her racing pulse.She shivered, although it was heat that rushed through her, making her limbs weak.When he pressed his lips to the other wrist, she swayed on her feet and would have fallen if he had not swung her up into his arms.
The world careened dizzily around her as Kate clung to his neck, the ground moving swiftly below.She was dimly aware of the shadows of the stables closing around her before she tumbled backward, out of Grayson’s embrace, and landed with a soft jolt in the fresh hay that filled the empty stall.
Kate gasped as she looked up at him.Gone was the marquess that she had come to know.The man who stood over her was a stranger, his hair wind-tossed, his face hard, and his eyes wild.
