“My vowels!”Mrs.Parker shrieked as soon as she recognized the evidence of her debts.“How did you get them?”
“Do you think you are the first person to try to deal ignobly with me, madam?”Grayson asked, his lips curling in contempt.“If so, I would advise you to think again.I have bested the worst, and your feeble attempts at petty thievery hardly merit my attention.Be glad I don’t have you thrown in gaol.”
He stood, slanting a glance over her arrogantly.“And here is another warning, madam.Do not trifle with me or mine again.Nor do I want to find out that you have bothered my wife with your noxious tricks.”
The flicker of fear in her eyes sent unease stealing along Grayson’s spine, and he knew the truth before he even spoke.“You have already spoken to her.”
The accusation struck home, for Mrs.Parker quaked in her seat, no longer the bold blackmailer.She must have glimpsed his rage, for she cringed, as if fearful he might strike her.He was tempted, fueled by a primitive urge to wreak vengeance upon any who would harm Kate.He was restrained only by his formidable will and the dawning realization that this wretched creature might be responsible for Kate’s flight.
Grayson stilled.Was this why she had left him, to shield him from gossip?Struggling against the powerful emotions that surged through him, Grayson walked to the door and threw it open.He would try to decipher his wife’s strange motivations later.Now he would rid himself of her tormentor.
“Get out,” he snapped at the wide-eyed woman.“And if you breathe one word about my wife, I’ll see you reduced to a Spitalfields beggar, whoring for your dinner.”
Kate silently washed her breakfast plate.The pleasure she had taken in cooking for Tom and Lucy had faded, like her every other attempt to recapture the past.Seething with resentment, Lucy spent as little time at Hargate as possible, while Tom no longer appreciated her efforts, giving her black looks and championing Grayson over the breakfast table.
“You’ve a new life now, Katie.It’s time you left the old one behind.Your father is dead, and there will be no new earl unless you produce one,” he had said this morning.
Kate had flushed and glared at his bold speech.Afraid to consider the possibility of a child, she had shooed him from her kitchen, preferring to do the dishes herself rather than listen to his harping.He had no idea what stood between herself and Grayson.
No one did.And no one knew how she cried herself to sleep every night, yearning for him to come after her.But he did not, and he never would.He did not care enough about her to make the effort, while she cared too much.
Pride made Kate swallow and blink away her misery.Relegating her tears to the quiet darkness, she concentrated on the tasks that would keep her busy this afternoon.She had just decided to do some gardening when she heard the sound of a coach outside.
Rushing to the window, she looked out to see the squire’s carriage.Not Grayson.Never Grayson.It was Lucy, but today was Sunday.Surely, her pampered sister would spend the afternoon with the Wortleys and their requisite number of servants.And wasn’t it early yet for church to let out?
Wiping her hands, Kate hurried toward the foyer.No doubt Lucy was too good these days to come in by the servant’s entrance, she thought wryly.
Sure enough, Kate reached the front doors just as Lucy burst in, Rutledge and another man following close behind.Dressed as she was in trousers, Kate was unprepared for company, but she abandoned all hope of fleeing upstairs when Lucy threw herself into her arms.
“Oh, Kate, it is a catastrophe!And it is all Wroth’s fault, lifting my hopes only to dash them so cruelly,” she cried, sobbing against Kate’s shoulder.
“What is it?What happened?”Kate looked to Rutledge, who shook his head helplessly.
“I’ll tell you what’s what, young gent!”The other man swaggered forward, and Kate eyed him with curiosity.He was short and wiry, and although he wore a gentleman’s clothes, they were ill-fitting and not of the finest quality.His hair was thin and greasy, his eyes dark and beady, and he fit Kate’s vision of a blackmailer far better than Mrs.Parker.
Lucy lifted her head long enough to wail loudly.“He objected to the banns!”
“What?”Lucy began crying once more, and Kate glared at the interloper.“Just who do you think you are, sir?”
“I’m Brown.Mr.Brown to you, and I’ve been sent by the man what runs this household.He’s her guardian, he is, and she has no right to be married without his consent.”
Uncle Jasper.Kate’s heart sank.What were they to do now?Although her thoughts were in a turmoil, she lifted her chin.“And how do we know you are who you say?Have you a letter of introduction?”
Brown laughed.It was an ugly, deadly sound.“No, I don’t have a letter, and I don’t need one, either.Now, where’s the sister?I’ve got some business with her, too,” he said, with an evil leer.
Kate eyed him coldly.“I am she,” she said, in imitation of Grayson’s most arrogant tone.
The fellow gaped at her, his mouth falling open.Then he shook his head.“Naw.Don’t gammon me.I’m looking for one of the earl’s daughters, not some doxy in boy’s clothes.”
For once, Kate regretted her ragged attire.As she had learned in London, appearance was everything.Nevertheless, she gave him an imperious stare.“Believe what you will.You are no longer welcome here.”
“I told you Kate would make you go away, you wretched man!”Lucy said, lifting her head long enough to scowl at Brown.
His small eyes narrowing, he looked from Lucy to Kate and back again.“Kate, you say?”He smiled as he gave her a bold perusal.“Well, well.So youareher.”
The commotion drew Tom, who chose that moment to march into the room.“Who’s this, Katie?”he asked, hitching up his trousers.
“He claims to have been sent by our guardian,” Kate said, forcing herself to speak evenly.
