Kate smiled and took his arm. “I thought you were out of charity with me,” she said.
“On the contrary,” he replied. “I believe we now understand each other perfectly, Kate. You have made it clear to me that you are not lightly bought. I have made it clear to you that my women bow to my wishes or find themselves hurt.”
“Alas,” Kate said, stepping onto one of the gravel walks that skirted the fountain, “I did not know until it was too late my lord, just what a firm character you have. I have to confess that I have met my match at last.”
“Yes,” the marquess said, “I thought you would have realized that, Kate.”
“I understand that congratulations are in order,” she said. “It seems that your betrothal to Lady Thelma is to be announced this evening.”
He inclined his head.
“And now you will not have a resident mistress when you marry,” she said rather sadly, “unless I have a replacement already.”
“All is not lost, Kate,” he said. “In fact, matters might turn out better than I had anticipated after all. It appears you have learned your lesson well, my dear. I shall be in London next week. I shall set you up in your own establishment there. The arrangement will be a great deal more satisfactory than having to work behind my wife’s back at home. You will be well cared for. You will not have to worry about not being given a character by Lord Barton. I treat my mistresses with generosity even when I eventually tire of them, provided that they give me essential services. I demand total obedience, of course.”
“Of course,” Kate murmured.
“It is a pity you have left your capitulation until your last day here,” the marquess said. “But no matter. There is still tonight. You will leave your door unlocked so that I may come to you when the ball is over, or even during, if I can slip away for a while.”
Kate glanced back to the house. Then glanced again.
Was that someone coming? No, go back, she cried mentally. Not yet.
“This is a rather secluded area, my lord,” she said shyly, “and you said yourself that there is no one around.”
He smiled. Kate preferred to think of it as a smirk. “Your eagerness to please shows that I have taught you well already, Kate,” he said. “I see that a few cuts of a whip by way of discipline have worked wonders with you. I shall have to keep that in mind.”
Kate had moved a little way from him, into the shade of a weeping-willow tree. His back was to the house. And that figure was still moving toward them. It was the young footman to whom she had talked a little while before.
She smiled enticingly, her eyes dreamy. “Come closer, my lord,” she said huskily, one hand disappearing into the pocket of her dress. The tip of her tongue moved suggestively across her upper lip to moisten it.
The Marquess of Uppington followed the movement with his eyes, and his smirk broadened. He took one step toward her, his arms already opening up.
“That is,” Kate continued in the same voice, removing her hand from the pocket, “if you dare.”
The very sharp points of her embroidery scissors were pointing in the direction of his stomach, or perhaps somewhat lower. Kate smiled.
“What?” he said, halting in his tracks. “What is this, Kate?”
“This is a challenge, my lord,” she said pleasantly. “Since I did not wear gloves this afternoon, I do not have one to fling in your face. But it is a challenge nonetheless. The challenge is, my lord, to get past these scissors unscathed. Quite easy, really. I am one small female against a large and strong gentleman—one whose face would be unmarked now if two, unsporting thugs had not held his arms. It should be very easy for you to take the scissors away from me without losing more than two or three of your fingers in the process. And if you succeed . . . ” Her voice had become husky again. She smiled instead of completing the sentence.
She glanced over Lord Uppington’s shoulder, willing the footman to stay where he was. He was standing still now, not more than thirty feet behind the marquess.
Lord Uppington’s eyes had narrowed in an expression of menace. He held out one imperious hand. “Give me those,” he said, “and count yourself fortunate that I do not thrash you as you deserve. Foolish woman. Do you think that a pair of scissors is a deadly enough weapon to deter me?”
“No, I do not,” Kate said. “I am quite sure, in fact, that within moments I shall be overpowered and ravished at last. I have been disappointed several times in the past. Do not disappoint me again, my lord. I like my men angry and ruthless. A tame wooing leaves me quite unaroused.”
His nostrils flared and he took another step toward her. He now had only to reach out a hand to contact either her hand or the scissors.
“You have to make only one correct guess,” Kate said. “If you make a move toward me, I have a choice. Either I cut at your hand or I stab inward at your body. If you guess the first and try to lunge beneath my hand to my wrist, I will have a clear path forward to your, er, stomach. If, on the other hand, you guess the second and try to come at my wrist from above, I can cut upward and make a far worse mess of your hand than you made of mine with the whip. You must be a gambler, my lord. You have a fifty-fifty chance of being correct.”
The Marquess of Uppington looked at the wicked points of the scissors glinting in the sun. “I shall give you one more chance, Kate,” he said. “Give me the scissors and we will say no more about this disgraceful scene.”
“Come and take them from me,” she replied.
He stood undecided for several moments while Kate smiled and the footman stood perfectly still. Then the marquess lifted a hand and waved a finger menacingly at her. “You will be sorry for this,” he said. “You will hear more of this matter.”
“I rather think not,” Kate said. “Or perhaps you are right. I am sure the footman behind you will take great pleasure in spreading the story among the servants of how one small lady vanquished the Marquess of Uppington with a pair of embroidery scissors without having to strike a single blow.”
