‘Why?’
She hesitated. ‘Harriet has decided we should bake our own bread,’ she said at last. ‘In our kitchen there is a constant battle between her and the oven, and I’m afraid the oven often wins.’
He began to laugh, he couldn’t help it, and he saw her give a slight smile too. But then she said, ‘Good day to you, my lord,’ pulled on her plain bonnet once more and darted off.
After that he went back to Oliver’s room to find that his brother was up, dressed and sitting in the window seat, reading.
‘You see? I’m fine,’ said Oliver cheerfully. ‘I told you there was no need for the quack to be called. You look out of sorts though, brother. Surely you’re not missing your atrocious guests?’
‘Glad to be rid of the lot of them,’ said Dan. ‘You’re positive you’re quite well?’
‘I am, and I’ll be down for our meal later. You go off and sort out whatever it is that’s bothering you.’
Dan went slowly down the grand staircase to the drawing room, where he sprawled in an armchair and considered what he had just done. What bothered him, or rather who, was a very determined lady who wasn’t his type at all—but nevertheless, she intrigued him.
Of course, there could be no danger at all of him falling for Miss Summerby. He’d meant it when he told her he didn’t believe in romantic love—Cecily’s betrayal and his mother’s abandonment of her family had made him immune to such sentimental nonsense. Yes, Cecily had managed to reel him into the delusional notion of married bliss, but he’d been lucky enough to discover her trickery in time.
Kate Summerby was perfectly safe from him, and besides, she’d made it clear in return that she wasn’t the least bit interested in him either. No way would she lower her defences to a man who hosted drunken garden parties and wore ladies’ ribbons on his coat. No, there was no need at all to worry that she might try to seduce him, and hence no need to regret his offer to be her temporary escort.
Besides, an operatic recital was enough to dampen anyone’s ardour, wasn’t it?
It was only on rare occasions that Kate cursed her weak ankle, but this was one of them. She had wanted to leave the Earl’s house as quickly as possible, but the encounter had left hershaken and she faltered anew when she passed that dratted life-size statue of Hercules, hung with intimate items of ladies’ apparel and covered with scrawled messages she really did not want to read.
So his guests had all gone, but that still left the main cause of her discomfort—the Earl himself. Coming to greet her unshaven and not properly dressed—did he not realise the effect he’d had on her? Unbuttoned shirt, tight breeches—oh, yes, she’d noticedthose—and a darkly stubbled jaw. Oh, goodness. All through their meeting she’d felt hot and bothered, and also absolutely furious with herself for her wildly distracted thoughts.
She pressed on through the woods, troubled now by the fear that Harriet might have set the kitchen on fire. But Harriet called merrily from the kitchen the moment she was through the door. ‘Kate! You must try some of this fruit bread I’ve made. Tilly gave me a marvellous recipe!’
Harriet had no idea she’d been to see the Earl, and Kate was surprisingly hungry, so she devoured two thick buttered slices of the still-warm fruit loaf in no time at all. Thank goodness Harriet’s skills in the kitchen were improving, because her own skills in managing her new life were proving woefully inadequate.
After drinking the mug of tea Harriet had poured, she went up to her room to change her outfit. But once she’d unbuttoned her green jacket and flung it aside, she paced the room.Bother, bother.What had she just done? Had she really agreed to be seen with the Earl, in town? It was the occasional hint of sympathy he’d shown that was the problem. Sympathy always weakened her, because she’d experienced it so rarely. The Earl had told her he wanted to help restore her reputation in Brighton society, but now that she was away from his dazzling blue gaze, she doubted his sincerity more and more.
She stopped her pacing to gaze at herself in her mirror and found nothing to console her there. Her cheeks were unfashionably rosy from walking in the fresh air and her hair had mostly fallen from its pins, as usual. Almost fiercely, she twisted it into a tight topknot and jabbed the pins back in.
She supposed she would have to make an effort to look her best for the musical evening with him. But why? Did she reallywantto look good for the Earl? How pathetic would that be, for heaven’s sake? Suddenly, she remembered a hat that her sister had given her for her twentieth birthday, which had made Kate burst out laughing when she saw it, because it was bright red, with artificial cherries around the crown.
‘It will make me look like a fruit bowl,’ Kate had told her sister, thus offending Monica mightily. But she had kept it, chiefly to amuse herself, and now she pulled it out of her wardrobe and put it on just as Harriet came bursting in.
‘Kate,’ Harriet exclaimed, ‘Wherever did you get that hat?’
‘My sister gave it to me. Hideous, isn’t it?’
‘I think,’ said Harriet slowly, ‘that it actually looks rather good on you. But why have you put it on? Where are you going?’
‘Nowhere at all at the moment. But the Earl has offered to take me to a concert in Brighton on Thursday. The Earl of Rivington,’ she added quickly, just in case there were other Earls in Brighton at the moment.
‘Really?’ Harriet was round-eyed. ‘How wonderful!’
Kate shook her head forcibly. ‘It isn’t wonderful at all. The Earl’s offer was made as a neighbourly gesture, nothing more.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t be able to sleep,’ said Harriet rather dreamily, ‘at the thought of an outing with that man. He is divine.’
‘Then it’s as well I’m going with him and not you, isn’t it?’
Harriet laughed. ‘Do wear that hat, Kate. It will make everyone stare at you and besides, His Lordship likes bright colours, doesn’t he?’
Kate took the hat off and inspected it. ‘I’ll think about it.’
But as she put that hat away, her mind was already wandering. There was something about his tousled brown hair and the way his blue eyes crinkled when he smiled that made her feel quite odd, and she could not forget the night of the fireworks party when she had found herself in his arms, because ever since then she had wondered what it would be like to…
