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She tilted her chin. No use letting him intimidate her. “Yes, I have.”
“And you’ve bought eggs and ham and bread and jam.” He stalked straight toward her, his long stride eating up the few feet between them.
“Yes, I have.” She shied away—entirely inadvertently! —and found herself against the kitchen table.
“And what sort of mistake did you tell the carriage driver I’d made?” He plucked the basket from her hand.
“Oh!” She reached for her basket, but he carelessly held it up out of reach.
“Tut, tut, Mrs. Halifax. You were about to tell me how you convinced the driver to bring you back here.” He took the ham out of the basket and set it on the kitchen table. “Did you bribe the man?”
“Certainly not.” She watched him worriedly as he placed the bread and jam beside the ham. Was he angry? Amused? The problem was she simply couldn’t tell. She expelled an exasperated breath. “I told him that you were confused.”
He looked at her. “Confused.”
If the table hadn’t been at her back, she might’ve fled. “Yes. Confused. I said I only needed the carriage to do my shopping in Glenlargo.”
“Is that so?” He’d emptied the basket by now and was examining the contents laid out on the table. Besides the jam, ham, bread, and eggs, she’d purchased tea, a lovely brown-glazed teapot, butter, four nice round apples, a bunch of carrots, a wedge of creamy yellow cheese, and a herring.
He turned his gaze to her. “What a magnificent feast. Did you use your own money?”
Helen blushed. Naturally, she’d had to use her own money. “Well, I—”
“How very generous of you, madam,” he rasped. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard tell before of a housekeeper using her own funds for her master.”
“I’m sure you’ll repay me—”
“Are you?” he murmured.
She set her hands on her hips and blew a lock of hair out of her eyes. This afternoon had been the most trying of her entire life. “Yes, I’m sure. You’ll repay me because I begged and bullied that wretched driver into stopping in Glenlargo. Then I had to find the shops, wheedle the baker to reopen his shop—he closes at noon, would you believe?—bargain the butcher down from his quite scandalous prices, and tell the grocer I wasn’t going to buy wormy apples.” She didn’t even mention the task that’d taken up most of her time in the village. “And after that I had to persuade the carriage driver into bringing us back here and helping me unload the carriage. So, yes, the very least you could do is repay me!”
A corner of those wide sensuous lips twitched.
Helen leaned forward, on the verge of violence. “And don’t you dare laugh at me!”
wasn’t to say that he had to welcome her back with open arms. Alistair felt a wicked smile curve his lips.
He sobered and entered the kitchen. The children were at the far end of the room, squatting by the hearth. At his appearance, they both rose hastily, turning guilty faces toward him. Revealed between them was Lady Grey, lying before the small fire. She was on her back, her large paws in the air. She turned a sheepish face toward him, her ears flopping comically upside down, but she made no move to rise. Why should she? Quite obviously she’d been receiving the adoration of the children.
Humph.
The boy stepped forward. “ ’Tisn’t her fault, really! She’s a nice dog. We were just petting her. Don’t be angry.”
What kind of ogre did this child think him? Alistair scowled and advanced toward them. “Where is your mother?”
The boy glanced over his shoulder at the outside kitchen door and backed up a step as he talked. “In the stable yard.”
What was she doing in the stable yard of all places? Bathing his gelding, Griffin? Winding daisies in his mane? “And what are you two doing here?”
The girl moved around her brother so that her body shielded his. She stood very stiff, her thin little chest nearly quivering with tension. “We came back.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. She looked like a martyr ready for the torch. “Why?”
She looked at him with her mother’s blue eyes. “Because you need us.”
He halted his advance. “What?”
She drew in a breath and spoke carefully. “Your castle is dirty and awful, and you need us to make it nice.”
