Page 51 of The Trouble with Tigers
She’d actually said no.
He’d stayed up half the damned night stewing over how to handle his uncharacteristic lapse in judgment.
He’d thought about the situation frontwards and backwards. How he’d entered her room in the middle of the night. Kissed her as if she were an experienced courtesan rather than a virginal debutante. He was supposed to be protecting her from her guardian, for God’s sake, not making advances himself.
Then, too, he’d suffered his grandfather’s recriminations, at least what Zeke imagined he’d say if he knew the situation. Replayed his own litany of “I’m nothing like my father.”
By dawn he’d reached the unavoidable conclusion he’d have to offer marriage.
He’d actually reached a level of comfort with the idea, too.
By marrying Kitty, he could assuage his conscience, appease his grandfather, rescue the damsel, and satisfy his duty as the heir to the earldom by marrying and, hopefully, siring a son and heir. If their midnight interlude told him anything, bedding the chit would be no hardship.
All that mental cogitation and she’d said no. He didn’t know whether he felt annoyed or relieved.
Relieved, he told himself. It had been a near miss. He’d make damn sure he didn’t slip up again.
***
The main trouble Zeke had with retiring en masse to Chissington Hall was the fact it was an old castle-turned-residence, and as such one never knew when someone might be waiting in the wings to waylay a person.
As he made his way down the echoing stone stairs and drafty corridors toward his grandfather’s study, the overabundant nooks and crannies, short-cuts and alcoves within these old stone walls he noticed had him shaking his head in consternation.
Perhaps the fact he’d hidden in an alcove outside Kitty’s door for the last half hour to assure James didn’t pounce the first chance he got had made him paranoid.
The manse had been a child’s dream-come-true summer home when he and Caden were boys. Now it seemed fraught with dangerous opportunities for James to accost Kitty and finish whatever he started that had frightened her so badly.
Kitty. On the one hand, Zeke wanted to protect her, which meant keeping her close. On the other hand, he wanted to…He jammed a hand through his hair and cursed inwardly. What had the earl gotten him into?
It had been a long four days holed up with the smart-mouthed chit who alternated between looking at him like she wanted to eat him for dinner, or like she’d enjoy using his head for target practice. The latter made him laugh, and the former made him burn. Hell, just being in sniffing distance of her stiffened his cock.
He was damned frustrated. He’d never been so happy to see one of his familial homes as he had today. He’d been desperate to get away from the girl.
Yet off he’d marched to stand sentinel outside her door not ten minutes after they’d arrived.
He reached his grandfather’s study and rapped twice on the closed door. When he heard the old man’s brusque, “Come,” he stepped inside.
“I thought I’d find you here,” Zeke said, taking in the old man’s aggrieved countenance. “Judging by the scowl on your face, can I assume James made your life a living hell these last few days?”
“How very astute,” the earl groused. “You missed the part where I’m irked because it took my grandson an age to get here to report.”
“Ever heard the saying patience is a virtue?” He sauntered toward the majestic old desk behind which his grandfather presided.
“Perhaps you should try it, then,” he grumbled under his breath.
Zeke dropped into the armchair facing the desk. He stretched out his legs. It felt good after riding in the cramped, if well-sprung carriage for days. “Sorry I kept you waiting. I came as soon as I was able.”
“Of course you did,” the earl said. “I apologize for snapping. Believe me, you’d be irritable, too, if you’d been the one closeted with the whining blackguard.”
Zeke gestured toward the bow window framing his grandfather’s desk, and the expanse of rolling green hills and ancient trees spreading out as far as the eye could see. “I’d hardly call Chissington Hall a closet. But I take your meaning. He obviously worked himself into a lather during our absence.
“When we arrived an hour ago, he practically tore the carriage door from its hinges to get at Kitty. But have no fear. Aunt Lillian set Lord James straight.”
The earl snorted. “I thought I detected something in the air when I entered the fray.”
“You should’ve seen your sister, all five feet of her, rising to Kitty’s defense like a Roman sentinel when the unsuspecting fool thought to corner the chit.”
“I’m rather surprised to hear it wasn’t you doing the defending.”
