Page 6 of The Trouble with Tigers
The earl chuckled. “Don’t be silly.”
“Good. I’d rather hoped you could put me up for a—Now I’m really getting concerned.”
“What do you mean?”
“You made a face.”
“I did not.”
“You most certainly did. What is it? No, don’t tell me, let me guess. You have a particular lady friend, and don’t want me to cramp your style.”
Kitty grinned. Something like that.
“Something like that,” the earl said.
Half a snort escaped her. She clapped a hand over her mouth—and held her breath.
“Did you hear that?” Zeke asked.
“Hear what?” The earl sounded far too innocent. She’d been playing chess with the old shark long enough to spot the tell. The question was, would Zeke?
A few heart-stopping beats of silence passed. Finally Zeke went on. “Travel fatigue must be playing tricks on my mind. Where were we?”
“We were discussing your upcoming travel plans.”
Zeke hooted with laughter. “So you do have a particular friend. Never fear. I promise to be as unobtrusive as a mouse.”
The earl cleared his throat. “Just out of curiosity, what’s wrong with your townhouse?”
This time, Zeke’s laughter bellowed out of him, warming Kitty from the inside out. “It’s not properly staffed. But if my presence is that much of an inconvenience—”
It was the earl’s turn to chuckle. “We’ll manage. Now, let’s off to bed. It’s much too late for an old codger like you to be up, you know.”
The men abandoned their chairs and strode from the room. Still she remained in place, counting the seconds till she reached five hundred and one.
She unfurled her stiff body from beneath the desk and lay flat on the floor. Now for the hard part. She not only had to tiptoe up the stairs undetected, but she had to pass the chamber she’d learned Lord Thurgood typically used to get to her own.
An easy enough feat, she supposed. After all, the man was clearly bone tired. Tomorrow, however, would be another matter entirely.
***
Kitty jolted awake, heart racing like the hounds of hell were after her. Bad enough, she’d tossed and turned all night. Now this—a dastardly nightmare about the earl’s grandson.
She could still see the handsome lord snarling at her and—she rubbed a palm over the crown of her head—could feel the sting as he snatched the wig off her head, pins and all. Only one other nightmare, featuring an entirely different lord, had ever felt so real.
She had no reason to fear Lord Thurgood. He wouldn’t actually reach out and de-wig her. He was the earl’s heir. He’d be a true gentleman, unlike her cousin, Garrick.
She curled into a ball beneath her covers. The truth was, Lord Thurgood’s arrival stirred the winds of change. Although her life as Kit was just temporary, the mad plan had given her more comfort than she’d realized. Still, she couldn’t hide out at Claybourne Manor indefinitely. Nor could she huddle in her room all day without raising some eyebrows.
Besides, today was Tuesday.
Throwing back the bedcovers, she forced herself from the warm bed and padded over the cool wooden planks to the window. Parting the heavy drapes, she peered at the dawn sky and smiled. Crystal clear blue skies.
No rain and Tuesday equaled a day trip to the country—assuming the earl wouldn’t alter their weekly ritual as a result of his grandson’s return.
She practically danced back to her bed. She made it up, neat as a pin, then moved to the chest of drawers to perform her daily dressing ritual.
Off came her nightshirt, which she quickly folded and put away. Naked, she braced and splashed tepid water from the basin over her face and body. She shivered as goose flesh bloomed over her. Oh, for a long soak in a steaming bath. But such a luxury was impossible for months yet to come.
