Page 71 of The Trouble with Tigers
“You’ll stop groveling if you know what’s good for you, Randall. Zeke’s staring daggers at you,” Caden said, chuckling.
“Is he indeed?” Lord Randall asked, his bland smile proclaiming his indifference to the supposed threat.
A quick glance at Zeke told her Caden had merely been teasing the viscount; something outside the parlor’s large window had Zeke’s full attention. She scanned the lawn and shrugged inwardly. She saw nothing but grass and, a short distance off, trees.
Soon, the gong sounded for dinner, and everyone made their way into the dining hall.
Kitty was greatly relieved to note Garrick had taken Zeke’s admonishment to heart, and had opted not to put in an appearance. Between his absence and her good fortune in being seated between Caden and Lord Randall, she was having a grand time.
Which was more than she could say for Zeke. His affable mood from earlier had vanished. Oddly, witnessing his surly countenance had a satisfying edge to it for once.
Still. A moodier man she’d never known. One would think he’d be in fine spirits, what with the arrival of his brother. Yet he had hardly spoken two words since making the introductions.
He sat across from her, beside Lady Lillian, with the earl taking up the head of the table. The earl, she was heart-warmed to see, looked pleased as punch, probably owing to the fact both his grandsons were present.
“So, Lady Kitty,” Caden began. “I’m trying to accept what Randall reasoned out prior to our arrival, and what Zeke confirmed only this afternoon, but I’m having a dastardly time of it.”
She angled her face toward him. “Your question concerns me?”
His blue eyes, similar to, but slightly lighter in color than Zeke’s, gleamed with amusement. “You could say that. I’m trying to understand how a lady as utterly feminine as you ever fooled my brother into believing you to be a lad.”
The table went silent. Forks and knives froze mid-air. All eyes fixed on her.
Her stomach dropped as realization struck. Everyone knew everything. How she’d pretended to be a boy, and been caught red-handed. The subsequent false engagement she and Zeke had entered into to protect her from her guardian. Everything. Shecouldn’t look at Zeke, the blackguard. He hadn’t even warned her.
From the corner of her eye, she saw him throw up his hands. “So I’m an idiot who needs his eyes checked. Can we please move on from this?”
She ignored the outburst, and turned to Lord Randall. “You reasoned out who I was before you arrived at Chissington Hall, my lord?”
He inclined his head. “I surmised.”
“How, may I ask, when we’d never met?” She had to give herself credit. She sounded very calm, even to her own ears.
“Zeke’s odd manner when last I saw him. I’ve almost never seen him in such a snit. Definitely never over someone as, you’ll pardon me for saying so, inconsequential as a tiger.” Lord Randall leaned back in his chair and eyed Zeke.
Oh, how she loved seeing Zeke on the sticky wicket. “You mean he isn’t always irascible and hypercritical of the hired help? I swear he’d have scarred me for life had I truly been a young man. My voice was too squeaky. My hands too dainty. My muscles poorly developed.”
“Poor darling,” Lillian said, with a scowl for her elder grand nephew.
Zeke winked at his aunt before tossing out, “Not to mention a horrible eavesdropper. But I wasn’t all bad.”
At the head of the table, the earl snorted.
Zeke sent the older man an affronted look. “Didn’t I give her one of her shooting lessons?”
The earl nodded. “Quite right. Quite right, m’ boy.”
“You shoot pistols, Lady Kitty?” Caden asked, sounding intrigued.
She inclined her head slightly. “I know enough to be a danger to myself.”
“I’ll say,” Zeke muttered, before taking a sip of wine.
Lucky for him, she didn’t have a pistol handy now.
“Come now, Lady Kitty, you’re much too humble. We practiced for weeks.” The earl addressed his next words to Caden and Randall. “Girl’s a crack shot.” He turned to Zeke. “Zeke, tell them.”
Zeke gave her a long, considering look as his fingers drummed a lazy staccato on the table. “She’s a fair shot. It’s readying her stance for the recoil she needs to work on.”
