Page 56 of The Trouble with Tigers
“There’s the voice I remember.” Zeke’s white teeth gleamed. “No wonder young Kit never sounded right.”
“A criticism you never passed an opportunity to make.”
“You make a much better female,” he said, his voice all silk and smoke.
For the life of her, she couldn’t think of one intelligent response.
“How many years separated you and Collin?” He asked, his tone once again neutral.
“Seven. I adored him. If only he hadn’t gone on that wild goose chase, none of this would even be happening,” she blurted, surprising even herself.
She put a fist to her mouth as if to staunch any further emotional outburst. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to subject you to a fit of female hysterics.”
“I asked.”
She blinked. The Zeke she knew never missed an opportunity to mock her. Tonight’s Zeke unnerved her.
“You can’t stop there, Kitty. I’m curious. What sort of goose chase? Where did Collin go?”
She studied her hands in her lap. “He got word a trunk containing our parents’ last works had turned up in New York. He set out to retrieve the thing before it went up for auction.”
“He couldn’t have sent for it?”
“As far as I was concerned, it could rot, and I made my opinion known, but Collin was stubborn as a mule once he set his mind to something.”
She curled her toes further under her skirts, and leaned one elbow on her armrest, dropping her chin in her hand. “He even convinced Grandfather to support his fool's errand, though I believe he browbeat him into it. For several weeks—before Collin gave me the news—I’d wake up at night hearing them, well, I don’t want to say arguing. That would, be too strong a word.”
“And I suppose you happened to overhear these heated conversations?” he asked, a teasing light in his eyes.
She slanted him a peeved looked. “I did not.” After a brief pause she added, “I couldn’t make out the words.”
Zeke threw his head back and laughed aloud.
Kitty grinned, warmed to her toes. “I don’t know for certain. Maybe Grandfather wanted the trunk as a memento of his son. I do know I wish Collin had never gone.”
“Maybe he had a bit of wanderlust going on?”
“Spoken like someone with first-hand experience,” she said softly.
His mouth twisted in a sardonic half-grin. “Have you no desire to see the world, Kitty? It seems to be in your family’s blood.”
She shook her head.
At one time she had yearned to travel, to go with her parents on their mad adventures. But now she only wanted a home, and a family, and roots.
“I have other priorities.” Priorities she had no intention of sharing and inviting censure on herself. “I admit as a child I dreamed of visiting faraway lands.”
He looked at her with eyes that seemed to see into her soul. “You wanted to join your parents on their travels, didn’t you?”
“What child wouldn’t? But of course they couldn’t take us into the wilds. Not a very nice existence for small children. To their credit, they didn’t begin traveling so constantly until I was past infancy, or so I’ve been told.”
“Very thoughtful of them. Your grandfather raised you for the most part, I take it?”
She smiled fondly. “Yes.”
“As did mine.”
She studied him through her lashes. “Yes, we have that in common. Except…I think you lost your mother at an early age?”
