Page 84 of The Trouble with Tigers
Zeke snorted and slid the paper toward Caden, hoping neither he nor Randall noticed his cheeks going ruddy. His brother’s jest hit too close to the mark.
Aunt Lillian swept into the dining room. “Good morning.”
The earl appeared a few moments later, followed by James who pointedly avoided glancing in Zeke’s direction.
Probably a good thing. So far he’d managed to hang on to his pleasant comportment. But the day was young.
“Ah—the infamous Lord James, I presume?” Caden asked equably.
The earl made the formal introductions.
More plates of food filled. More pots of tea and coffee drained. Still no Kitty. Zeke seriously pondered the notion she’d come down with something—though she hadn’t seemed the least bit ill last night. His mouth curved in a self-satisfied grin.
He suddenly became aware of a heavy silence in the room. Glancing around the table, he noted every set of eyes, save James’s, centered on him. “Did I miss something?”
“Only the last five minutes of conversation,” Caden said.
“Ah, but Caden, the crafty grin on your brother’s face tells a tale all its own. One can only hazard to guess what’s brought that devil’s gleam to his eyes.”
Zeke ignored Randall. “Forgive me, Caden. Kindly repeat whatever it is you said.”
Caden shrugged. “I asked how your trip to South Africa went. Grandfather says you purchased a diamond mine and brought back some sort of rare stone.”
“Yes, I purchased majority shares for the family, and the mine promises to be a fruitful. I’m glad to hear you’re interested.”
“What of the diamond?” Randall asked.
Zeke leaned back in his chair. “For starters it’s huge—and rare, thanks to its unique coloring. It’s got a bright green orb, with little flecks of crystalline gold in its center.”
“So rare it has its own name,” the earl added. “Your brother came up with it.”
Zeke answered the unspoken question. “Tiger’s eye.”
“Prescient, your having brought this tiger’s eye back with you, eh?” Caden asked.
Zeke knew what his brother referred to. He assumed Zeke would make the diamond into a ring for his bride to be. He started to deny any such thing, but his mind filled with an image of Kitty, gazing up at him in that way she had of looking at him, some combination of hero worship and gratitude and womanly desire all swirling in those frosty green eyes of hers.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor. He glanced at the open doorway.
Not Kitty but Giles appeared. “My lord? Mr. Hallis has arrived from London. He’s awaits you in your den.”
The earl’s man-of-affairs.
The earl shot Zeke a look. “Good. Zeke? Care to join us? We’re going over the books for the last quarter.”
In fact, Zeke did want to talk to Hallis. He had questions for which the solicitor might be able to provide answers. He just hadn’t wanted to talk to him today. Today, he had another conversation in mind entirely. On the other hand, Kitty clearly wasn’t going to make that conversation easy.
He pushed back from the table. “Lead the way.”
***
Kitty rose from the pretty, rose-colored wingback chair in her sitting room, and moved to her open window. The breeze had picked up, carrying with it the thick scent of wet earth. She peered through the mist-cloaked air at the rain soaked lawn. It was indeed a fine day to laze about. Too bad the excitement she’d felt at the prospect of evading Zeke had faded with the passing rain.
She had to get out of her self-imposed prison, even if it felt as if she’d be losing a battle of wills, against herself, if not Zeke.
Had Zeke noticed her absence? Doubtful. But say he had, and she had the unfortunate luck to cross paths with him, he’d take one look at her and know she’d done little more today than relive the memory of last night. The thrill of his hands on her skin, the magic of his lips sliding over hers. The intoxicating awareness of his sharp desire for her.
Turning from the window, she glanced at the treatise on Chissington Hall she’d been leafing through, again, and thought longingly of the atlas she’d gone to such lengths to unearth last night, then promptly abandoned in the library, thanks to Zeke.
