Page 50 of Gallant Waif
She flushed and clutched the book she had been dusting to her chest. “Well, I do not wish to go to London to stay with your grandmother.”
“That’s beside the point. If you stay here, this will get out of hand.”
Kate’s eyes were fixed on him. “Will it?” she asked softly.
Jack swore under his breath and turned away. Dammit! Those big grey-green eyes made him lose all resolution. He had to make her understand once and for all.
“God deliver me from nai¨ve virgins!” he growled in frustration.
Kate stiffened, but he didn’t notice.
“You don’t realise the danger you’re in,” he said.
Oh, don’t I? Kate thought.
“Men have needs, Miss Farleigh, carnal needs. They are not like women. If the need is upon him, a man will turn to a woman to fulfil those needs. Do you understand me? I saidawoman, any woman, whichever woman is available to fulfil those carnal needs.”
Kate bit her lip.
Jack cursed again. Dammit, he had no choice but to be as brutal as he could to her, to stop that soft glow that shone in her eyes every time they rested on him. He had no future to offer her. God’s truth, but he could not even dance with her, and if anyone was born to dance it was Kate Farleigh, thistledown maiden. He couldn’t allow her to bury herself in obscure poverty, especially since she had no idea of what she was missing.
She had never been to London, never danced until the wee small hours at a glittering ball in the arms of a succession of handsome blades, never attended the Opera, Covent Garden, Drury Lane, Almack’s. She had seen death, far too much of it, but never experienced the sort of life which London and his grandmother could offer her. She could have a splendid future; if brutal words were what it took to get her to London, then he would speak them.
“I am no exception. I may be a disfigured cripple—” Kate flinched at the raw self-hate in his voice “—but I am still a man, with a man’s needs.” He paused to let his words sink in. “And it has been a long time since I had a woman, Kate. A very long time. And that is what…this is. That’sallit is. Do you understand me? I would never have touched you, never have kissed you, but I was drunk and it has been too long since I had a woman and I got carried away.” He turned away from her so he wouldn’t have to look at her face.
Kate stared at the cloth in her hand and slowly crumpled it. She began to polish the shelf nearest to her. He had to bedrunkto wish to touch her? That was what he was telling her? She wasanywoman to him? A mere available female? The words were harsh, biting, but, she eventually realised, they hadn’t upset her as much as they should have.
Because, deep down, she didn’t believe him.
If it was an available female he wanted, then why hadn’t he bothered Millie or Florence? Or the barmaid at the tavern he frequented—from all accounts she was no better than she ought to be. No, whatever Jack Carstairs thought of her, it wasn’t as any available female. And it wasn’t the fault of his drinking either—all that did was exacerbate the problem.
“You will make the preparations necessary to go to London at the end of the week.” His words seemed to come from a long way away.
Kate stopped her mindless polishing. “No, I won’t,” she said over her shoulder. She had no intention of running the gauntlet of London society. Not while she had a choice. And besides, she had made a promise to his grandmother.
He was incredulous. “Did I hear you say no?”
“You did,” she answered quietly. “I have no intention of leaving.”
“Have you no sense, woman?” he growled. “After what I just told you? You intend to stay? And risk being ruined?”
Her lips twisted ironically and she folded the dustcloth into a hard little package. Could one be ruined twice? It was a moot point.
“Didn’t you hear what I said, you foolish chit?” He grabbed her shoulder and swung her around to face him. “You risk losing your virtue by staying here! What the devil is the matter with you?”
She wrenched herself out of his hard grasp and stood there, smoothing down her skirt like a bird who had just escaped a cat.
His eyes narrowed and his face hardened. “Perhaps that is your plan.”
“What do you mean?”
“Seduce me and try to trap me into marriage,” he said slowly.
“Seduce you?” she gasped indignantly.
“Isn’t that what has been happening here? No doubt my grandmother’s cunning claw is somewhere in the plot too.” He laughed harshly. “Yes, I’m sure it is. No doubt you two planned it nicely between you.”
“How dare you?”
