Page 25 of Only Scandal Will Do

This time tomorrow she would be on her way home. A carefree sense of adventure assailing her, she almost ran down the carpeted steps. She kept at bay thoughts of the actual journey, for sailing tried the limits of her body’s endurance.

Home. Virginia. The delicate pink and white of the dogwoods, the fragrant apple blossoms, and the glossy magnolias that lined the driveway. They would all be in bloom now. Would they last until she arrived? She could almost smell the honeysuckle vine that grew along the road to town. The only thing to mar her homecoming would be Jack’s absence. But Amiable would be there, and life could begin again for her.

A qualm assailed her as an image of the marquess surfaced. Last night, in the garden. The tender regard on his face after he kissed her. That kiss... Kat shook herself, forcing herself back to the present. Amiable. Virginia. That was where she belonged.

She steeled herself for Jack’s mournful gaze, then pushed the door open and entered, gaily laughing. “I suppose you had to beg me one more time, Jack? If you think an eleventh hour plea will move me to stay here with--”

Her brother rose from the sofa, as did another gentleman seated across from him. The momentum of her entrance landed her directly in front of the Marquess of Dalbury, who bowed elegantly.

“What the devil are you doing here?” Her outraged tone caused Jack to wince, but she

paid her brother no mind. “I thought I made myself clear last night, my lord. Are you perhaps hard of hearing?”

“Katarina, behave yourself,” Jack snapped, glaring at her. “The marquess is our guest and

I will have no disrespect from you this morning. Please be seated.”

Was he now championing the detestable marquess? Wary, she sank into the companion chair that faced Dalbury. Irked that the pit of her stomach trembled the moment she saw her brother’s visitor, she fought to get her emotions in hand. She must keep her wits about her, for this meeting now boded ill.

“What is this all about, Jack?” Determined to pay no attention to the man opposite her, she stared at her brother. She would not give Dalbury the opportunity to distract her again.

“I called you because I wanted to hear from your own mouth if what the marquess has told me is true?” Jack’s forbidding expression, contorted with lowered brows and thin lips, struck a blow of fear deep in her heart. He knew about that night. The damnable marquess had told him what transpired between them in March. She leapt to her feet, bringing both men to theirs.

“It’s a damned lie!”

“Katarina! Your language.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Jack. I’ve been swearing as bad as you for more years than I can count. You want to make a fuss about it because he’s in the room?” She flicked a finger toward the marquess, pointing at his chest as though she aimed a pistol. “Besides, it is a lie.”

Jack stared her down. “Katarina, be careful what you call a lie.”

“And just what do you know about it?”

“I saw you.”

“What!” Her mouth dropped open, heat racing through her body. “You did not!”

“I most certainly did.”

“You couldn’t have been there, Jack. You were here, unconscious when he tried to force me--”

Dalbury’s hand on her wrist brought her up short.

“What are you talking about?” Jack asked, his words terse. His face was ashen. “I saw you and the marquess kissing in the garden last night. I said nothing then because I hoped you might consider him reason enough to stay here in London. Now Dalbury tells me he offered you marriage and you turned him down. That is why he is here, to offer for you again.” Jack switched his attention from the marquess to fix her with a frigid blue gaze. “Do you mean to say he’s the one who accosted you that night in March?”

Stricken, she could only stare at her brother. At last she answered, “Yes, Jack,” very low. Her lips trembled and she cursed that weakness inwardly. She swung around on Dalbury, tensed and seething.

“Is this why you came here? To tell him what happened? To try to trap me into a marriage I do not want? Well you are mistaken, my lord. I don’t care who knows what you did. I will not marry you no matter what. What say you to that?”

Dalbury stared down at her and said simply, “I love you.”

She shivered at his words. Her hand flew to her mouth and a gasp escaped at his wicked lie. She lashed out. A handprint appeared on his face. Then she turned and fled the room before he could say anything else.

“Kat! Kat, come back here.”

She could hear Jack calling her, but paid him no heed. Lifting her skirts, she raced up the stairs and into her room, slammed the door and locked it. With her back pressed against the wood, she sobbed aloud, kicking the oak panel with her heel in frustration as her life spiraled out of control. This was the nightmare she’d feared for the past three weeks.

Footsteps sounded outside the door. “Kat. Let me in, please.”