Married to the Marquess (26 page)

She eventually brought her eyes to meet his and he tightened his hold on her shoulders. “You were perfect tonight. I was extremely proud of you.”

“You were?”

He nodded slowly. “You played brilliantly, you conversed with grace and ease, you looked every bit the gracious hostess, and quite frankly, you lit up the room.”

Kate blushed and dropped her gaze. “Oh, please, Derek, I hardly did any of that.”

“You did,” he said firmly. “You were in such fine form tonight, Kate, that it brought comment. Everybody was impressed.”

“Really?” she asked eagerly, looking back up at him. “Who?”

“Diana, Edward, Nathan, Geoffrey, Colin…”

“Colin?” she interrupted with surprise. “Really?”

Derek grinned. “Really. I’m afraid you have stunned him into complete fealty, Kate. You could knock him over with a blink and he would love it.”

A satisfied smirk lit her face and she giggled. “I hardly expected to ever turn him to my side. I shall enjoy this, I think. I have always wanted a minion.”

“Poor Colin.”

“Who else?” she demanded, poking him just a bit. “Who else did I impress?”

He laughed and batted away her finger. “Everyone, all right? Every single person was complimentary and impressed and thought you did a marvelous job.”

She grinned and settled herself against him again, her other hand now joining the first in toying with his. “What about you, Derek?” she asked in a soft voice. “Did I impress you?”

“Yes,” he whispered, pulling her in closer. “Yes, Kate, you did.”

She looked up at him once more, and it seemed that time stood still. Unable to resist the power that was continually drawing him to her, Derek leaned down and brought his lips to hears, still gentle and light, giving her every opportunity she would need to pull away if she so desired.

He was ready to break away, to cut off this magical connection between them, to regain some semblance of sense and thought, when he both heard and felt a soft sigh escape her.

Then he was lost.

Fingers trembling, he took his hand from her shoulders and threaded his fingers into her hair, scattering a few pins. He ventured to take the kiss a little further, to put a little more of himself into it, to let her feel just how much he was coming to feel for her without voicing the words aloud. He felt her soft, shaking fingers touch his jaw, felt her lips mold to his more perfectly, and his hold in her hair clenched ever so slightly.

“Derek,” she breathed, breaking off with a gasp, her hand still on his face.

“What?” he rasped, leaving his lips exactly where they had been at the juncture of her mouth and cheek.

“We have to stop.”

He smiled, nuzzling her ever so slightly. “Why? Are there servants in here now?” he teased, pressing a few scattered kisses to her jaw.

“No,” she gasped, pushing at him, “it’s the door.”

He froze momentarily, ears training on the door, and, sure enough, there was a thundering at their front door. How in the blazes had he missed that before?

He pulled back and they stared at each other in confusion, both more than a little breathless. “Who could that possibly be this late at night?” he growled.

“No idea,” she said, shaking her head.

“Derek!” bellowed the knocker. “Derek, open up!”

Derek groaned, and touched his forehead to Kate’s. “Oh, no.”

“What? Who is it?”

“David.”

It took Kate’s mind a considerable amount of time to process what Derek had said. She was still so pleasantly frazzled by his kisses that coherency was limited and slow.

David? David who? Then she remembered.

“Your brother?” she said at last, trying desperately to hide her frantic panting. “What could he want?”

“Nothing good, I am fairly certain.” He sighed, pressed a quick, but no less heated kiss to her lips and pulled back. “This will not take long,” he promised as he stood.

“How do you know?” she asked with an amused smile.

“I will make sure it does not.” He gave her a look that sent a sort of fiery chill racing up Kate’s spine, then turned and headed for the door where Harville was preparing to open it. At Derek’s nod, he did so, and though Kate couldn’t see him, she could tell that David’s appearance was not a pleasant sight.

Derek’s brows shot up and a frown formed. “David.”

“Derek, it is sooooo good to shee you,” came a slurring, drawling voice that sounded very much like David, but at the same time, was so unlike his usual tone and manner that she had a hard time believing it actually
was
David.

Curious, she rose from the sofa and peeked around the corner.  The normally so dapper and dashing Lord David Chambers looked more like a peddler who was dressed in fine clothing rather than someone who belonged in them. His hair was rumpled and disorderly, his clothing stained and disheveled, his jaw scruffy, and his eyes bloodshot.

In short, Lord David was exceptionally inebriated.

“Helloooooo there, Katherine,” he drawled as he saw her, turning to bow clumsily, and losing his balance. Derek caught his arm before he fell to the floor, but not before Kate got a face full of alcohol laced breath.

“Hello, Lord David,” she coughed, taking a measured step back, but smiling with a bit of amusement. She ought to be offended and affronted and appalled, but having never been within fifty meters from someone so drunk before, she found that she was just terribly fascinated and wanted to laugh.

David grunted as his brother shifted him into a more secure hold, and gave Kate a bleary look. “Didjoo know that Derek calls you Kate?” he asked, snickering stupidly.

“Yes, I did, actually,” Kate answered, still smiling. “You can too, if you would like.”

David looked startled, then squinted up at his brother, who was starting to struggle under the deadweight in his arms. “Waaaaaiiiiiit, she
lets
you call her Kate?”

“Yes, David, she does,” Derek sighed, rapidly losing patience, though he was smiling still.

David frowned and tried to stand on his own, but only managed to stumble more fully into his brother’s grasp. “Derek, you are a liar,” David announced, swaying dangerously as he tried to point a finger up at him. “Sheeee is no devil. She’s an annnnnnnngel.”

“Yes, thank you, David,” Derek said loudly, his cheeks coloring. He looked over at her and mouthed “I am so sorry” with a wince.

Kate grinned at him and his reaction. It no longer bothered her that Derek had once upon a time been critical of her and had called her names behind her back and whatever else he might have done. She had done the same thing with him. They were both different now, and things had changed.

“My lord, what brings you to our humble abode?” Kate asked him, stepping closer.

“So polite, sooooooooo pretty,” David crooned as he looked at her. “Did you do something different with your hair, Kate? It’s all falling down and pretty and sensual and…”

“Stop trying to flirt with my wife and answer the question, would you, David? I have no trouble dropping you and leaving you on the doorstep,” Derek barked, losing his smile.

“You sound like our beloved father did only this afternoon,” David remarked, snarling and looking as though he would like to spit.

“Don’t spit,” Derek warned, and Kate was amused that their thoughts had been so in line. “So all of this was brought on by another lecture from our father?”

David shook his head, which made both him and Derek sway. “A threat.”

“A threat?”

He nodded. “‘Either you find a wife in the next month or I will find one for you’,” he said, taking his voice deeper to attempt to sound like his father, though he failed. “It sheeems I am to be married soon, Derek, whether I like it or not.”

Derek groaned and shook his head. “All right, all right, we’ll figure something out. We will keep you here tonight,” he paused and looked at Kate, who nodded in confirmation, “and then you and I will go see Diana tomorrow when you have sobered up.”

“If you don’t mind,” Kate interrupted gently, “I would like to go check on Alice and then go to bed.”

“I can take you up,” Derek said immediately.

She shook her head, looking at her husband. “You have your hands quite full. I’ll be all right for one night.”

“But…” Derek started, then bit back his reply.

Kate knew what he was going to say, somehow. She smiled softly at him, and eventually, he returned it. Her heart warmed and her toes curled at that smile, so full of promise and meaning. She wished they hadn’t been interrupted. She wished the night could have gone on forever as it had been. She wished…

“Alish is here?” David broke in, destroying the moment yet again. “I love that sweet baby Alish! Can I see her?”

“Tomorrow,” Derek growled, hefting his brother’s arm over his shoulder. “Tomorrow you can see her. When you are a better example.”

“I am
always
a good egggsample,” David slurred defensively as Kate headed up the stairs.

“Of course you are,” Derek assured him sarcastically as they awkwardly followed her.

Derek was quite certain the morning sun had never been so bright, and he had never been so delighted about it. David was miserable, fumbling along behind him, muttering oaths and curses against his brother’s need to walk everywhere when a perfectly good carriage was at his disposal.

Derek did not feel the need to walk everywhere, really; he merely thought it was a good idea most of the time.

Today was one of those times.

Due to his unnatural ability to only sleep during dark hours, the very grumpy David woke with a raging headache and barged into the breakfast room, where Derek, Kate, Jessie, and Alice already were. He had not said a word, only spoke in grunts, but Derek, having spent a few too many mornings with violent headaches, bloodshot eyes, and limited vocabulary in his wilder youth, was able to provide adequate translation.

The only thing that seemed to brighten David’s foul mood was when he caught sight of Alice. Incredibly, a smile crossed his face and he seemed in far less pain than he had been moments before. He changed direction and immediately took the happily chattering girl from her nursemaid’s hold. After several rather noisy, slobbering kisses that made Alice squeal, David handed her back to Jessie, who was trying not to laugh herself, and then sat down and silently inhaled his meal.

When Derek had inquired as to whether or not David was ready enough to see their sister, he had merely nodded and left the room. Pressing a light kiss to his wife’s hand, Derek followed and smirked at the moaning that reached his ears when the door was opened.

Now they were nearly to Diana’s house and soon enough, they would be well on their way to a solution, preferably one that did not involve Derek having to explain to his father why he was not going to marry off his brother to the first available heiress they could find.

“I thought I told you to send a note from now on!” came half irritated, half amused voice from above them.

Peering up, Derek grinned at the form of his sister, leaning rather precariously out of a window.

“Does your husband know you lean out of windows like that?” he called up in response.

“Stop shouting!” David groaned, putting a hand to his head.