Tea For Two (5 page)

“Stop that,” he told her.

She ducked her head in mortification. It was
as though he could read her mind!

Brendan stood and lifted her onto Cinnamon’s
back before mounting behind her. He urged his horse through the
trees in the direction of his home, his arm firmly around her
waist.

Shannah used the time to compose herself, to
slow her racing heart and try to make sense of her irrational
thoughts. She told herself it was perfectly natural to be curious
about kissing, and it was only his proximity that caused her to
think about it. She’d had a trying morning, after a near sleepless
night, and certainly she wasn’t acting like herself.

She hated the idea of making Millie worry,
even if it wasn’t entirely her fault. She also knew that Matt and
the children would think she’d simply gone to work, and would have
no idea what happened to her until she told them. At least that was
a relief. Matthew tended to worry, and she didn’t blame him, but
she was glad to spare him the concern.

Lord Brendan was a problem, though. She knew
he’d still insist on having that discussion about Royce, and she
was in a poor position to continue her lies about being his mother.
When Brendan demanded the truth, as she knew he soon would, what
could she tell him that wouldn’t end up breaking her promise to
Garnette?

CHAPTER 9

Brendan knew he had to get away from
Shannah—he just didn’t know how to manage it. He was too keenly
aware of how right it felt to hold her close, of how good she fit
in his arms. It surprised him to realize that she wanted him to
kiss her, but her shy looks made that perfectly plain.

Regardless of what he thought—or even might
feel—toward Shannah, their first priority needed to be that child,
and sorting out the truth of his parentage once and for all.

For that he’d have to be strong. He would not
be able to distance himself from her yet, something he sorely
needed. Distance, and time, to sort out his jumbled feelings.

Brendan left Cinnamon in the capable care of
a groomsman and carried Shannah to his study, despite her protests
that she could walk. He didn’t closely examine his motivations for
that as he placed her in one of the high backed chairs, preferring
to believe his actions were magnanimous rather than selfish.

Millie bustled in before he could ring for
her. “Oh, my lord! We’ve been watching for you. I see you brought
her back unharmed.” She knelt beside the chair. “Shannah, dear, are
you all right?”

Shannah nodded. “I am now. Lord Brendan and
his men rescued me.”

“She’d been kidnapped by pirates,” Brendan
said.

“Oh, my!” Millie turned adoring eyes on her
employer. “Bless you, my lord, for your quick thinking—as if you
knew she was in danger.” She turned back to Shannah. “I’m going to
fetch you some hot tea and biscuits, love. That will make you feel
better.” She hurried away, shaking her head and muttering about
Shannah’s ordeal.

“She cares for you a great deal,” Brendan
told her.

Shannah smiled after Millie. “She’s a
wonderful woman. I’m grateful to have her friendship.”

Brendan turned another chair and sat across
from her. “I know you’ve had a hard time of it, Shannah, but I feel
a sense of urgency about our talk. Do you feel up to a discussion
about your family?”

Shannah lowered her gaze to her hands. “I
told you all that you needed to know last night, my lord. There is
nothing more to say.”

“I disagree.” He put a hand under her chin
and gently urged her to look at him. “I’d say there’s quite a bit
more to be said on the subject.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking,” she
whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

He should have expected the tears, but for
some reason they caught him by surprise. He released her chin and
leaned back in his chair. Shannah blinked furiously, and Brendan
watched a lone tear escape and roll silently down her smooth cheek.
His hand itched to brush it away, but he withstood the urge.

“I need to know, Shannah,” he said at last.
“And my brother deserves the truth.”

Shannah bit her lip and shook her head, but
wouldn’t look at him.

Brendan sighed, unsure how to proceed. Surely
she knew that her lies wouldn’t hold against the obvious truth. Why
did she cling so desperately to her falsehoods?

He put the question to her, but Shannah just
shook her head more furiously and swiped at fresh tears on her
cheeks.

He tried to pull away mentally and look at
the situation with clearer eyes. He knew his certainty that Chris
had fathered a child clouded his judgment. So did his as yet
undefined feelings for the girl sitting before him.

The door of his study burst open and his
mother entered, or rather swept dramatically into the room. Her
black silk gown rustled with every step and the oversized plume on
her golden turban drooped behind one ear. When he turned to look at
her, she smiled and spread her arms wide, erasing a look he
couldn’t quite identify. Concern? Fear?

“Why, Brendan, I’m surprised at you. How
utterly inappropriate for you to close yourself in here with this
child,” she said. She put a hand on Shannah’s chair, barely sparing
her a glance.

Brendan’s eyes sought Shannah’s face, but
what he saw there worried him. She looked up at him in stark terror
and he had no idea why.

“Mother, please, I’m conducting an interview
at the moment,” he told her.

Elspeth Wyndham laughed at him. “Why ever
for? Household servants are Mrs. Scrab’s responsibility, and her
duty is to report to me since I’m still mistress of this
house.”

Brendan didn’t feel the need to argue the
point with her. Technically, she was correct, but his mother had
always been more concerned about the latest fashions than how the
household ran. He didn’t want to explain to her that the weekly
“reports” Millie gave her mistress were only a fraction of what was
actually going on in their household. He handled the bulk of it, as
had his father.

Instead he thought it best to get rid of her
quickly so he could focus again on Shannah. “What is it that you
need, Mother?”

“I’m in crisis, truly,” she said, putting a
hand to her forehead. “I just received word that the beaded
headdress I’d commissioned to wear at my birthday banquet won’t be
ready in time! You must write to the jeweler this instant. I have
to have that headdress. All of my friends will be expecting
it!”

Brendan didn’t immediately reply. This was
her idea of a crisis? He’d just found out about Royce the night
before, Shannah had nearly been abducted by pirates, yet his mother
fretted over a headdress?

He stopped himself from making a cutting
remark and remembered there was much going on his mother knew
nothing about. Had his father done this as well, kept the grittier
facts of life from her? In truth, Brendan has almost forgotten
about the banquet and subsequent celebration in the light of his
new discoveries.

Before he formed a reply there was a knock at
the open door. He looked past his mother to Mrs. Scrab, holding a
tea tray and waiting expectantly.

His mother looked over her shoulder. “Ah,
excellent timing, Mrs. Scrab. Please take this child to the kitchen
and see to her needs. My son has no time for such nonsense.”

Millie’s brow furrowed. “But, my lady . . .
“

His mother raised an imperious eyebrow, a
skill she had perfected over the years.

Millie bowed her head. “Yes, my lady. Come
Shannah.”

“Do leave the tea, please,” Elspeth
commanded. “I feel peaky.”

Millie hurried to the table and set down the
tray, then took Shannah’s hand and led her from the room. Brendan
watched his jacket fall from Shannah’s shoulders with some regret.
For a moment he stared at it lying on the chair.

His mother sighed with satisfaction. “There,
that business is settled. Now about my letter. Brendan, are you
listening to me?”

“That was unforgivably rude, Mother,” he told
her in a low voice.

She looked surprised. “They’re only servants,
Brendan. They understand their place.”

Brendan bit his lip to keep from arguing and
picked up his jacket. It was still warm from Shannah wearing it—not
that it came close to fitting her slender frame. He barely noticed
his mother watching him as he slid his arms into it.

She went to his desk and pulled out a spare
sheet of parchment. “Now, then, about my letter.”

Brendan looked at her expectant face, then at
the doorway. He should go after Shannah; he had to settle this
business about Royce. But he knew with equal certainty he couldn’t
walk out on his mother.

“Very well,” he said as he walked around his
desk and sat. “To whom am I writing?”

CHAPTER 10

Shannah cradled her teacup in both hands and
sipped, desperately wishing she could stop shaking. She’d almost
panicked when the Viscountess had entered the study. She was so
wrapped up in her own worries she nearly didn’t hear Millie call
her name.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

“Poor lamb, you’re all out of sorts.” Millie
put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I was only thinking that
perhaps you should go home. You’ve had a terrible ordeal. We could
call for the carriage; I’m sure Lord Brendan wouldn’t object. I
don’t want you walking alone ever again.”

For a moment escape sounded ideal, but
Shannah knew Lord Brendan most certainly would object to her
leaving now. She’d gotten a reprieve but eventually he would force
the truth from her, and she had no desire for that to happen in
front of the children.

“I can’t go home now,” she said, forcing a
smile. “There’s so much to do before the banquet, and only three
days left. We’re shorthanded as it is.”

“I could prop Jayne in a chair with a pillow
under her foot, and she could peel potatoes or pluck chickens,”
Millie said. “There’s plenty she could do that wouldn’t require
much movement.”

Shannah patted Millie’s hand on her shoulder.
“I promise you that I’m all right. Matt would only worry about me
if I were to go home now.”

“You’re such a brave girl.” Millie gripped
her hand briefly before releasing her. “Whatever would I do without
you?” Her kind eyes brimmed with tears.

Shannah set down her cup and got to her feet,
wrapping both arms around her friend. “There, there, none of that.
I’m not going anywhere.”

Millie pulled away and wiped her eyes with
her apron. “I feel so silly having you comfort me when you were the
one nearly spirited away.”

“It’s all right. I’m humbled by how much you
care about me.”

Millie smiled at her. “But you are right
about all the work to do, my girl. Perhaps if we throw ourselves
into it, we won’t have any energy left to fret.”

How magical that sounded to Shannah, even if
it would be exhausting. To forget all her worries? Yes, please.
“Let’s get started.”

But no matter how much Shannah swept,
plucked, chopped, and boiled, she couldn’t forget that any moment
Lord Brendan would send for her. Every few minutes her eyes went to
the doorway, half expecting to see him there watching her. The only
benefit was that it kept the memory of the pirates’ rough hands and
lewd suggestions at bay.

Luncheon had been served and Shannah was
pulling the last dozen tart shells from the oven before she heard
her name. She turned to find Sithers, the under butler, at her
elbow.

“Lord Brendan would like a word with you,
miss,” he said.

She nodded to let him know she understood and
watched him leave the kitchen. Alice stepped forward with
outstretched hands.

“I’ll take these,” the girl said. “You
go.”

Shannah set the tray on the counter beside
Alice and took off her apron, draping it over a hook by the door on
her way out. She smoothed her hair back on her way to the study.
There wasn’t much she could do to tidy up after hours of cooking
and cleaning, but she did her best before knocking on the open
door.

“Come in,” he said.

She obeyed, slowly.

“Close the door please, Shannah.”

The click of the latch seemed oddly
depressing to her. She didn’t turn back to him right away, but
pressed her forehead against the door and took a deep breath.

“Come along, now. Sit.”

What could she do? Shannah crossed the room
and took her place on the chair he’d indicated. She folded her
hands in her lap to keep from fidgeting and looked up at him.

Why did he have to be so handsome?

The thought made her blink and look away. She
couldn’t let him distract her in that way. She had to stay strong
for Garnette, for Royce, and even for Matt and Kora.

To her utter amazement, Brendan knelt in
front of her and took her hands. She was too surprised to object,
and almost of their own will her eyes swept his face.

She saw compassion there, and
patience—neither of which she expected.

“I have just spent the better part of the day
locked in here with my mother and her party plans,” he said. “When
she finally went upstairs for her afternoon nap, I sat here going
over every word you and I have spoken to one another. I’ve
rehearsed this conversation in my head a dozen times, trying to
imagine all the ways it could play out.” He squeezed her hands
gently. “I know there’s something I’m missing, Shannah, something
you haven’t told me. I think you’re afraid, and I’d like to help
you. I’d like it if we could sort out this problem together.”

Just like that, the fight left her.
Everything she’d rehearsed in her mind to protest his understanding
of the truth seemed ridiculous. Her eyes filled with tears as she
realized she was about to break her most sacred promise.

“Curse you,” she whispered, pulling her hands
away. “Why do you have to be so kind?”