Gallant Waif by Anne Gracie (best ereader manga .TXT) 📕

was enraged by now. “How you can have the stomach to consider wedding such a loathsome upstart is beyond me.”

Kate glared at him. She had initially opened her mouth to inform him she had refused her cousin’s proposal, but by the time he had paused for breath, and she had an opening, she was so incensed that all thoughts of telling him had flown from her head. His close proximity was rather overwhelming, though, so she wriggled out of the chair and faced him across the kitchen table.

“How dare you speak to me in this way?” she spat. “It is no concern of yours what I do, Mr Carstairs, no concern at all. If I wish to see my cousin I will, if I wish to embrace him I will, and if I wish to marry him I will! It is nothing whatsoever to do with you!”

She stamped her foot on the hard flagstones and continued. “And how dare you impugn my honour in that way? A person’s wealth or lack of it has nothing—nothing—to do with my attitude to them, and it’s outrageous of you to suggest otherwise. It is quite irrelevant to me whether Cousin Jeremiah is wealthy or not. I have not the slightest interest in a person’s financial standing, and only a completely vulgar person would think it could ever be important.”

“If the cap fits…” he began.

“Then you must wear it,” she snapped, “for such considerations have never been mine!”

“You cannot mean you love that contemptible creature.” His voice was scornful, but his body was tense as he waited for her answer.

She tossed her head at him. “That, Mr Carstairs, is none of your business!”

“It damned well is!”

“Why?” she demanded, her mouth dry.

They glowered at each other, then he moved with unexpected speed, dragging her against him. He stared down at her for a moment, then crushed his mouth on to hers.

It was a stormy kiss, full of passion and desperation and anger. He gripped her hard, and if she had been aware of his grip she might have told him he was hurting her. But Kate too was lost in the roiling waves of passion and she returned his kiss with equal anguished desperation, clutching him fiercely, returning his every caress with interest.

Eventually they separated and stood there staring into each other’s eyes, breathing heavily. Kate’s Lips were bruised, but she was oblivious of anything except him. She swallowed, trying to recover her poise. He watched her silently. Eventually the silence became too much for her.

“What did you mean by that?” she said in a low voice. She wondered if he could hear her heart thudding, it sounded so loud to her.

Jack stood, breathing heavily, slowly gathering his wits. He’d given her the chance to repudiate Cole and she hadn’t. Nothing was changed. She was still betrothed to her wealthy Cit. He’d be damned if he exposed himself to gratify a woman’s vanity. He had done quite enough of that already. He looked down into her eyes. He could see her waiting, willing him to say the words, so she could throw them back in his teeth, no doubt. She was no different from any other woman.

“What did it mean?” he said. “What did it mean? Why, nothing, my dear Kate. A pleasant interlude, that’s all.” He licked his lips suggestively. “I did say you are talented, did I not?”

Kate felt her throat close as the eyes, which had been blazing with fiery passion a moment before, iced over.

“You beast!” she whispered. His words were a timely reminder. It was the old story of the dog in the manger. But it had been a long, exhausting day, and for once Kate didn’t have the energy to deal with the hostility and the anger she saw in his eyes. She was feeling so miserable herself that all she wanted to do was to throw herself against his chest and sob her heart out. Only the mood he was in, he would probably rip it out of her chest and devour it. Or had he done that already?

He laughed harshly. “Haven’t you heard, my dear girl? I would have thought a parson’s daughter would have been warned many a time that all men are beasts. That’s why you like us so much.”

“On the contrary, my father taught me to love all mankind, as he did,” said Kate dully. My father, who loved all mankind—except me.

Jack took her unconscious expression of pain to be caused by his words. He recoiled and his hand reached out to her half pleadingly, but she did not notice.

Kate did not look at him again. She quietly left the room, and went upstairs to bed. She was just blowing out her candle when she realised she hadn’t made it clear to Jack that she was not going to marry her cousin. If only he would get it into his head that she would never marry! Stubborn, wretched man! And why was he drinking again? Surely not because he thought she had accepted her cousin? No—why would he, when he had been urging her to go to London and find a husband there?

Oh, well, it was cold, she was tired, and she certainly had no intention of seeking him out when he was in the state he was in, and she in her nightrobe. He would probably kiss her again, and she was feeling so lonely and miserable tonight that she would probably do absolutely nothing to prevent it, and that would be fatal.

She’d had enough accusations of impropriety in her life— she needed no more.

“Have you seen Kate today?” Francis asked Jack.

“No,” Jack mumbled. He continued reading a newspaper that had been sent by a friend. He did not even want to think about Kate. It was too distressing, imagining her wedded to Cole, forever out of sight, out of touch. It was no concern of his what she might be doing. He didn’t care. He was reading the news instead.

The paper was