My Lord Deceived by Rebecca King Page A

cheek and smiled
gently. “Goodnight.”
    Kat stared at
the empty space he left for a moment only to jump when he
reappeared suddenly and smiled at her almost chidingly. She looked
nonplussed at him, as though she couldn’t figure out why he was
there at all.
    “Lock the
door,” he growled, fully aware as to the reason why she was so
shaken. It soothed his ego considerably to know that she wasn’t as
unaffected as he had first thought.
    Kat seemed to
snap out of her trance and nodded jerkily. He stepped away but
turned back to look at her. She had moved closer and stood with one
hand on the latch. She glanced at him and was close enough for him
to drop another quick kiss on her other cheek.
    “Go,” she
ordered and tried valiantly to ignore the flush of pleasure that
swept over her cheeks.
    “Goodnight,
Kat,” Jonathan chirruped, and strode down the street with ground
eating strides. He paused after several feet and glanced back,
pleased that she had done as he had told her and closed the
door.
    He studied the
road before him for a moment. He could turn left, go down back
toward the harbour and speak to Brian, or he could go right and
head home. With a sigh, he glanced up at the night sky and closed
his eyes against the raindrops that tickled his lashes.
    “Right it is,”
he growled. He tugged the collar of his jacket up to his ears and
set off home. Brian could wait until tomorrow. For tonight, Kat was
safely tucked away at home and, if he had his way, that home would
soon be Dentham Hall.
    Kat quietly
closed the door and turned to face the room. Her mother had left a
candle burning on the hearth. Kat paused long enough to check the
locks on the doors and secure the shutters before she took the
candle upstairs to bed. Once there, she snuggled beneath the covers
and listened to the winds rattling the window panes. A part of her
felt slightly sorry for Jonathan still outside undoubtedly getting
drenched.
    She rolled onto
her back and stared up at the ceiling. Sleep was eluding her
tonight. If only she could close out the handsome visage of a
certain gentleman who didn’t seem willing to leave her mind, then
she may be able to catch a few winks before sunrise.
    He really was
extraordinarily gorgeous. If only he was a bit more stable and
lower class, then she could quite easily consider a future with
him. Unfortunately, he was gentry, and upper gentry at that. They
were worlds apart. She knew it was folly to allow him to even kiss
her, but there was nothing wrong with the peck on the cheek he had
given her – well, twice. He hadn’t pressed for more, and she hadn’t
stopped him. That didn’t mean that it had to go any further that
the brief, yet heated kiss he had bestowed upon her out on the
street.
    Still, she
couldn’t help but go back to the fact that he had only recently
returned from an extended stay in London. Given his past record, it
was inevitable that he would head back there any day now, and she
wasn’t sure whether she was going to be sorry or not.
    Of course
you are going to be sorry, she sighed to herself. She hated to
admit it, but Jonathan Arbinger had more of a command on her heart
than she cared to acknowledge.
    Her thoughts
turned to marriage. Was she going to consider getting married one
day? She wasn’t sure. There were certainly not many suitable
candidates in the village, if any, really. Most of the men around
her age were either off fighting for king and country, or were down
and out wastrels like Brian Meldrew and his cohorts. She would
rather end up a miserly old spinster than marry any of that
lot.
    Jonathan was
the only man within miles who had ever brought forth feelings in
her like the ones she had experienced tonight, and she wasn’t sure
what to make of it. They were as intriguing as they were
frightening. A large part of her didn’t want anyone to have this
affect on her. Nobody ever had before so, given what she knew about
Jonathan, why was she even thinking about him now?