Chapter Twenty-Four
Twenty-Four
Kendra
TRICK AND Kendra were walking so fast they made it nearly to the cottage before anyone else even emerged from the house. “What are the odds they’ll believe we’re just changing?” he asked.
“Zero.” She linked her arm in his, feeling more lighthearted than she had in days. “What are the odds I care?”
“Zero as well?” Laughing, he pulled her inside the building, slammed the door, and pushed her back against it, fusing his mouth to hers.
For a heady minute, she lost herself in his embrace, a warm glow spreading through her. But eventually she had to come up for air. “Um, there are servants in here. And Cas or Pol could walk in. Or Jewel, or Amy and Colin—”
“I hear you. Let’s go up.”
Kendra struggled out of her cloak as they raced to the bedroom door, which thankfully was back in place. She opened it and stepped inside.
And dropped the cloak.
And sneezed.
“No.” The word was a groan. Her eyes were watering already. “I cannot believe this!”
Cats were everywhere, wandering the floor and perched on the furniture. Three of the dratted things were snoozing cozily on the bed, as though the room weren’t bitterly cold. A tabby wandered up and poked beneath her skirts.
“Shoo, cat, shoo!” Shivering and sneezing at the same time, she fought back tears of frustration. “Oh, my God, Trick, what next?”
“Go downstairs,” he said. “I’ll find Margaret and see that she gets rid of the creatures.”
“Make sure she shuts the windows, too. We could freeze to death in here. And tell her to brush this.” She snatched up her cloak and shoved it at him. “It’s probably covered in cat hair already. I’ll wait in the common room.”
As she went down the stairs, Colin and Amy were coming up. “Are you all right, Kendra?” Amy asked. “You look upset.”
“There are cats in my chamber. Cats!”
Colin eyes widened. “How on earth did that happen?”
“A mystery for the ages,” she muttered, moving past them and swiping at her damp eyes.
Why did terrible things keep happening? And how had she let herself lose her temper with Trick? She shouldn’t be shoving things at him—her cloak or anything else. None of this was his fault. She hardly recognized the woman she was becoming.
“Would you like to switch chambers with us?” Amy called from above.
Kendra stopped to look up. “Oh. Yes. I appreciate the idea and the offer.” A small measure of relief trickled through her as she added, “You have my thanks—this will be much more prudent than hoping my room might be cleaned well enough. I’ll ask Margaret to move our things while we’re at supper.”
“And we’ll ask Benchley,” Amy replied before continuing upstairs.
The room swap would mean she’d sleep better, Kendra thought as she tromped down to the ground floor, but it didn’t solve her more pressing predicament: her unprecedented, unquenched longing.
Exasperated, she dropped to one of the plush couches in the common room. A moment later, she rose and fetched a blanket to wrap around her shivering shoulders. She sat again. She rose again to move to the couch nearest the fire.
The main door opened. Cas and Pol meandered in and headed toward their room, then stopped when they saw her.
Pol’s brows knitted in concern. “Why are you still wearing that dress, Mama?”
“There are cats in my chamber. Cats!”
“Oh.” Cas grimaced before he sneezed—in sympathy, apparently, since she wasn’t reacting to any cats down here. “That’s awful.”
“Go change into your Christmas Eve clothing,” she told them. “You won’t want to miss the caroling.”
They left her alone to brood. She watched for her niece to come in, so she could complain to her, too. But Jewel was taking her blessed time. Or maybe she was upstairs already.
A few minutes later Trick found her, Margaret in tow.
The maid’s blue eyes were glassy with remorse, her hands clasped together tightly. “My apologies, your grace.”
“Why on earth were the windows open?”
“I…I was tidying and thought I could still smell some cheese. I opened the windows to air out the room. I didn’t think cats would get in. Weren’t they supposed to be locked in the stables?”
“Maybe Rebecca let them out.” Kendra looked to Trick. “Or Jason, if he went in there.”
Margaret shook her head. “Regardless, your grace, your room is upstairs. Upstairs, so high! I never considered—”
“There’s a tree branch not a foot from one of those windows,” Trick pointed out kindly.
“I’m so sorry!” Now Margaret looked panicked. “Please don’t send me away to live with strangers!”
“I’m not going to send you away,” Kendra said with a sigh, wishing she’d never mentioned the possibility before she’d had a new position secured. In the face of Margaret’s fears, she felt the anger seeping out of her.
If only the lust were waning as well.
She sighed again. “We’ll be moving to the chamber next door, so please cooperate with Lord Greystone’s valet. Oh, and bring me the gown I chose for supper, so I can change in the twins’ room once they’re ready. With any luck, this will be the last of our troubles.”
Not that luck had been in her favor lately.