Gallant Waif

“My poor girl. I’m so sorry,” he said remorsefully. “There is no spider. None at all.”

He took the tray from her unresisting hands and laid it on a nearby table, not taking his eyes off her.

She stared at him, uncomprehending. He placed his hands on her shoulders again and gave her a tiny shake to jolt her out of her trance-like terror.

“There is no spider. I made it up,” he explained apologetically. “It was a trick.”

Her mouth opened and she started to breathe again in deep, agonised gasps.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I wanted to see if you understood Spanish.”

She looked up at him in confusion, her mind still numbed by the remnants of her uncontrollable fear of spiders.

“I spoke in Spanish, you see.” His hands rested warmly on her shoulders. She was still trembling and, despite himself, he was moved. Not knowing what else to do to atone, he drew her against him, wrapped her in his arms and held her tight against him, uttering soothing noises in her ear. He inhaled slowly. What was that fragrance she wore? It was hauntingly familiar. His arms tightened.

It did not occur to him that it was utterly inappropriate for him to be behaving in this way with a mere kitchen maid. As a boy, Jack had frequently brought home creatures in distress—half-drowned kittens, injured birds—and if he had thought of it now he would have explained to anyone who asked that he was merely offering comfort and reassurance. And she felt so right just where she was.

Kate’s cheek was pressed against his chest, her head tucked in the hollow between his chin and his throat. She could feel the warmth of his breath, the roughness of his unshaven cheek catching in the silk of her hair as he moved his face gently against it. She heard the steady thud of his heart. His strong body cradled hers, protecting, calming.

It had been so long since Kate had been held so comfortingly, the impulse just to let herself be held was irresistible. She felt his broad, strong hand moving soothingly up and down her spine and a shiver of awareness passed through her.

Gradually, Kate realised just who was holding her and why. She tried to wriggle out of the strong arms. He did not immediately release her, so with all the strength she possessed she thrust hard at his chest and emerged from his embrace dishevelled and panting, her face rosy with embarrassment.

“I suppose this is another one of your tricks!” She tried to smooth her hair and brushed down her clothes.

Jack felt his guilt intensify at her words and, unreasonably, anger flooded him.

“No, it damn well isn’t, you little shrew! I’m not in the habit of entertaining myself with scruffy kitchen maids. I was merely offering comfort.”

She glared at him, not knowing which made her angrier, his actions of the past few minutes or his description of her.

“Well, I don’t need your sort of comfort and I wouldn’t have needed comforting in the first place if you hadn’t played that beastly trick on me!”

“How was I to know you’d make such a devilish to-do about a spider?”

Kate’s temper died abruptly and she looked away. She had always been deeply ashamed of her fear of spiders and had tried valiantly to conquer it, to no avail. Her brain might tell her that the horrid creatures were small and for the most part harmless, but the moment she was confronted with one she panicked. It was a weakness in herself she despised.

“You’re right,” she muttered stiffly. “I’m sorry I made such a fuss. It won’t happen again.” She turned to pick up the tray.

“Not so fast, my girl,” he said, and his hand shot out to grip her wrist. He turned her to face him again. “Who the devil are you?” he said slowly, his eyes boring into her.

“I told you my name last night. It is Kate Farleigh, in case you have forgotten,” she retorted, twisting her arm to escape his grip. “Will you please release my hand?”

“I haven’t finished with you yet.”

Kate pursed her lips in annoyance. “I suppose you think your position entitles you to make game of others!”

“What?” He frowned down at her in puzzlement.

“Evidently you consider you’re perfectly entitled to treat those less fortunate than yourself in any fashion you care to! Well, I take leave to dispute you on that. No matter who I am, I have the right to go about my concerns as I see fit, without interference from you or any other member of your family!” Kate looked pointedly down at her wrist, imprisoned by his large strong hand.

He noted the short, blunt, unpolished nails, so different from the smooth, polished ovals on every lady of his acquaintance. He turned her hand over and his large thumb moved gently back and forth over the work-roughened skin. There was no doubt that this girl was accustomed to menial work, but she was an enigma all the same.

“You are the damnedest kitchen maid!” he murmured at last, shaking his head. “How the devil did you come to be brought here by my grandmother?”

Kate looked up at him in surprise. The dark head was still frowning over her hand. She repressed a rueful grin. She supposed she couldn’t blame him for that. She was surely dressed for the part and he had seen her working in the kitchen, obviously at home. Well, if the master of the house insisted on calling Kate a kitchen maid, Kate would oblige him—and serve him right! She had an imaginary spider to pay him back for, after all!

“Sir.” She tugged at her hand.

His thumb still absently caressed her.

“I must get back to my duties, sir. The kitchen floor needs scrubbing.” She tried to pull her hand free again, becoming increasingly unsettled by the gentle motion of his thumb on her skin.

“But where on earth did you learn to speak like a lady?”

Oh, drat the man! Would he never leave off? Kate’s sense of humour got the best of her. “A lady, sir?” She goggled in mock-surprise, and did her best to simper. “I never thought I sounded like a real lady.” She pronounced it “loidy’.

“I kept house for an old gentleman for a long time and he insisted I learn to speak proper-like. He was a true scholar, sir, and a Reverend he was, too, and he hated what he called the mangling of the English language.”

He did not appear to notice that her accent had broadened considerably during this speech, a fact which Kate found immensely encouraging. She twisted her hands awkwardly, as she imagined a rustic wench would, when confronted by a handsome gentleman.

“He taught me to read and write and cipher an’ all,” she added ingenuously, regarding him with wide, innocent eyes—which she was tempted for a moment to cross, but didn’t.

“But you understand Spanish,” Jack persisted. “Where does a kitchen maid come to know a foreign tongue like that?”

“I imagine there are hundreds of kitchen maids in Spain,” she responded pertly, her eyes downcast to hide the mischief in them.

“Don’t be impertinent, girl; you know perfectly well I was asking how an English kitchen maid like you came to know Spanish. It’s obvious to me that you have no Spanish blood.”

She beamed up at him foolishly. “You’re absolutely right, sir—no Spanish blood at all. You are a clever gentleman. Coo, so you are.”

The chit was playing games with him again! He was hard put to it not to laugh—except that he had an equally strong impulse to turn her over his knee. How on earth had this cheeky little miss survived this long without being strangled, let alone kept a position in a household? He couldn’t imagine his grandmother putting up with this type of cheek from a maidservant. His mouth quirked in some amusement. His grandmother would not take kindly to competition in the art of impertinence and this little baggage was every bit her equal.

“Enough of your sauce, girl. I asked you how an English maid came to understand Spanish.”

“Oh, the gentleman did a lot of foreign travel and it were easier for him to take me than leave me behind, so a’ course I was bound to pick up some of the lingo, wasn’t I? Will that be all, sir?” she asked humbly, her head bent to hide her laughter.

She could see perfectly well that she hadn’t satisfied his curiosity, and that he didn’t like it. He was used to being in control. Well, he wasn’t going to control her. He’d be furious when he found out who she really was, but it served him right for jumping to conclusions. And for the spider.

“Hmm. Yes, all right,” he mumbled ungraciously.

Kate bobbed him the sort of rustic curtsey her old nurse used to make to her father, and picked up the tray. She stepped lightly down the stairs, her mouth trembling on the verge of laughter as she imagined his face when his grandmother finally explained who she was.

Jack watched her slight figure disappear, then turned and knocked at his grandmother’s door.

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