A Taste of Honey (13 page)

Bursting into their room the next morning, Winnie ran over to Robin and nearly jumped in the air when she tried to stop.  “You must come and see this!”

Before either girl could react, Winnie was out of the room again.  Katherine and Robin quickly followed, running down the stairs to the first floor and over to Winnie who stood guard outside of the door to the breakfast nook.

“They're beautiful!”  Winnie exclaimed, before stepping aside to allow both girls in.  In the middle of the side table, laden with various breakfast dishes, was a vase of roses.  The blooms were larger than any Katherine had ever seen and too perfectly shaped to not be from the hot house.  “They're the same color as the one I put in your hair last night,” Winnie reminded them.  “They must be for Robin, but there was no note to tell who they were from.”

Running over to smell the fresh bouquet Robin giggled with joy.  “They must be from Victor; he was admiring the little rose in my hair last night.”  Although Winnie had not heard about Victor she was delighted that her mother's charges were receiving gifts so early in the season.  Winnie insisted that she had to hear every detail about him while they ate breakfast together.  The girls were so excited by the flowers that they entered the room without noticing that it was already occupied.

Katherine bent over to sniff one of the roses when a familiar laugh from the corner of the room stopped her cold and she refused to turn around and look at its source.  It couldn't be, she thought as both her sister and Winnie turned to greet the noise.

“Garrett!  Don't laugh at us,” Winnie cried as she moved to hit her brother who stood in the corner with his plate of food in hand.

“So you girls really do go crazy over flowers.  I thought it had become cliché by now,” he said and brought his arm up to deflect another of Winnie's weak attempts to hit him.

Katherine found his eyes already twinkling with delight as he watched her expression of shock and disbelief.

“Katherine, Robin, this is my horrid brother Garrett,” Winnie said as a quick introduction before going to fill her plate for breakfast.

She realized that he must have known last night who she was, that she was staying with his family.  He had planned all of it out, so that after forcing her to kiss him, she would be confronted with his presence at breakfast the very next day.  Only then was she allowed to find out who he was.

Katherine wanted to kill him for all of the humiliation that he was causing her.  When he had threatened last night to see her again, she had not believed that it would be this soon.  Only he had known, which gave him all of the power.

Walking closer to her, he smiled smugly at her shock.  “Since the roses were for Robin, that would make you Katherine,” he said casually as if it were the first time that they had met.  He passed by her, and pulled aside a chair for her to sit in.  A fresh cup of tea and a small jar of honey had already been placed on the table in front of the chair.  Katherine sat down cautiously, knowing that
she was in some trap that he had
set for her.  Setting his plate beside hers, Garrett sat down in the chair next to hers, his thigh even brushing against her skirts lightly, as if by accident.

It was too much to take in all at once.  She stood up quickly, as if the chair had scorched her skirts.  “I'm not hungry this morning,” she told her sister and friend as she turned to leave. 

Robin barely noticed Katherine's departure as she pulled each rose to her face for a better inspection and continued telling Winnie about just how rich Victor was.

Winnie, on the other hand, couldn't help but notice the frightened look in Katherine's eyes when she had met Garrett.  Her brother's smug smile reaffirmed that he was up to some sort of mischief and she knew something was not right.  Before she could run after her friend, Winnie felt her brother's eyes bore into her back.  Turning to him, she watched Garrett shake his head, before motioning for her to sit.

“What did you do to her?” she hissed quietly as she took the seat next to him, ignoring Robin as she listed what kinds of horses Victor kept.

“Leave this alone,” Garrett told her, turning his attentions back to his plate and the large portions of roasted meat and eggs that he began to devour.

After picking over a few pastries that she had found in the kitchen, Katherine sat just inside of the sitting room, waiting for Garrett to pass by.  She had not seen Mrs. Brentley this morning and she needed to know if he had kept his promise not to speak to his mother about what had happened between them.  He could ruin everything, she thought to herself.  But the fact that she and her sister had not yet been kicked out led her to hope that he did not intend to tell his mother, and that he would keep his promise.

Then why had he come here today, she wondered.  Winnie had made it clear that her brother hated being in London at this time of year.  Growing up with a mother who had sponsored a young woman each season had led him to become very cynical about the entire process.  Was he now so reformed that he had decided to join the parade of young women, matchmakers and the bachelors they sought after like prey?

Winnie had even told her that he should be leaving early the next week to return home.  She had been debating whether or not to return with him as she usually did each year.  “But I like you better than most of my mother's other charges,” Winnie had said bluntly.  “It might be fun to stay here and help you and your sister keep out of trouble.”

Katherine was supposed to be in London hunting for a husband, she did not enjoy the feeling of being hunted instead.  Somehow she knew that Garrett being here this morning foretold many other times that he would try to inse
rt himself into her daily life.

Questions continued to run through Katherine's head.  Had he know
n
that he was kissing one of his mother's charges that night by the inn?  No, that was ridiculous.  He had believed that she was some woman named Amelia.  He could not have known who he was kissing that first night.  Then why wasn't he off tormenting his Amelia instead of her?  Was she a former charge of his mother whom he had also followed around?

She couldn't remember the name Amelia being mentioned at the party by any of the women, but most of the women had been referred to by their married names, not by their first names.  She couldn't recall Winnie or Mrs. Brentley using it during their previous conversations but until n
ow she hadn't cared much about the previous charges
.

The loud footfalls in the hallway betrayed a much larger form than her sister or either of the Brentley women possessed as the figure slowly came closer.  Katherine poked her head out of the door to make sure it was Garrett, before stepping out into the hall and motioning him to follow her.  Once they were both inside she shut the door tight behind them, even locking the latch to ensure that they were not disturbed.  Turning back to face him, she found Garrett smiling broadly at her without a trace of guilt.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, becoming more annoyed with him than even the night before.  He seemed so sure of himself, something that Katherine did not approve of when she was stuck feeling flustered and tricked.

“This is my house,” he reminded her, as if it were that simple.  Sighing heavily, Katherine rested her face in her hands.

Watching her distress, Garrett's smile waned as if he had not expected her to be upset by his presence.  “Why does it bother you that I'm here?” he asked.

Katherine sat down on the settee to rub at her temples that were beginning to ache.  She shot him an exasperated glance through her finger tips.

“I promised you that I would keep your secret if you kissed me last night.  I won't betray my word to you.”

Searching his face for any twitch of a lie, Katherine found herself able to believe him, but that did not quell all of her fears.  “Why do you insist on seeing me again?  I already told you that I'm only interested in marrying a man with a title, which you don't have.”  When he went to interrupt her, Katherine raised her voice.  “I'm not going to let you keep kissing me, so that bit of fun is over.”

He hardly looked chastised as he watched her with another of his full grins.

“There is no reason to even stay in London when you hate this town as much as Winnie has said that you do,” Katherine huffed, finally lowering her voice to make sure that no one was listening in.

Garrett came to sit beside her on the settee.  He laughed lightly when he felt her pull away and sit as far down the settee from him as she could.  “I don't think you've been listening to me, Kat.” He spoke patiently, as if she were a child who did not fully understand.

Katherine bristled at being referred to so intimately by him, but this time he did not give her time to protest.

“I'm not just looking for a few stolen kisses with you. I already know that we are more than adequate at that.”  He tried to look innocent as he shifted closer to her and only managed to look sinful, like he was plotting something.  “I'm here to help change your mind about this whole titled husband thing.  You should open yourself up to other possibilities,” he said and leaned in even closer to her.

“Like you?” she asked, stunned that he was in essence, proposing more than a courtship between them.

His body had come close enough that she could faintly smell his aftershave.  “Yes, someone like me might be just what you need.” He moved swiftly in an attempt to kiss her neck.

Katherine leapt off of the coach before he could do so.  “I already told you that I need to marry someone who has a title.” She hoped that it would be enough to get him to stop.  Instead it seemed to egg him on; like he had to prove that he was indeed what she wanted.

“There are many disadvantages to searching for titled men, Kat.  Most of them are quite old,” he told her as he stood to follow her about the room.

“I know,” she snapped back at him, taking a seat in one of the wing-backed chairs in the room, so that he couldn't sit down beside her.

“You'd be a second or even third wife to many of them.”

It was true.  While trying to choose only the most upstanding titled bachelors to dance with, Katherine had found herself entertaining the company of men who were as old as her father.  While the age gap had not bothered them, she had to admit that it had disturbed her.  Besides, being someone's second wife didn't sound as special to her.  But she couldn't give up, she had promised her mother that she would find one to marry.  She simply had to try harder to find someone that she could be happy with, even if he was a much older man than she had wanted.

“Kat, why do you need to marry someone with a title?” he asked quietly as he watched her from across the room.

“Don't call me Kat,” she scolded him.  “And leave this alone Garrett, I'm not interested in pursuing anything with you.”

Instead of fighting with her, he came to stand in front of her, watching Katherine fidget with a piece of lace on her dress.  “You don't like sitting still with nothing to do,” he commented pointing out her nervous fingers.

She was annoyed that he watched her so closely, trying to pick up each of her little ticks.  He must have been trained by his mother, she decided, thinking back to the night at the inn when Mrs. Brentley had advised them to be vigilante.  “How long do you plan to be in London?” she asked to keep his mind off of tasks such as picking apart her character and motives in life.

“As long as it takes,” Garrett told her, moving closer to her as if he wanted to pin her in her chair.  Katherine stood quickly, to back away from his approach.  His hand reached out to gently grasp one of the ribbons on her green day dress.  His gentle tugs threatened to pull her in closer or tear the delicate piece if she tried to run away.

“I told you, Garrett, that I'm not interested in pursuing anything with you,” she told him, trying to sound annoyed but instead sounding breathless.

His other hand reached out to grasp her around her waist.  Turning to flee, Katherine ran to the door and cursed herself for having locked it.  Her hands blindly sought the latch but Garrett pounced on her, spinning her to face him and gently pushing her back against the door.

“Are you going to try and deny that there is a strong connection between us?” he asked while he brushed back a few hairs from her face and her cheeks pinkened at the touch.

“Yes.  There is nothing special between us that I couldn't find with someone else,” she said, trying to convince both him and herself.

He leaned in closer, letting their bodies collide together as his knee pushed between her thighs, anchoring her to the door with his body.  Katherine closed her eyes, her breath coming out in desperate gasps as she felt him descend to kiss her.  He stopped just short of letting their lips touch.  His breath fanned against her mouth and along her neck.  It prickled the hairs near her ear as her bare skin hummed with the need to feel his lips.  Katherine gripped her hands into tight balls at her side as she restrained herself from pulling him in closer.

“Tell me that you can feel this,” Garrett whispered, his lips only a breath away from her own, yet he was unwilling to move the necessary inches without her admission.  Despite the distance between their mouths Katherine could feel something building within her.  She clamped her lips shut to stop from telling him what he wanted to hear, or worse, moaning with need.  Her eyes closed as she tried to ignore him, tried not to concentrate on the feel of him as his imprint soaked into her skin.