Married to the Marquess (32 page)

Kate didn’t mind. She only smiled and nodded and squeezed his hand in both of hers, her eyes wide and delighted and taking everything in. Every idea he had planned would suit her to perfection, and she could see in her mind’s eye how it would appear when it was finished. It would be the most beautiful of places, but most of all because he had made it for her, and for no other reason than to make her happy.

She didn’t deserve such goodness.

“So, what do you think?” he asked when all was done.

“I think it is the most splendid thing in the world,” she replied earnestly, looking about her still.

“If you like it, we’ll do this at all of the estates,” he promised.

Her breath caught and she looked up at him, her smile fading. “You would do that for me?”

Derek’s eyes warmed and he took the hand that he held and enclosed it with his other. “I want you to be happy, Kate. Wherever we are.”

“We?” she asked timidly, a faint spark of hope flaring in her tone.

He opened his mouth to reply when an interruption in the form of Colin, Duncan, Geoffrey, Nathan, and even Moira, coming around the back of the house prevented him. Without thinking, he and Kate sprang apart, letting go of each other as the intruders came towards them.

Derek stiffened at their appearance, and Kate grinned, knowing his thoughts. She took his hand once more and squeezed it, and only then did he calm. He looked down at her, and she winked up at him. Understanding flared in his eyes.

They could hardly turn their friends away, particularly when they could use the help and Kate could use some entertaining. There would be time for them later. They had all the time in the world. She was not going anywhere. And if the grip on her hand was anything to go by, he was not either.

“What the devil is going on here?” Colin called out as he approached.

“I am getting a new garden, compliments of my husband,” Kate chirped with a grin.

Duncan smirked, his eyes twinkling. “So
that’s
why we’ve come, is it, Derek?”

Derek shrugged. “I could use the help, and Nathan owes me. Besides, you could use the exercise.”

“True enough,” Duncan admitted, shucking off his coat and handing it to a maid.

Without a complaint, except for Colin, who repeatedly announced his hatred of perspiration, the rest of the men did the same and went to work, joining the workers in their tasks as if they were employed to do the same, and it didn’t take long for them to become as dirty and sweaty as the rest.

“They just join in, just like that?” Kate asked Derek.

He shrugged. “They are the best of men.”

“I can see that,” she murmured. Truly, she had misjudged Derek’s friends just as she had him. It was a humbling experience.

“I think I should rejoin them.”

“Yes, you probably should,” she sighed longingly.

He heard her tone and smiled. “I’ll see you tonight, Kate. We can talk then.”

“If you have not exhausted yourself,” she remarked.

“I never exhaust myself,” he told her in a low voice, quirking his brows. “I have far more endurance than meets the eye.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed him away, though she knew she was blushing furiously. “Get over there, you great oaf.”

He laughed and went back to the hole for the fountain.

“Oh, and Colin?” Kate called.

Colin looked up at her with an innocent expression. “Kate?”

“I understand you owe me a new dress.” She raised a haughty brow, but was unable to avoid smiling.

He grinned at her. “Yes, I am afraid I do. Terribly clumsy of me. Do forgive me.”

“If I must.”

He saluted and went back to work, and Kate finally turned to Moira, who was watching her in blatant amusement. “What are you gawking at?” Kate asked her with a grin as she took her arm and led her back towards the house.

“You, dear Kate,” Moira replied with a smile. “Your appearance this morning is really quite intriguing.”

Kate laughed in embarrassment as she touched her hair. “Yes, I’m afraid I was a bit frantic this morning.” They entered the house, and Kate removed Sarah’s shoes, then handed them to Jackson. “Take these down to the kitchens, would you, Jackson? And thank Miss Sarah for me, they were most useful.”

He nodded obediently and left, and Moira made a sound.

“What now?” Kate laughed.

“You borrowed shoes from a worker’s daughter?” she remarked.

“It was a frantic morning,” Kate repeated.

“Why so frantic?”

Kate sighed, and gestured down the hall. “Yesterday was the last day of the two weeks,” she confessed.

“Oh,” Moira said, nodding in understanding.

“Derek could have left this morning. I overslept, and I panicked, wondering if he had done so,” Kate told her, removing her shawl and placing it on the table in the hall.

“For heaven’s sake, Kate, did you try to get yourself dressed this morning, too?” Moira commented from behind her. “You’ve got buttons undone!” She stepped forward and finished them off for her.

“I know,” she moaned. “I was so rushed, I just threw it on, did the buttons I could reach, pulled my hair back without brushing it, and forgot shoes. I had no thought but coming down to see if he was still here.”

Moira’s fingers froze at the top button, and she went utterly still.

“Moira?” Kate asked, turning in concern. “Is something wrong?”

Her friend looked as though a ghost had just crossed her path. “You love him. You loved him before he ever showed you that garden he is building for you. That was why you panicked, isn’t it? You love Derek.”

Kate hesitated for only a moment, and only because she had yet to admit it aloud. But she smiled softly, her eyes starting to prickle with tears. “Yes,” she answered, her heart trilling like a melody in her chest. “Yes, I love him.”

Moira stared for a long moment, then laughed out loud and pulled Kate into a tight hug, and held her close as both started to cry and laugh at once. Then she dragged her into the nearest room and forced her to tell her everything about the whole affair, sparing no detail. Kate did so, smiling broadly the entire time.

She couldn’t help it. She loved Derek, and he was staying. And if the massive amount of work in the garden indicated what she hoped it might, he could be staying for quite some time.

And she simply
had
to smile about that.

C
hapter
S
eventeen

A
s it happened, Derek did exhaust himself quite effectively working out in the garden all day. He nearly fell asleep at the table over dinner, which was indication enough to Kate that the man was quite plainly fatigued beyond sense. He was rather apologetic as she led him upstairs, shrugging sheepishly at her suggestion that he was not quite as fit as he thought himself. Before he entered his rooms, however, he had paused and looked back at her, his expression the clearest it had been in some hours. “Do you know what my favorite part of the day was, Kate?” he had asked.

She had blushed, imagining what moment had been
her
favorite part, which had made him grin deeply.

“Well, yes, there was
that
, Kate,” he had said in a sly tone as he leaned against his doorframe. “That was quite enjoyable. But do you want to know my
other
favorite part?” Before she could answer, he had said, “Your rather small feet in that girl’s shoes.”

“I didn’t mean to prove a point with it,” she told him, feeling embarrassed by the pride in his eyes.

“I know, Kate. That was why I loved it.” Then, before she could say anything else, he had stepped forward and given her a brief, but rather passionate kiss that had left her gasping for both air and thought. With that wild grin she found so charming, he bid her goodnight and entered his rooms, shutting the door softly behind him.

Kate had found herself standing out in the hallway before his door for some time, simply staring in wonder. What a whirl her life had become! Her own thoughts and emotions tumbling about, she went to her own bedchamber and pretended that she was tired, though sleep would not come for some time as she proceeded to relive certain rather fond memories of the day over and over in her mind, finally drifting to sleep with a smile on her face still.

Now, however, she was just the slightest bit grumpy. It was nearing time for luncheon and Derek was still working out with the men, and she had not seen him since breakfast, and even then, he had only bidden her a good morning and gone out to work. How was she possibly supposed to tell the man she loved him if he were never around for her to do so?

Sitting here in the morning room was not going to solve anything, she decided. She marched down to the kitchens and had a picnic lunch packed for them. Then she sent a footman out to tell Derek that she wanted to see him as soon as was convenient for him in the morning room. He rushed out with a quick nod, and she returned to her previous position on the sofa.

Within two minutes, Derek came rushing into the morning room, boots still caked in dirt. “Kate, what is it? What’s wrong?”

She took in the lovely, albeit terribly frantic sight of him. His hair was rather windswept in spite of being sweat dampened, his shirt was clinging to him, and his chest was heaving with his breaths, whether from his work or his running, she couldn’t tell. He wore a worried expression on his face, his green eyes wide and scanning over her person as though looking for injury.

Realizing he had said something, she shook her head and met his eyes directly. “What?”

He knelt down before her and took a hand. “Kate, what is it?”

She frowned. “What is what?”

Now he frowned in return, still looking concerned. “You sent for me. Timothy came out and said you wanted me to come to the morning room. I thought that… Kate, is anything the matter?”

“No, not at all,” she assured him, not sure if she should smile or not. “I said to ask if you could come as soon as it was convenient.”

Derek’s face clouded and he stood up, placing his hands on his hips. “Someone needs to explain to Timothy the difference between ‘as soon as is convenient’ and ‘as soon as is possible’.”

Kate covered her mouth to hide a helpless giggle or three that escaped. “Is that what he said?” she asked, her voice muffled.

“Yes, he did,” Derek replied, clearly not amused. “I thought you were injured or sick or that something terribly wrong had occurred…” He ran a hand through his already mussed hair and then over his face with a groan. Whether of exhaustion, frustration, or relief, she could not tell.

“And you came running in to me?” she asked softly, her own amusement fading as her heart swelled.

He looked at her then, his eyes bearing so much emotion it hurt. “Yes,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Her eyes prickled with tears and she swallowed with difficulty. “Oh,” was all she could manage as she fought to keep her chin from quivering.

Derek caught her emotion, and instantly was at her side, pulling her against him, dirt and sweat and all. He released a deep sigh and buried his face in her hair. “I couldn’t help it, Kate,” he whispered against her ear. “I had no thought but getting to you.” He held her closer, and she closed her eyes, reveling in the comfort he gave.
Tell him
, her mind screamed.
Tell him now
.

But she couldn’t, not yet. And she hated that she couldn’t, knowing she was the worst sort of coward. She gradually pulled away from him, knowing that in her vulnerable state and his overly-attentive one, she was very likely to blurt something out if he continued to hold her. But she smiled up at him, and was delighted to see him return one.

“Well, now that I know there is no disaster brewing,” he began, laughing finally, “what did you want?”

“Merely to spend time with my husband,” she confessed with a shrug. “You have been so busy of late I have hardly seen you.”

“I know,” he moaned, taking her hand again. “I’m sorry.”

“I thought we could take a picnic today. If you want to, that is.”

He grinned, his eyes crinkling adorably at the corners. “I would love to. The men can go on without me, I daresay. I doubt I am of much use.”