Twin of Ice (Montgomery/Taggert 6)

“Not bad. What else you got?”

There was a piece of Stilton cheese, an artichoke which Kane thought was a waste of time to eat, tomatoes, soft-shell crabs, chicken croquettes, Smithfield ham, sirloin steak in onion gravy, and fried chicken.

When Houston saw the chicken, she laughed. It hadn’t been on the menu that she’d planned for the wedding. No doubt Mrs. Murchison had prepared it especially for her dear Mr. Taggert. Houston wondered how many other people had been involved in packing the food for her “secret” runaway.

“What in the world is this?” Kane asked.

“I thought the wedding might be a good place to introduce a few foreign foods to Chandler. That is a German pretzel, and some Italian pastries were served, but I don’t think any were packed for us.”

As Houston talked, she unwrapped more food: a cloth bag filled with fruit, a tin of Waldorf salad, a big round box filled with slices of several different pies, gingerbread, a bag of peanut candy, one of fudge. There were three loaves of bread, a box of sliced meats, cheese, and onions, a jar of olives, another of mustard.

“I don’t think we’ll starve. Ali! Here it is.” She showed Kane the inside of a metal box that contained a large section of wedding cake.

He took the little knife from the bed, cut a piece of cake and fed it to her from his fingertips. Houston held his hand and licked away every last crumb. He put his hand to the side of her face and kissed her lingeringly.

“A body could starve to death with you around,” he murmured. “Why don’t you feed me before you seduce me again?”

“Me!” she gasped. “You’re the one who . . . ”

“Yes?” he said as he picked up a piece of fried chicken. “I did what?”

“Perhaps I won’t pursue that line of thought. Would you pass me that can of soup?”

“Did you find my weddin’ present to you? In that little leather trunk?”

“The one in the sitting room?” When he nodded, she said she hadn’t had time to look at it. “What’s in it?”

“Wouldn’t that spoil the surprise?”

Houston continued eating for a moment. “I think that wedding gifts should be given on the day of the wedding. And since we are here, and the trunk is there, I’d like another gift.”

“You ain’t even seen what’s in that trunk and, besides, how can I buy you somethin’ up here?”

“Sometimes, the most precious gifts aren’t purchased in a store. What I want is something personal, something very special.”

Kane’s face showed that he had no idea what she was talking about.

“I want you to share a secret about yourself with me.”

“I already told you all about myself. You wanta know where I have money hidden in case some of my investments fall through?”

Delicately, she cut herself a piece of Camembert. “I was thinking more in the line of something about your father or mother, or perhaps about your hatred for the Fentons, or maybe about what you and Pam talked about in the garden this morning.”

Kane was too stunned to speak for a moment. “You don’t ask for much, do you? Anythin’ else you want, like maybe my head on a platter? How come you wanta know things like that?”

“Because we’re married.”

“Don’t you go puttin’ your lady face back on. A lot of married people are like your mother and that sober ol’ man she married. She calls him Mr. Gates out of respect, like you used to do to me. I’ll bet your mother never asked Gates questions like you’re askin’ me.”

“Well then, maybe I’m just terribly curious. After all, it was my curiosity that made me want to see your house, and that led to now, and . . . ” She let her voice trail off and the blanket slide down another two inches.

Kane looked at the sliding blanket with amusement. “You sure do catch on fast. All right, I guess there is somethin’ I better tell you ’cause Pam says it’s gonna be all over town in just a few days.”

He paused a moment, looking down at the food. “You ain’t gonna like this too much, but there ain’t much I can do to change it now. You ’member that I told you that Fenton kicked me off his land when I was a kid ’cause I’d been messin’ around with his daughter?”

“Yes,” she said softly.

“I always thought that somebody’d snitched on us and told Fenton, but today Pam said she was the one that told him.” He took a deep breath, looked at her with an air of defiance, and continued. “Pam told her old man that she was expectin’ my kid and she wanted to marry me. Fenton, bein’ the bastard he is, sent her away to marry some ol’ man that owed him money, and told me Pam never wanted to see me again.”