“I did. I figured out that they were in collusion and wrote each of them to meet by the yellow ribbon along the Serpentine. I knew what Clay had done. I knew there was too much coincidence for it to be real … Sarah Anne kissing Harry and being there whenever you and Clay happened by. They had to be working together. Clay is in heavy debt. He needs to make a marriage of convenience, and he thinks you are his last hope. He isn’t, for there are an astounding number of young women who wish to have a title and trade on their financial situation to get that title. The dowager told me of one just yesterday and—”
Both Kitty and Henrietta were so absorbed that they did not hear or see Clay coming upon them until it was too late.
“How very clever you have been, Kitty!” Clay snapped. “I thought you and I were … close. Did you feel scorned when I switched from courting you to courting your best friend? Is that it?” He looked at Henrietta, apparently attempting to salvage the situation. “Dearest, you see, things are rarely what they seem—”
“Of course, they are not, Clay,” Ree snapped. “As you so perfectly demonstrated.”
Clay apparently had a temper, for he took a menacing step towards Kitty. She had never seen him truly angry, and he was now—in a fury, in fact. His hands curled into fists, and she saw the threat in his eyes. “She-devil!” he spat at her. “Do you know what you have done? And for what?”
“I do, and for truth, Clay. But don’t fret. We both know you will come about. How could you not? There are other heiresses willing to sell themselves, but Ree … she is no more for you than I was. If you had done your research a bit better, you would have discovered that my inheritance was quite a bit more than you knew—not that it would have done you any good, as neither I nor Ree wanted or encouraged you. You never saw that, and you never saw that all you were doing was causing a temporary rift between Harry and Ree. She never would have accepted your suit!”
He grabbed Kitty’s shoulders and shook her hard. He raised his hand, and a voice shouted out from behind, “Unhand her, cur!” And Harry rushed forward.
* * *
The earl had arrived home only to find that his beloved was not available. Nanny advised him that she had gone off to visit with her friend Henrietta.
This early? He knew Kitty. Something was towards. He went back out, and a quick, brisk walk brought him to Henrietta’s, where he was told the young ladies had gone to the park for a stroll.
He arrived in time to witness Harry shoving Clay to the ground and turning as though to touch Kitty’s shoulder. Henrietta was worrying over Kitty, with a hand to Kitty’s cheek.
The earl didn’t know exactly what had happened, but he was fairly certain that Clay had said something wicked to his darling Kitty, for she was avoiding meeting his eye.
The earl was usually in control, but he rounded on Clay, who had just gotten off the ground and had begun shouting obscenities at Harry and wagging a warning finger.
He had the man by the throat before he knew what he was doing, and he seethed with determination. “I could kill you now. Strangle the life out of you, and no one would bother to mourn.”
Clay’s eyes bulged.
“That is not, however, what I am going to do. As you can see, the park is beginning to come to life. I don’t wish to create a scene with my fiancée and her friend here. However, they won’t always be looking on. I could choose the time and place and put you in the earth. Are we clear on that?” He shook the neck he had in his hands.
Clay attempted to nod.
“What I am going to do is this. I am going to let you go. You are going to set your sights on someone more deserving of you, and we shall forget this incident ever happened. You will never speak of it, or you will find one day retribution is bloody hell, for you will face me and I will have no compunction about beating you into a bloody mess, which is what I should like to do now.” The earl saw the surrender in Clay’s eyes and eased his hold, but apparently felt the man still needed punishing and gave him a hard, swift punch to his gut.
Clay doubled over.
“Now get the bloody hell out of my sight!”
Clay coughed but started off, and the earl turned to take Kitty into his arms.
~ Epilogue ~
“HAPPILY EVER AFTERS are in fairy tales,” Kitty told his lordship as they sat in a café in Paris and watched the fashionables pass by.
“Someone must have experienced something to its like for them to have written about it,” the earl offered and took her fingers to his lips.
“I wonder if Clay ever managed to find his marriage of convenience?” Kitty said.
“Ah, yes, I meant to tell you, but then it was our wedding day and I was distracted. I had a letter from a friend in Kent that told me Bickwerth had met the Kent heiress while she was in London, and there was a posting of the banns.”
“Oh, Minnie had mentioned her to me. I am so glad. It was something, at least, that they both wanted.”
“You are glad? He is despicable. Kitty, he slapped you. Had I known that, I would have killed him when I had my hands around his neck.”
“Then I am very glad you did not know it. You can’t go about killing people.”
“I can if they hurt my dear heart.”