His Christmas Countess

‘You look more sophisticated,’ Grant said at last, when she thought she would go dizzy from holding her breath.

‘Is that code for older?’ She hoped it was. She wanted to look as different as possible from that wide-eyed, unsophisticated girl who had been the bait to catch a lord in a blackmailer’s snare.

‘Just a trifle.’ Grant seemed to have relaxed, lids heavy over his green eyes. ‘It certainly makes you look more...experienced.’ There was a wealth of hidden meaning in the one, drawled, word.

He likes it. That was a relief.

‘Maman!’ Charlie appeared, at the run as usual, skidded to a halt and stared. Then he circled her, just as his father had done, but with his mouth open.

Grant laughed. ‘Your maman has had a haircut. Fancy, isn’t it?’

‘It’s prime!’ Charlie approved. ‘Is it for London?’

‘It is.’ Grant’s gaze met hers over the boy’s head. ‘I’m glad you are getting into the spirit of the London expedition, Kate. It is past your bedtime, Charlie, off you go.’

‘I’m doing my best.’ She bent to kiss the boy before he ran off to the stairs, then slid her hand through the crook of her husband’s elbow and leaned in a little, enjoying the smell of leather and the hint of coffee and the familiar, beloved scent that was simply Grant. She had been away all day and she had missed him, even for those few hours.

He turned his head from watching Charlie’s retreating form, looked down at her and became very still. His eyes, which were usually green, darkened to hazel, as they did when he was tired, or angry or aroused. And this was definitely arousal, reacting to something he saw in her expression. ‘Kate.’

Her chest was so tight that her lungs felt hollow. He was going to kiss her, here and now in the hallway, and she was going to say it, tell him she loved him, and she could not, must not. Not when she was lying to him, deceiving him. ‘Of course, it will mean a great strain on my dress allowance and my pin money.’ She fluttered her eyelashes outrageously. ‘Will you increase it, or will you be mean and beat me if I overspend?’

‘I might do both,’ Grant said, low-voiced. ‘I might increase it so you may buy outrageous garments and then spank you just for the hell of it.’ His expression promised considerably more pleasure than pain and she knew he was not a man who would raise a hand to a woman in anger. Was spanking another of those erotic games he was beginning to show her?

‘That sounds interesting,’ Kate murmured. ‘But you’d have to chase me first.’

‘That can be arranged.’ Grant looked up. ‘Yes, Grimswade, what is it?’

‘Should I tell the kitchen to put dinner back, my lady, seeing as you have only just got in?’

‘Goodness, is that the time?’ For a moment she had thought the butler had overheard Grant and was suggesting delaying dinner while she was pursued around the bedchamber by a playful husband. Really, she must get a grip on her imagination! ‘I’ll go straight up now. Don’t inconvenience Cook, thank you, Grimswade.’

‘Thank you, my lady.’

‘Coward,’ Grant whispered in her ear as she passed him.

If only you knew, my love. Pray heaven that you never do.

Chapter Eighteen

December 15—Grosvenor Street, London

‘More treasures?’

Kate nodded to Wilson and waited until the maid closed the bedchamber door behind her before she answered. Grant was standing at the foot of the bed and eyeing the heap of packets and bandboxes that the footmen had just brought up. She rather thought he was on the verge of smiling, but she could not be certain—after all, she had spent almost a week doing nothing else but shop.

‘Yes. And you have bought a stack of neckcloths and at least two waistcoats, and a new evening suit and three pairs of boots.’

‘I have.’ Yes, his mouth was just twitching at the corner.

‘One has to dress,’ Kate drawled, risking it. ‘At least that was what I heard one lady say to another while I was in the fitting room at Mrs Bell’s.’

‘That is absolutely true. Think what a spectacle Bond Street would be if one did not.’

‘Especially if Prinny was on the strut.’

Grant shuddered. ‘I did not need that image being put into my mind, thank you!’ He picked up a large flat box from the floor. ‘And what does this contain?’