“Fitch, are you certain you—” She watched as a footman carried a full pail of water out of the dining room and another entered with an empty one. “Why are they carrying pails into the dining room?” she asked.
“Nothing for you to worry about, my lady.”
Katie ignored him and pushed the doors to the chamber open. The footman with the empty pail had just placed it in the center of the table. As Katie watched, a large drop of water formed on the ceiling and made atunksound as it landed in the wooden pail. “What’s this?” she cried. “What is leaking above this chamber?”
“It’s the roof, my lady,” the footman said. Then he glanced over her shoulder and abruptly closed his mouth. “Excuse me, my lady.”
Katie turned and saw Fitch looking innocent behind her. “The roof above the dining room leaks? Did you know about this?”
“I was only just made aware, my lady. Apparently, this section of the house was added later, and the roof was not properly sealed.”
“Does my father know?”
“I have written to him of it, my lady. I assure you, it will be seen to.”
Katie didn’t know why, but she didn’t believe Fitch. His eyes slid to the side when he spoke, and his mouth curved upward. She couldn’t help but feel he was not telling her the whole truth. She wanted to say more, but what was the point? Fitch was hiding something from her, and asking more questions would only make her sound shrill, not result in answers.
Katie excused herself and retired to her bedchamber. The leaking dining room was yet another problem she could blame on the Duke of Carlisle, she thought as she sat at her dressing table and pulled pins from her damp hair. Did other sections of the house leak? Perhaps she should investigate after she—
Katie gasped as she spotted a figure in the mirror. She didn’t usually look in the mirror when she sat before it. She didn’t like to see her birthmark and avoided her reflection as much as possible. But the movement had caught her eye, and now she spun around and gaped as a man on the roof tapped on her window.
Was it a man working on the dining room roof? But her chamber was not near the dining room.
The man leaned down and looked into her room, and that was when she recognized him. Carlisle.
He waved at her, and Katie almost glanced over her shoulder. Why on earth was he waving at her as though they had just passed each other on Bond Street?
He tapped on her window again, and she didn’t know what to do but go to the window, unlatch it, and push it open. “What are you doing?”
“Finally. Thank you.” Instead of answering her question, he pulled the other side of the window open and sailed into the room with surprising agility. Katie took a step back then glanced at her door. It was closed, and he was between her and the door. He turned back to the windows and closed and latched them. That was the moment she should have raced past him and escaped. Instead, she stood rooted in place, unable to look away from him.
His wavy hair was curly now, and pressed close to his head, which made his features appear quite stark. She was surprised at his angular cheekbones and full pink lips. His eyes, a light blue, looked large in his face under wet lashes. His clothing clung to his body, his coat flat against his back. And his breeches…
Katie raised her eyes quickly. His breeches were quite damp and indecently fitted.
“My mother said this was your chamber, and she was right. Sorry to drip on your rug.” He gestured to the hearth, where a low fire burned. “May I?”
“I…”
He went to the fire and warmed his hands. Katie found herself staring at the back of his thighs. How did he have muscles there? He turned, and she quickly looked away.
“Your mother told you this was my chamber? Did she know you planned to break in?”
“I didn’t break in. I knocked. You opened the window.” He spoke matter-of-factly, as though everything he’d done was reasonable. How very like a duke.
“Why didn’t you come to the door, like a civilized person?” She knew the answer even before she finished the question. He’d called on her several times, and each time she was either not at home or told Fitch to say she was not at home.
“I tried that. I happened to mention my lack of success getting past your butler to my mother, and she pointed out your window to me.”
“Yourmotherencouraged you to accost me this way?”
“Of course not. We were walking by, and she merely pointed out that this was your room and reminded me this used to be my sister Edith’s room. Is that tea?” He pointed to a tray her lady’s maid had left with a pot of tea and her half-empty cup. As she watched in disbelief, he lifted her cup, sipped, and made a considering face. “Better than the oolong my mother drinks, but it’s a bit sweet for me.” Regardless, he took another sip—ofhertea! “As I was saying, this used to be Edith’s room, and of course, as soon as I remembered that, I thought of how when Edith was ten she was completely horse mad. Well, she was always horse mad. She still is horse mad, but I believe her tenth year was the pinnacle.”
“I don’t see what this has to do with anything. I think you should leave.”
“I just arrived. I’m not even dry, and you would send me back into the cold and wet?” He sipped her tea again. “As I was saying, she was completely horse mad, and she wanted to ride all the time. She especially enjoyed riding in the early morning, but my father told her she might not ride without a groom, and he couldn’t spare any until later in the day.”
“I don’t care about this story.”
