She was relieved he didn’t have a woman on his lap, as one of the other men did. He seemed intent on the game and nothing else.
The crowd around the players hushed as more people noticed Katie. Carlisle, seeming to sense the change in atmosphere, looked up. His gaze collided with hers, and there was a worldof emotion in that brief moment. She saw regret, shame, embarrassment. She hoped he only saw love and understanding in her gaze. He dropped his cards and stood, looking very much like a child caught in the midst of a prank.
And suddenly, it occurred to her that he didn’t want to see forgiveness in her eyes now. What he wanted was strength. What he needed was for her to show him he was not alone and that she could stand beside him, take his burdens.
Katie squared her shoulders. “You wouldn’t come out to me, so I have come in to you,” she said, notching her chin up defiantly.
“Go home,” he said. “This is no place for you.” His voice was harsh, cold. He hadn’t ever spoken to her in that tone before. He was giving her a test, one she was determined not to fail.
“I won’t leave without you.”
He shook his head. “We’ll discuss it later. At home.” Carlisle sat back down and picked up his cards.
Katie assumed that was her cue to exit. She might be put off by his tone, but that was what he wanted. If he thought she would give up so easily, he didn’t know her at all. Katie crossed her arms and planted her feet. “I’m not leaving.”
“Can we continue the game?” one of the other players asked.
“Let’s play!” another chimed in.
“You’ll have to play without the duke,” Katie said, using her most authoritative voice. “I need to speak with him.”
“Listen, woman. Here you keep your mouth shut or you leave,” the man beside Carlisle said. “Take your disfigured face and go.”
The stinging behind her eyes grew worse, but she didn’t move. Instead, she looked down her nose at the man until he finally lowered his eyes and looked away.
Across from her, Carlisle slowly set his cards down. “I suggest you hold your tongue, man. That is my duchess you address.”
A collective gasp swept through the room. No one had thought the Duchess of Carlisle would deign to enter a place like this.
Another man at the table, the one with the woman on his knee, leaned back. “She’sthe duchess? What happened to her face?”
Katie didn’t know what happened next. Carlisle roared, and the next thing she knew the table had flipped over and fists were flying. Ebenezer had his arm about Katie and shoved her into the corridor before she could so much as cry out. He took her arm and pulled her away. “Wait!” she said, trying to free herself from his grasp. “Carlisle!”
“I’ll go back for him, Your Grace.”
“Leave me and go now. He could be injured!”
“I doubt that, Your Grace.” But Ebenezer looked toward the exit and back at the commotion coming from the door of the room at the other end. “I’ll go back if you promise to stay outside.”
“Fine. Bring him to me.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Katie hurried down the corridor and out the door, stepping back into the cold and the rain. She wrapped her arms about her body, trying to keep warm as what seemed an eternity ticked away. Finally, the door swung open again and Ebenezer emerged with Carlisle leaning against him. The duke looked up at her, blood trickling from his temple, and Katie let out a small gasp that turned into an angry growl.
“I’m fine,” he said.
She grasped his face between her hands. “You’re bleeding. Does it hurt?”
“The other man looks worse.”
“Give me a few minutes and we’ll see about that. I’m angry enough to flay you alive.”
His eyes widened, and then he blinked as blood dripped across his lashes. Katie winced. “I hope you don’t expect me to thank you for defending my honor. I wouldn’t have needed defending if you hadn’t dragged me here.”
“Me?Draggedyou?”
“Don’t speak. Ebenezer, get us a room so I might treat His Grace’s injury. Not here,” she said when the manservant started toward the front entrance. “One of the other inns.”
