Page 41 of Gone With the Rogue
Garrett needed to do that, too. He’d spent the better part of three days in the saddle, but he had to see Julia.
He heard a door open and shut. His gaze zeroed in on the doorway to the drawing room as he heard light footsteps hurrying down the corridor. When she entered, Garrett took a step forward, but then stopped. She was flushed and out of breath. Her long-sleeved, cheerless widow’s garb was gone. She wore a dress of crisp, light blue muslin embellished with narrow bands of white satin ribbon at the waistline and hem.The low, rounded neckline showed the pillow-soft rise of her breasts. Capped sleeves showed her beautifully trim arms. Her shiny chestnut-colored hair was pulled up at the sides and hung down the back of her shoulders.
She’d never looked more beautiful. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her for as long as he wanted. If she’d been any other widow he could have. Just his being there for the second time could put her at risk—would put her at risk. That’s why Urswick had to find a way to make sense of the ledger.
“Lady Kitson,” he said with a nod of his head.
“Mr. Stockton.” She walked farther into the room and stopped on the far side of the fireplace. “I was outside with Chatwyn. I take it you received my note.”
Garrett grimaced. “Yes. I came straight here from my office.” He walked over to stand closer to her. “Did you have information for me?”
She glanced at the doorway and then returned softly, “Yes. The duke is better. I fear he’ll be up to traveling by the end of the week.”
“Time is short.”
“Yes.”
Garrett sensed movement in the corridor and it wasn’t York. It had to be the housekeeper. “I’m sorry to report that your butterfly net hasn’t been repaired yet. The man I left it with didn’t realize it was the duke’s, and he hasn’t put any time into it.”
He motioned toward the doorway with his head. Julia acknowledged him with a deep breath.
“It’s kind of you to stop by and let me know about it. Just today I heard the duke should be traveling to London soon.” She spoke calmly and moved awayfrom him and more toward the farthest side of the room. “I’m sorry to hear it’s not ready. However, there’s another reason I’m glad you stopped by.”
He followed her, but didn’t take his eyes off the doorway. “What’s that?”
“Someone made a gift of fabrics and sewing supplies to the girls’ school. I was wondering if that might have been you?”
“Yes,” he answered. “I hope it was all right.”
“It was an enormously extravagant donation for the school, Mr. Stockton.”
“You have a sewing school. It was cloth and thread. How can that be extravagant?”
“It was more than that, really,” she said, a little tersely. “I can’t imagine what you were thinking.”
He lowered his gaze to her lips and thought how much he wanted to kiss them. It didn’t bother him at all that she was a little miffed at him for his gift. It made her all the more delightful. “My pardon for doing something charitable for a charitable school.”
She stared at him sternly, and whispered, “It’s not the gift, but did you pay for it or did you find it adrift at sea?”
Garrett had to admit that the question surprised him. “You think I stole the things I gave to the girls?”
“I don’t know,” she stated, clearly unsure of her condemning question. “However, I must admit it crossed my mind that you might have. You can’t make the school a party to your ill-gotten gains.”
Garrett and his men had risked their lives to take the grain off a foundering ship. They could have gone to the bottom of the ocean with it or caught the fever that had killed all who were onboard. And they didn’t take a penny for their efforts but gave it all away.
“The answer is no.” Garrett slowly scoffed out a laugh as he looked around the room, finding it hard to believe the woman he desired like no other thought he was a real pirate. Taking from the wealthy to give to the unfortunate. York woofed and Garrett looked back to the doorway. He sensed that whoever was there had walked away.
The truth was that Julia wasn’t all wrong about him. There were things he’d done that he wasn’t proud of, and his gentleman father wouldn’t have approved of. Life was a series of choices and he’d never met a man who always chose the right one.
“You really think I’m a pirate, don’t you?”
He watched her shoulders relax a little. “No. Maybe. Sometimes, I suppose. You are dangerous. I really don’t know what to think about you other than I can’t stop thinking about you.” She walked closer to him and lifted her hand as if to touch him, but thinking better of it, she lowered her arm. “But even if you did—”
“No, Julia,” he interrupted her quickly. “There is noif. I didn’t. I paid for every needle I sent to the school.”
“I believe you,” she whispered.
“You can relax a little,” he said. “Whoever was lingering at the door has left.”
