Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Kate

Her chin notched up at the denial she already saw shining in Jack's eyes.

Kate knew it was a big ask. But she'd seen the way Lord Bancroft looked at Anna. And in her mind, she could convince the man to marry her sister.

Not only would that make Anna feel safer, it would free Kate to…

What was it that she wanted?

She wished for a chance to free herself of her parents' selfish love that always made her feel like a victim, and she wished to take charge of her own life.

Would that mean she'd become a spinster? Perhaps.

But her father had taught her that men were not always protectors and maybe she'd be better off being on her own.

But first she had to prove to herself that she could take care of the problems she might face.

She was tired of relying on other people.

"Stay?" His mouth tightened. "I don't think?—"

"Anna should go. But I wish?—"

"Kate," his hand slid away from her skin. "I am not looking for a wife. I don't want you to think?—"

She cocked her head. "Who said anything about marriage?"

"I…" he started. "I just assumed."

She gestured down at the pants. "These are not the clothes of a woman looking for a husband. I want to fight. I want to help win and then…" She lifted a shoulder. "Then I'll see what comes next."

His mouth opened and then closed. "You don't want to marry?"

"I'm not certain."

"In general, or me specifically?"

That caught her attention. She stared at him, attempting to understand where this conversation had taken a turn. "What does it matter?"

"A man wishes to know."

She stood then, the space small enough that their bodies were only a small distance apart. An inch at most. "When you told me you weren't looking for a wife, did you mean that in general or are you not interested in me?"

Once again, his mouth opened and then closed. "I…"

She scooted past him, her arm brushing his chest as she went by.

A tremor of something warm and delicious passed through her, but she kept moving to return the comb to its small drawer.

"You are a lovely woman," he started again. She closed the drawer and turned back to face him. "Beautiful."

Kate blinked, really not understanding how they'd gotten to this point in the conversation. He'd gone from protesting marriage to singing her praises.

What had changed? The only thing she could think of was that she'd rejected his assumption that she wished to marry. "Thank you. It's very kind of you to say."

"I'm not being kind." He started to move closer. "No one mistakes me for kind."

That made her brows lift as her lips parted. "Are we discussing the man who just carried me in his lap for over an hour?"

He stopped, quirking a smile. "Again. You are quite beautiful."

She shook her head. "So you were kind to me because I'm attractive and not because you're a good man who cares for women he's never met?"

His mouth twitched. Was he amused or annoyed? She couldn't say.

"I…"

"It doesn't matter, Jack Wit. You have already informed me, you're not the marrying kind. I have clearly stated I do not wish to marry you. Just get my revenge and perhaps my independence. We are of the same mind, which is why you ought to let me stay."

"You're not staying."

Now he was scowling. There was no mistaking his expression.

"Why not?"

"You're very beautiful."

"So you've said. It's getting tiresome, honestly."

He did smile at that. "This is a boat of all men. It wouldn't be safe for you."

She crossed her arms. "Really? You would not keep me safe?" But she understood the problem. She wouldn't really be independent if she relied on him for protection. And his point about men outweighing and outmuscling her was sound.

"I…"

She could say this. She seemed to be doing a reasonably good job of flummoxing him. "I've heard all you've said. I don't disagree. It's just…"

"What?"

"You know of my father. How can I trust a man with my care?" She was asking a very personal question of a man who was a near stranger. But with all he knew of her and all he'd seen, she supposed she trusted him with the truth.

He rubbed a hand down his jaw. "That's an excellent question. Honestly, I know my fair share about shit fathers. They do leave their marks, don't they?"

"They do." She looked down with a smile, glad for the common ground but not sure she should ask more.

He moved closer again, stopping in front of her, his fingertips coming to her cheek once again.

She wasn't afraid of his touch. If anything, it made her shiver with some longing that she'd never experienced before.

"Yours ran your family into the ground, yes? Financially?" Jack asked.

"Yes."

"And then he tried to trade Isabelle for money?"

"And I am the next commodity because they've run out of funds…again."

He frowned. "My father left me loads of money, property, and titles."

"Titles?"

"Right. Sorry. Earl of Foxcroft, at your service."

Kate started, pulling back a bit. Why that changed things, she couldn't say, but his worry she might wish to wed him made so much more sense. She swallowed down a lump, attempting to recover. "So what made him terrible then?"

"Every day we both existed on this planet, he reminded me that he wished anyone else was inheriting what he'd built."

Kate gasped. That was a different kind of cruel than her father. He loved her as much as he was able. "That's horrid."

"It is, rather, isn't it?" His fingers stroked over her jaw and then tickled along the column of her neck.

"Why would he do that?"

Jack grimaced. "He claims I'm a bastard."

She gasped in a breath. Even if it were true, why would his father punish him for that?

"The point I wished to make," he skated his fingers over her collarbone to trace her shoulder, "is that I don't want to marry because it's what's expected of me as the holder of the title. But I'm not one to do as I'm told."

She shrugged, liking the way her movement made his fingers dance over her skin even more. "He'd want you to marry then?"

He started, his hand dropping. "I'm not sure, actually."

"Perhaps he actually wished for you never to marry so that the title would go to some cousin. An actual blood relative."

Jack stopped, his hand dropping. How had she known? "You're right. He didn't want me to join the service either. I'd always assumed it was because he wanted me to keep up the fa?ade of his heir. But then why wouldn't I reproduce?"

"Have you been successful in the military?"

"I have."

"So, it's made you a man of worth?" She assessed him, the intelligence that shined in her eyes making him pause.

"I suppose it has." He cocked his head to the side. "Because you're right. He didn't wish for me to produce an heir. He would have liked nothing more than my untimely death. That wouldn't have reflected on him, but me. And appearances were even more important to him than blood lines."

She reached up this time and touched him. She'd never been so bold, but this felt like the moment to be so. He brought something out in her…

Running her fingers down his shoulder and arm, she moved a touch closer. "I think you'll be happiest when you don't think about what he might want or not want at all. Just do what makes you happy."

His hand hooked her waist then and he pulled her close.

She'd been in his lap for the better part of the night, but it hadn't felt like this. Their bodies touching, their breath mingling, Kate knew she was crossing some bridge, though she wasn't exactly certain where it led.

"What would make me happy right now is to kiss you." Her held her face in his hand, leaning so close, she could feel the heat of him. "If that's all right with you."

All right?

She'd wanted to be kissed for years. Dreamed of it. And somehow today of all days felt like the perfect day.

She'd just decided to leave her old self behind and become this new braver person. And brave people just kissed when they felt like it. "It's all right."

He moved even closer, his mouth hovering just above hers.

"How come you're not kissing me," she asked, their eyes locked as heat filled her cheeks.

"Because," he answered, neither leaning in nor pulling away. "I think this might change everything."

She didn't know about that. Other than she'd go from a woman who'd never been kissed to one who kissed handsome strangers after dashing rescues.

She'd become a woman who did as she pleased instead of what she was told. And she'd become…

Perhaps it would change everything.

But just as he tilted his chin, closing the distance between them, a scream pierced the night.

"Anna," she gasped.

He jerked away, grabbing her hand as he tugged her toward the door.