“Maybe Rebecca let them out.”Kendra looked to Trick.“Or Jason, if he went in there.”
Margaret shook her head.“Regardless, your grace, your room is upstairs.Upstairs, so high!I never considered—”
“There’s a tree branch not a foot from one of those windows,” Trick pointed out kindly.
“I’m so sorry!”Now Margaret looked panicked.“Please don’t send me away to live with strangers!”
“I’m not going to send you away,” Kendra said with a sigh, wishing she’d never mentioned the possibility before she’d had a new position secured.In the face of Margaret’s fears, she felt the anger seeping out of her.
If only the lust were waning as well.
She sighed again.“We’ll be moving to the chamber next door, so please cooperate with Lord Greystone’s valet.Oh, and bring me the gown I chose for supper, so I can change in the twins’ room once they’re ready.With any luck, this will be the last of our troubles.”
Not that luck had been in her favor lately.
Twenty-Five
Amy
BAREFOOT, AMYpadded across the room to open the wardrobe cabinet.
“Poor Kendra,” she mused as she pulled out the deep amethyst gown she’d brought for Christmas Eve.“I cannot imagine howcatsgot in there.”
“As she said, it’s a mystery,” Colin said lightly.
Too lightly, Amy thought.Turning to drape the dress over a chair, she slanted him a glance and caught the satisfied look on his face.
“You did it, didn’t you?”she accused with a gasp.“Somehow, while we were skating, you let cats into your sister’s room.”
“I did not,” he protested, looking entirely too innocent.
Only someone guilty could contrive to lookthatblameless.
Knowing him, she waited.
She didn’t have to wait long.“But Margaret might have,” he added with a hint of a devilish grin.
“Margaret?”
“Kendra’s maid, the short girl with the big blue eyes?I had to bribe her to get her to cooperate, but she seems to be enjoying our caper immensely.”
Amy’s first instinct was to righteously admonish him, but of course that was due to the tension between them.She’d known he was a shameless prankster when she married him.It was one of the many things she loved about him—no matter that she often claimed otherwise—and if their differences had been settled, she’d be laughing.
Instead, she tried and failed to hide a smile.“Pray tell, what is the aim of this caper?”
“To keep Kendra and Trick apart.We’ve strewn their room with pungent cheese, given them drinks to make them sleep, taken their door off its hinges—” When she gasped again, he grinned outright and shook his head.“Kendra brought this on herself.She should have known better than to discuss her love life in my hearing.”
“She didn’t know you were there,” Amy protested mildly.“And this last prank was mean.You’ve seen how much cats make her sneeze.”
He shrugged.“Harmless fun, and I’ve been sorely in need of fun.”Her guilt sparked, she opened her mouth to retort, but he held up a hand.“Perhaps it has gone far enough.I’m done.I’ll leave them alone tonight.Just tell me you’re willing to keep this quiet until I’m ready to reveal the truth.”
“Of course I am,” she said, reaching behind her back to tug at her laces.“I wouldn’t dream of destroying your amusement.I only wonder why she and Trick haven’t figured out what’s been going on.”
“I expect they’re consumed with other thoughts,” he said, one eyebrow raised suggestively.“Can I help you with that?”Without waiting for an answer, he stepped behind her and changed the subject.“Next Christmas, we’ll be able to bring all of our attendants to Jason’s place.”
“Where they’ll get lost in Cainewood’s ninety-eight rooms once again,” she predicted with a little laugh.“But I don’t mind not having Agnes here.She was so happy to spend Christmas with her family.”Feeling his deft fingers loosen her laces reminded her of their first weeks together, when they’d started their married life with only Benchley on their staff.“And I suppose it’s not so bad having you take her place for a while.”
“I’m enjoying taking her place.”He swept her hair aside and kissed her neck, partially dissolving the frisson of vexation she often felt with him these days.“It was a lovely day,” he murmured against her skin.“Thank you for not arguing with Aidan.”
