Page 15 of A Deal with the Devil

Chapter Five

Spinster House was welcoming, bursting with flowers and the scents of tea and warm currant scones wafting from one of the drawing rooms.

Priya did not lead Kitty to the drawing room.

Instead, they climbed the stairs to Priya’s study, where Evie waited. The walls were painted with dramatic red dahlias, and there were gold candlesticks and gilded pots filled with orchids and jasmine. It smelled like earth and leaves and the tea cooling on the mahogany table: cinnamon and cardamom and other spices Kitty could not name. There were ledgers stacked on the windowsill behind her and a small statue of a cheerful man with an elephant’s head.

Someone had brought Evie a towel, for which Kitty was grateful. Evie was using it to wring water from her hair. “Kitty! There you are. Thank you for rescuing Galahad.”

Kitty set down the cage as Priya sat in a chair carved with lilies. Mr. Gallagher shut the door behind him and leaned against it, very much at his ease and also clearly very much her protector.

“Where’s the bloody knife I gave you?” he asked calmly, his Irish lilt soft. His blue eyes were not at all soft, though they were fond. Kitty was quite certain no one had ever looked at her that way in the whole of her life. Something too akin to envy prickled through her.

“I have this.” Priya held up one of the many gardening tools tucked into her thick apron. A clod of dirt fell directly on a sugared scone sitting on a painted porcelain plate that likely cost more than Kitty’s entire wardrobe. Priya did not notice.

“That’s a trowel, love,” Mr. Gallagher pointed out, amused. Mostly amused. Somewhat amused.

“It worked, didn’t it?” She stabbed at an imaginary enemy. “I do not care for that man.” Not so imaginary, then.

“Don’t worry, you have ten times more secrets in your little finger then he can even dream of,” he assured her.

She preened for a moment, a glimpse into her true self, before Lady Priya, director of the Spinster Society took hold again. Her posture changed, the tilt of her head. “Miss Kitty Caldecott.”

Kitty was getting tired of the way people said her name—suspicious, faintly derisive.

Even if she deserved it.

She nodded once, biting back every sharp comment she no longer had any right to make. This was a mess of her own making. She would take her just deserts. For Evie.

And because she was truly sorry, though no one was likely to believe her. And it changed nothing, not really.

“Is Clara here?” Kitty asked quietly.

“Clara is in Scotland on her honeymoon,” Priya said. “You’ll have to wait to apologize to her.”

Kitty had already apologized. But she was happy to do so again. As many times as it took. She missed her friend.

Evie frowned. “Why does she have to apologize?”

Kitty’s smile felt strained and desperate on her face. “Evie, please. Let it be.”

Evie did not stop frowning. If anything, she resorted to an outright scowl. “All my sister does is work at her shop selling books, where she has to put up with appallingly rude behavior. I assure you, she does not have time to do anything else, certainly nothing requiring an apology.”

If only that were true.

Priya, thankfully, only looked impressed. Some of the roiling panic in Kitty’s chest abated. Evie would not suffer for her mistakes.

“Evie,” Kitty said, “Lady Priya is quite right. I do owe someone an apology.” She looked at Priya pleadingly. “But I was told it would not affect the help my sister needs.” They could not wait for Clara to return from Scotland. That could take weeks. They did not have minutes even to spare.

After a considering moment, Priya sighed. “That is correct.”

Relief made Kitty’s exhalation loud and shaky. She swallowed it back. “Thank you.” Evie was still scowling. Kitty shook her head once, pleading. “My sister has drawn the unfortunate attention of Lord Portsmouth.”

Priya’s eyes narrowed. Mr. Gallagher swore under his breath. Evie started to look truly nervous, abruptly aware that her sister had not been overreacting.

“He came to our house at dawn with a carriage bound for Gretna Green.”

“He planned to abduct her.”