Once Upon A Diamond (A sweet Regency Historical Romance) Read online

  She could never tell him who she was of course. He probably knew the duke. Oh, what a mess! She needed to proceed to her destination quickly.

  “Well,” she said, rather perplexed, “if you must know, I do need to be on my way as soon as possible.”

  “No! You cannot manage on your own!” His booming command caused her to jump.

  She blinked. “No?”

  “No.” In two long strides he was beside her, his expression tight and determined. “Give me your word you will not leave this room until I return.”

  Kate sensed that this was one battle she would not win. What in the world was wrong with the man? “Oh, very well, but let me tell you something, I have never–”

  He pointed a stiff finger at her, interrupting her like some schoolteacher. “I had no wish to inform you of this, but a servant girl was found strangled to death last night.”

  Kate gasped. “I didn’t know.”

  “So, as I see it, you will adhere to my rules. Do you understand, young lady?”

  “Rules?” Her eyes narrowed as she caught his meaning. This was too much. “Who do you think you are telling me about rules?”

  “You are under my protection now, whether you like it or not, and you will do well to listen. A young female should never go about without an escort. I don’t know what they do in America, but this is England. Do we understand each other?”

  He raised that mocking black brow again, slammed the door, and was gone before she could tell him a thing or two about understanding each other.

  “Well, what does he know about America anyway?”

  She stomped her foot and watched in awe as her parrot shrugged its wings without saying a word.

  Chapter Five

  At breakfast when Kate’s temper had time to cool, she studied the handsome man across from her. A strange spark of recognition skidded through her brain. Her manners had been quite shocking the past twenty-four hours. She finally realized she needed to introduce herself properly. Perhaps he would keep quiet about her stay at the inn.

  They were sitting at the same table from the previous night. Sunlight spilled through the windows, falling across the few tables that were occupied by some of the locals in the area. The room was warm and smelled of fresh bread.

  The low murmur of last night’s deaths made its way to her ears, and she tried to eat as if nothing was wrong. But her stomach still turned at the horrid memories.

  And this handsome earl did nothing to quell her already turbulent emotions.

  “Handsome,” the earl suddenly uttered.

  “Huh?” Kate dropped a piece of sausage onto her lap and fumbled with a crumb of bread for her bird.

  “Handsome is sleeping near the hearth.” The earl gestured toward the fire. His eyes lit with amusement, as if he knew what she had been thinking.

  “Oh.” She blushed and turned her gaze toward the dog. “I thought, well, never mind.”

  Feeling the heat creeping up her neck, she grabbed her cup of hot chocolate and sipped. “Do you know that we have not been properly introduced? I do not even know your name.”

  He smiled. “Formality? After all we’ve been through?”

  She graced him with one of her best smiles and set down her fork. “Indeed. I believe you have the advantage of me, sir.”

  He grinned, showing her a set of perfect white teeth that seemed to hold her in a hypnotic trance. “Lord Lancewood at your service. Lancewood or even Tristan would do.”

  Kate smiled sweetly. “Ah.” Good heavens, not that Lancewood! Her heart beat double time. Now, she knew she was going to die.

  She almost choked on her food. A wave of pure panic swept through her. No! He could not be the same Tristan her cousin Devin knew. Not the same boy she’d almost killed ten years ago? This man was much larger. Much more...manly. Much more...everything!

  She grabbed her drink and gulped down the remainder of the warm chocolate, then slowly lifted her gaze back toward the earl. His father must have died for him to inherit the title.

  For an instant, she felt sorry for the man. But that feeling was immediately squelched when two curious emerald eyes returned her stare, two familiar pools of sparkling green that had belonged to a teenage boy, and now belonged to a man. A powerful, determined man.

  She dropped her gaze to her plate. “Tristan, did you say?”

  Again, as if second-guessing her thoughts, her lids swept upward as she examined the emerald jewels more closely. He nodded. Her fingers tensed beneath the table.

  How could she have not known who he was? She must have been daft last night. Yet being so sick and tired, and having had a man fall dead at her feet, she probably had no notion half of what she was doing or seeing, until now.

  Though she had only seen her cousin’s friend once when she had visited long ago, once had been quite enough. Of course, she had been a child then.

  She searched for something to say, but a small whisper, sounding very much like her brother’s voice, invaded her conscience. You should have kept Mrs. Hollingsworth with you and gone straight to Ridgewater Manor.

  “Since I know you so well,” she paused, realizing the situation was simply absurd, “I shall call you Tristan, if you don’t mind.”

  Good grief! Tristan was not proper at all. And know him well? What was she thinking? She had almost killed him.

  She fought the panic rising in her throat. She should have never borrowed her cousin’s horse ten years ago. Never.

  “Tristan. Lancewood. You have more courage than most men I know, hence, you may call me anything you wish.”

  He flashed her one of those heavenly grins, and she felt as if she were going to die. He probably knew he would never see her again. Evidently the man had no memory of her now, but would he later? It didn’t matter what kind of courage she had shown last night.

  What a fool she’d been!

  “Enjoying breakfast?” he asked.

  She gave him another sweet, lying smile. “It’s heaven.” It was hell!

  When he rose from his seat, she stiffened.

  “I need to see if the road’s clear of the fallen tree. Finish your breakfast. I won’t be a minute.”

  She nodded. Take an entire lifetime! “No need to hurry. I will be quite all right.” I think I’m going to die!

  She watched him take his leave, and her fingers shook as she tightened her grip on her empty glass. It was a decade later. Who would remember?

  The mingled scents of horses and hay swirled in her head as if it were yesterday.

  Her father had been seated in her aunt’s drawing room and peered over the daily paper when he saw her run by. “Katherine Josephine, no wandering far, young lady.”

  She skidded to a stop and hurried to her father’s side, kissing his cheek. “Oh, I won’t go far, Papa. I’m only going to the stables. Do you want me to stay with you?”

  Robert’s eyes twinkled. “Why no, poppet. You run along. Don’t worry about me.”

  “You don’t mind if I ride, do you, Papa?”

  “Ride? You’ve been riding horses since you were four. I suppose Devin has been corralled into chaperoning you. And his friend, Tristan, eh? Go show those English boys what you’re made of, darling.”

  She gave him a smile that reached from ear to ear. “I will, Papa. Oh, I will!”

  In fact, the only thing that had caught her eye since she had been in England had been her cousin’s magnificent horse. The sleek, black animal mesmerized her. And though the mere thought of mounting the tall beast was laughable, the very notion of riding it was wonderful. Perhaps England wasn’t so bad after all.

  In the stables, she hid behind a stack of hay until the groom left, then with only a bit of difficulty, she mounted the black beast, which had already been saddled. She sat astride, laughing to herself. Devin must have had plans. Too bad she was here first. He and that Tristan boy were probably talking about girls again. They didn’t want to be her friend at all. They thought she was a baby. Well, she would sho
w them she didn’t need them at all.

  She raced the horse as though a knight on a mission, bursting past the stable doors and scattering everything in her path. She missed seeing the two teenage boys walking toward the stables, their mouths dropping open in shock.

  Minutes later she spied a sparkling lake and dismounted. After splashing cool water on her face and resting against a nearby boulder, she jerked in surprise when two angry hands squeezed her shoulders. “Katherine Wilcox, you’ve gone too far this time. Too far indeed.”

  Her heart lodged in her throat. “Devin!”

  Without another word of warning, her cousin picked her up and shook her. Pink ruffles and white lace circled the air as if she were a flag flapping in the wind.

  She let out a high-pitched scream that scattered the birds from the tall oaks. “Let me go! You let me go! My Papa won’t like this!” She kicked and shrieked to no avail. Devin was not about to let her down. His gaze was so hot he could have melted ice as he glared at her.

  “You little witch. My mother would have a bout of apoplexy if she knew what you’ve done. Do you ever think of anyone but yourself? What do you think you were doing?”

  She flinched. She didn’t want Aunt Georgiana worrying. But she wouldn’t admit anything to her cousin now. “I was riding a horse! What do you think I was doing? Swimming?”

  She realized her error in speaking back to him almost immediately.

  “Do you know what could have happened to you? You...you could have been killed!”

  Her chest began to ache. They didn’t understand. They thought her some delicate girl who did nothing but play pianoforte, paint, and drink tea in the nursery. After Mama had died, she didn’t want to do those girl things anymore. She wanted to be like Papa and Matthew.

  “Your father should take you over his knee,” Devin went on. “He doesn’t need to lose you too, you know.”

  Her father? She gulped. Fear clawed at her heart as her cousin dangled her three feet above the ground. She was being rattled like a toy and probably deserved it. Her father would probably do worse. He loved her, but didn’t tolerate her dangerous stunts. She knew she would be twisting his words around if she told the boys her father had said she could ride.

  But drat it all. She had been bored. And the boys were probably right in taking her to task. Yet she did have her pride after all.

  Biting her lip, she cast a sideways glance at that Tristan boy. Her eyes narrowed. He had a told-you-so grin on his face that she wanted to slap off with a big ball of mud.

  However she looked at it, she was in deep trouble. But within seconds, a grand idea sprang to her brain. She would play possum. Yes. Why did she not think of that before? She had tried it once with Matthew when he had scolded her for playing with her father’s gun, and it had worked quite well.

  She applauded her wonderful thinking with an inward smile. Eyes closed, body limp, she bit her cheek, trying to stifle the giggle that began to bubble its way up her throat.

  “Katherine?” she heard Devin call to her as he settled her wilted form onto the ground. It was working splendidly. Joy of joy, her cousin’s voice held just the right amount of fear.

  “Katherine, dash it all. Say something!”

  Good. Mr. Lord Cousin was scared. He should be after the way he rattled her. She did feel a bit guilty. Devin and his friend weren’t that bad. But they thought her a baby, and that was unforgiveable. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard footsteps beside her.

  “Perhaps she’s dead, Devin. By George, perhaps you killed the poor thing.”

  “Jupiter, perhaps I did.”

  Kate carefully cracked open one eye. That Tristan boy was holding her head, and there was a dangerous glint in those devil-like eyes that made her stomach churn. To her horror, he scooped her up as if she were a sack of flour.

  “Perhaps we should throw her into the lake.” His voice echoed against the wind, and an icy chill began to spread through her. The lake!

  “You know, Devin, if she isn’t dead, I have heard a little shock to the body does wonders to wake one out of a stupor of this sort.”

  A stupor? What was that? Her stomached coiled at the thought of being dumped in the lake. She heard her cousin move to her side.

  “It might help. But it would be best if you throw her only a short way, mind you. I have no wish to get my clothes wet if I should have to retrieve her. Boots are new. Bought them at Hoby’s.”

  Kate’s muscles tensed. Who cared what Mr. Hoby said anyway?

  She winced when that boy holding her began moving faster and faster, bouncing her up and down with every step. The sound of a boot splashing in the cold lake water made her grimace. She pushed her hands against his chest.

  “Wait a minute! You put me down at once! At once, I say!” She began to kick the air. “I am not dead!”

  Good grief. The boy didn’t flinch.

  “Not dead?” he said in surprise. “Why princess, you could have fooled me?”

  A grin spread across his face as he set her on her feet, away from the water. “But of course, milady, anything for a bit of pink fluff. Anything at all.” He gave her a mocking bow while his black hair grazed her face.

  Devin howled with laughter, falling to the ground and slapping his fist against the earth in a hysterical frenzy. “Princess! Pink fluff! Dash it, Trist! That was magnificent!”

  Kate felt the blood rush to her head. She was mortified. She stared at the impressive horse that stood beside the tree stump. She squeezed her eyes tight and burst into tears.

  Most boys hated tears. Even Matthew.

  All laughing stopped abruptly. The two boys stared at her in disbelief. She had been told that a true English gentleman never made a female cry. It was bred into them at birth. She would take advantage of their breeding and beat them at their own game.

  “Now, look what you’ve done,” Devin spat as he turned to Tristan. “You made her cry!”

  Tristan paled. “Me? Why you were the one...never mind.”

  Frowning, he took a step forward and held Kate’s hand. “I apologize, Katherine.” He used every form of regret he could think of to make her stop weeping.

  Inwardly smiling, Kate pulled him toward her desired destination - the tree stump.

  He was still mumbling apologies to her as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

  The next moment she raised her foot and jabbed it into Tristan’s boot. That sent him hopping, but it was the jolt to his chest that toppled him to the ground with a thud. Having an older brother to wrestle with at home helped at times like these. Seeing that the boy lay on the ground, not moving an inch, she took a flying leap onto the tree stump and mounted the stallion, riding off with her cousin’s angry words rattling in her ears.

  “Katherine! I order you to come back here this instant!”

  She let out a laugh. But a second later, her nose wrinkled into a frown. Tristan had not looked happy. Before he had hit the dirt, those emerald eyes had glared at her in a most unseemly manner. Had he twisted his foot after he tripped on that rock?

  The more she thought about it, the more she realized those eyes had never opened. She glanced over her shoulder at his still form and her stomach churned. She gulped, trying to keep down her last meal. She had killed him! Oh, oh, the horrifying thought made her ill.

  She deserved whatever punishment her father handed out!

  Kate’s fork clattered onto her plate the moment Tristan returned to the table. With trembling hands, she gave Handsome a piece of sausage.

  “Everything’s in order,” he said.

  Disorder you mean. Even though Tristan had lived, she had heard he had injured his foot in that accident. The notion had haunted her for years.

  What a spoiled little girl she had been then. She had felt terrible about what she had done. She truly had. But the man didn’t seem to be limping now, did he?

  “Has the tree been moved?” she asked, barely able to utter any words at all.

  “Tre
e’s been lifted. Road was slightly damaged in the storm, but it’s passable. I needed to check on it just the same. You could see how dangerous things were from your fall outside your carriage yesterday.”

  The sausage stuck in her throat.

  “My coachman’s new,” he went on. “Have to be careful though. Can’t trust just anybody these days.”

  “Hmmm,” she nodded. How true.

  And to think for a few mad seconds she had thought about the possibility of marriage to this man. Of course, he could be married for all she knew. But she had already dismissed the dreadful thought of wedding him from her mind. Perhaps she should take a peek at Matthew’s list of suitors after all.

  She picked up her napkin and dabbed at her mouth. What a dreadful mess she was in right now. Absolutely dreadful.

  “Can I give you a lift somewhere or some coin to carry you along?”

  Her head snapped to attention. “Why would you think I would need your coin, sir?”

  “Ah, back to sir again?” He cast her a wry smile. “From my understanding your carriage has a problem with its wheel and the driver is still foxed from last night. Therefore, you have no other transportation than your own two legs. And as we have so blatantly observed, they are not working the best these days.”

  His amused green eyes moved over her person in a lazy manner that irked her to no end. She may seem a bit frail and look a bit homely, but good gracious, she was not as bad as all that!

  She raised her chin, knowing there was no two ways about it. She needed a ride to Ridgewater, and she was desperate. She would have to tell him the truth.

  “I’ve traveled from America and had a most dreadful time. I lost my strength and my health along the way, but I assure you, I will recover. My destination is Ridgewater.”

  Tristan halted his fork half way to his mouth. “Ridgewater?”

  A bit curious at his hesitation, Kate wondered if he had any memory of her at all. “You know of this place?”

  Without a doubt, the man knew about Ridgewater. Who was she fooling? Her gaze widened, watching his every move.