Hamish sat at table that evening, his attention snapping to Katherine with any opportunity. How beautiful she’d looked this afternoon after her arrival. Her hair had fallen down a little during her carriage ride to Yardley Hall, and her eyes were alight with possibility when talking to Cecilia and the duchess. That was, until she’d seen him with Lady Savile and all enjoyment, pleasure of being at the country house had vanished from her features. She’d looked devastated, if one could look such a way, and he’d cursed himself as a fool for being the one who’d put that look of disappointment in her rich brown eyes.

Lady Savile was a very beautiful woman, and certainly had he not known Katherine the way he did now, he might have tried his luck with the lady, but that wasn’t the case now. He wasn’t interested at all in the woman, only that of a friend, and before the night was out he’d make sure Katherine knew that fact too. He would not allow her to spend even one night fretting over something that didn’t exist.

To make matters worse, he was seated beside Lady Savile who unknowingly with her amusing countenance, and their new friendship had no idea that the small touches she placed on his arm, her chuckling banter during dinner was causing the woman he cared for, more than he’d known up until he’d seen the hurt in her eyes this afternoon, more pain than he ever wished to imbue on her.

Damn it, he inwardly swore. As the dinner progressed, he didn’t fail to miss that Katherine grew more and more quiet, refused to meet his gaze or converse in any conversation he was part of.

“Shall we play a game after dinner. I know of one that I think will be such fun,” Lady Savile said, beaming at everyone, her jovial charm making the gentleman present enthusiastic and the women more so. All except Katherine who sipped her wine without comment.

“What a wonderful idea,” Cecilia said, more than happy to get in on the act.

“The house is large, with numerous rooms and corridors, attics and cellars. And tonight, you’ll get to explore some of it, but there’s a catch,” Lady Savile said, standing now and meeting everyone’s eye to gain their attention.

“Oh, do tell.” Katherine’s words dripped with sarcasm and the worried glance Cecilia threw her didn’t seem to temper Miss Martin’s growing annoyance.

Hamish knew the root cause for her ire, and it was him and his bad handling of her arrival. He’d hoped she would arrive today after missing her own arrival date the day before. Still, he’d hankered to get outdoors and had gone out on a horse ride, only at the stables running into Lady Savile who asked if she could join him since she wasn’t familiar with the grounds. He’d not been able to refuse, and when he’d seen Katherine’s carriage roll down the hill he’d turned back to the estate, eager to see her again.

Yet, the moment he’d walked into the room, he couldn’t allow anyone to see just how impatient he’d been and so he’d nodded in welcome, and that was all. And now, it would seem, Katherine was annoyed.

“Tonight,” her ladyship continued, “we’re going to play a game of hide and seek. After dinner, you will find in the entrance hall a footman who has a pack of cards in a hat. They are all black, bar two. You will each be required to pull out a card. The black card will mean you hide, the white card will mean you are the seekers. For those who pick white cards, you must find as many people as you can within one hour. Whoever remains hidden and is not found, wins,” she said, beaming with excitement.

Lady Savile resumed her seat, seemingly pleased with her instructions for the evening and Cecilia stood to speak. “You may continue with your dinner and we’ll get onto our little game in a short while.”

From there, dinner passed pleasantly, and as expected, the discussion turned to the game they were to play afterwards, each of them discussing what was in bounds and out about the house. By the time dinner had passed, Hamish was desperate to speak to Katherine. After her hasty departure to her room this afternoon, she’d not returned, and she’d been one of the last guests to arrive for dinner. That she was avoiding him was obvious, but he wouldn’t allow it to continue. He hated the fact she’d been hurt by his actions. And he hated the fact that he’d tempered his reaction to seeing her all because it was what was expected.

With the dinner at an end, and the guests coming to stand in the entrance hall, as promised, a footman waited for them all, holding a black beaver. A few of the women tittered in excitement. Was it because they were to explore the home, full of hidden passageways and secret compartments, or merely the possibility of finding oneself alone with a gentleman admirer.

Hamish waited back, wanting to see if Katherine would play at all, and because of the good humor from her friends the duchess and marchioness, she pulled out a card. It was a black card meaning she was to hide.

Hamish too took a card, it was white, before siding up to Katherine, leaning close to ensure privacy. “Do not hide too hard, Miss Martin. I’ll not be able to find you.”

This close, he felt the shiver that ran down her body, it gave him hope that she wasn’t through with him, had cast him out as a swine and rogue.

“You forget, I’ve been here before, twice in fact, and I know this house well. You’ll never find me.” She met his challenging gaze with one of her own and heat shot threw him. He wanted her. He wanted all of her and no one else.

Hamish grinned. “We will see, shall we not.” He left her, knowing full well as he made his way back into the library she watched his every move.

Katherine knew exactly where she was going to hide where no one would find her. The marquess and Cecilia’s home was a rabbit warren of rooms, corridors and hidden passageways, one of which ran along the gallery wall. Cecilia had shown her only the last time she was here. One simply had to hold back the tapestry of knights in battle, and a wooden door sat behind it. In fact, it wasn’t even a door, simply a door disguised as the wall panelling.

As she made her way up to the first floor, people ran past her, men and women both, laughing, squealing in delight. One or two even disappeared into rooms that were not part of the game. Katherine shrugged it off, and continued on to the gallery, happy to find that no one had followed her into this part of the house, which was sparsely lit and devoid of servants.

She found the tapestry and pulling it out a little, pushed on the panel behind. It opened with only the slightest creak and picking up a candelabra she slipped into the passage and closed the door. For a hidden passage it was reasonably clean, and someone had even placed a chair in the corridor. She would have to ask Cecilia if she’d done such a thing and why.

The sound of running footsteps outside and more laughter passed, and Katherine smiled. No one, not even Lord Leighton would find her in here. She supposed she might miss out on all the fun of being found being so well hidden, but it was too late now to change her mind. Not that she wished to be found by his lordship in any case. Today, he’d proven to her really what a silly numbskull she’d been to think he might possibly care for her more than he did. That he might actually like her for who and what she was, not simply because she asked him to deflower her.

Katherine shook her head, what a stupid fool she’d been. And it was not something she could take back. Even her friends knew of her idea regrettably. For the rest of her spinsterhood days, she would be thrown into his sphere simply because they had the same friends, and she would feel mortified each and every time. If only she had never asked him.

Footsteps sounded and stopped on the other side from where she sat. Katherine stilled, her heart surging in alarm. Surely no one knew where she was… The panelling pushed open and the dark head and teasing grin of Lord Leighton came into view. He shut the panel behind him before he spoke, leaving them alone. Quite alone.

“How did you find me here?” Not sure if she was affronted by being found so easily or that the nerves coursing through her veins were due to them being solitary and in a darkened space to boot.

“The tapestry in the gallery was kinked. I walked through here earlier today, and it wasn’t, and so I took a guess. And what a lucky guess it was.”

He came to stand before her, for the first time in forever, he made her feel a little small. After all, he was taller than her by a good two inches, not many men could boast such a thing in either her social sphere or his. “You were lucky, and one would say I was unlucky. I suppose we’ll have to return downstairs and you may boast that you found me.”

His gaze dropped to her lips and stayed there. “Or, you could grant me a winner’s boon.”

“Such as?” Katherine had the overwhelming urge to pull out her fischu and use it as a fan. For a hidden corridor that ran in either direction and was long and winding, it was awfully hot and crowded in the space.

“Maybe you will grant me,” he stepped even closer. “A ki–”

“I shall not kiss you, my lord. I find I’m not at liberty this evening.”

He grinned and damn it, her heart fluttered. “Not at liberty. May I ask as to why you scorn me? I have not seen you this afternoon, nor before dinner. I had hoped to talk to you before we dined.”

Katherine shrugged, and Hamish stepped back, the separation making her chest hurt.

“You’re angry at me. Why?”

Something in his tone told her he already suspected, but if she were to admit to her annoyance, her hurt, it would pave way to him knowing that she’d hoped for more. That she cared. And she would not have that. She would not be made a fool of twice.

“I made a mistake when I asked you to make love with me. I apologize, and I no longer wish to act on my curiosity. I’m sorry to have thrown myself at your head.” Katherine went to move past him and he blocked her way.

“I’m not sorry that you asked me. Although I know you’re aware I’m not seeking a wife, it does not mean with care that we cannot enjoy each other. No matter what you believe, Kat, for some weeks now you’ve become an important part of my life. You inspire me with your independence and your employment. You do not need a man to guide you through life, as you’re your own woman. I admire you and I desire you.” He stepped closer still and Katherine instinctively stepped back, only to come up hard against the wall. “I want you, no one else, no matter what you think you saw today, it was all a show. It is you that my heart beats hard for, that my body reacts to. It is you and only you that I want to warm my bed.”

She swallowed, heat blooming on her cheeks, and she was thankful for the shadows about them. His words, thick and husky pulled at the part of her that was lonely, longing for a future that she thought lost. A moan rented the air, and Katherine jumped against him, clasping his lapels. “That sounded like what one would think was a ghost.”

He chuckled, wrapping one arm about the curve of her back and a delicious shiver stole down her spine.

“I think it came from up here.” He pulled her along. “Come, we will investigate further.”

“I’m not sure that is wise. I don’t want to see any of Lord Aaron’s ancestors floating past me, thank you very much.”

To her astonishment, he stopped and lifting her chin, kissed her. A gentle, feathered touch that shot straight to her heart. Oh dear, she was on dangerous ground, and not because of the dark…

“Do not fret, darling Kat. I shall save you.”

Katherine leaned close to his side as they started down the corridor, the single candelabra their only light. The corridor remained straight for some time, following the portrait gallery outside before it made a sharp left.

There was no warning other than a curse that echoed off the walls as his lordship tripped over, their only form of light guttered in the process. She froze, not wanting to trip over too. “Are you alright, my lord.”

“Hamish, please. No titles, it’s too formal.”

“Are you really worried about that now? Simply answer the question.” She spoke into the darkness, not able to see anything at all.

More scratching and another curse. “Where the hell?”

Katherine gasped as one, large, male hand landed directly on her breast. Her body shot to life, and she hoped, even craved that his hand would curve about her aching flesh and squeeze it a little. Anything to save her from this throbbing need she had for him. “Hamish…”

His rapid breathing told her without sight that he reacted in kind and he took an awfully long time to remove his hand. “I should apologize. It’s certainly what a gentleman should do.”

Her breast ached with the lack of his touch when he pulled away, and she wasn’t ready for him to stop touching her. But here and now wasn’t the time for a rendezvous. The whole company at the home were playing a game, and should they go missing, especially Hamish as he was supposed to be finding other guests, it would cause a huge scandal.

“It was an accident, brought on by the fact we’re stuck in a hidden passageway in pitch black. How on earth are we going to find our way back?” she said, hoping to change the subject. Around Lord Leighton she did not trust herself. Impulses he’d awoken refused to settle and demanded she do as she wanted, not what she ought.

“There, ahead of us,” he said, his voice close. “There is a small light.” His hand fluttered down her arm before he took her hand. “Let us take it slowly, less we both fall over next time.”

She chuckled and let him lead the way. They walked slowly, more cautious now that their vision was impaired by the darkness, but the small light that they had spied wasn’t a door at all, a small hole gave them view into the corridor, or what Katherine thought was the corridor at least.

The groan that they’d heard earlier sounded again and she clutched at his arm. Lord Leighton paused to look through the hole and cursed. “Do not look, Katherine. Come, we’ll continue this way.”

“What is it? What have you found?” She pushed him aside and standing on tiptoe she looked through the hole. It was something that Katherine had never seen before in her life and loathed to think that such a thing may be located in her room, as it was in this one.

“Oh my,” she gasped, unable to look away from the vision before her. That of two of the guests, who came without partners following the death of their spouses were enjoying each other very much in private.

“Come, Kat.”

His voice was strained, deeper than she’d heard it before and she cursed not being able to see him, see what the vision they’d just viewed was doing to him. “I’m glad they’re enjoying themselves,” she said, grinning at her own words.

“Are you not enjoying yourself?”

She reached out for his hand and her palm landed directly on his chest. He was all muscle, a virile healthy man. The only man who’d ever made her weak at the knees. “I would enjoy our time here more if we were doing what was happing right now in the room beside us.”

In the dark, everything seemed magnified, his breathing, her shivers as his hand came up to cover hers sitting on his chest. After seeing him today with Lady Savile she’d not thought she would ever feel jealousy, hurt even inflicted by someone else, but thinking of Hamish in the arms of another woman, loving her as she wanted left a hollow in her heart.

She bit her lip. Would he do as she asked, as they’d agreed, or since being here, meeting a women who suited his tastes more, both in looks and social standing, did he simply not want her?

He pulled her into his arms, and a small flutter went off in her stomach. “If you will have me, Katherine, I will come to your room tonight. I’ve already found out which one it is. And then my dearest,” he said, his hands bracketing her face and kissing her. “We shall do everything you want.”

Heat pooled between her legs and she moaned when he kissed her again. The thought of them doing what she’d seen the couple undertaking through the peep hole left her longing for the night to end so theirs could begin.

“Anything?” Katherine hadn’t been shy about reading up on what lovers partook during a sexual act, and there were some very interesting ideas that she longed to try. But would he let her? Excitement thrummed through her veins. She supposed she was to soon find out. If this was her one and only night with Lord Leighton, then she would make the most of it.

He chuckled, pulling her back along the passage. “I’m yours to do with as you wish, but first, we have to find a way out of this infernal passage. If I don’t return you soon to company, I cannot be held responsible for my actions. Not even in this black hole.”