Read Online Cates, Kimberly by Stealing Heaven - Free Book Online

curricle race, grazing the wheels of
passersby and listening to their curses with great relish. But no. Here he sat,
his daughter in high dudgeon and some woman he'd never seen before setting up housekeeping
for the night in the room adjoining his bedchamber.
    Well,
she wouldn't be inhabiting the chamber for long, by Triton's beard. He'd sent a
rider off to make arrangements to hurtle Miss Dora—or was it Laura?—Lytton off
to London post haste. By this time tomorrow night, the Englishwoman would be on
her way, and he could set himself to important matters, like finding something
to distract his daughter from her disappointment. Perhaps a new gown or a
trinket, or that lovely little mare Adam Dunne was breaking over at Ballylaire.
If Aidan could just convince him to part with it...
    Damn,
he was doing it again! Rewarding the rebellious chit for her mischief! How many
times had Mrs. Brindle warned him that such a practice would only make the girl
incorrigible. He'd brushed off the admonition as he had so many others. But
now, confronted with the coil Cassandra's headstrong ways had embroiled him in,
Aidan couldn't help but wonder if the Old Battle Axe was right.
    Aidan's
jaw clenched. Maybe it was time to take the girl in hand. Teach Cassandra some
discipline. Oh, yes, and Aidan Kane would be such a perfect one to preach
propriety to his daughter! The very notion made his head ache. Far better for
him to light out for Dublin, maybe even London, and leave the taming of
Cassandra to Mrs. Brindle. She needed a woman's touch, and the only women Aidan
consorted with were of an ilk totally unsuitable to be held up as models for a
proper young miss.
    I
don't want a wife, Cassandra. Aidan's words echoed in his mind, and he
could see his daughter's face, determined and yet vulnerable, suddenly so
infernally young.
    I
do want a mother! Cassandra
had cried. Someone to teach me so many things....
    "Papa?"
    For
a heartbeat, Aidan thought that the soft query was just one more whisper of his
own imagination. He angled a glance over his shoulder, to see Cassandra framed
in the doorway. A cozy wrapper with tiny bluebirds wreathed about the collar
flowed to the tops of her insteps. Her pale-gilt hair was tangled, and her eyes
had that heavy look Aidan knew was the result of a bout of tears. Her fingers
plucked at a ribbon tied about whatever she clutched in her hand.
    She
hovered in the doorway for long seconds, looking uncertain, more than a little
lost, as if wondering what kind of reception he would give her.
    A
wiser man might have remembered his sense of caution and steeled himself
against her. Instead, Aidan opened up his arms.
    Cassandra
ran and flung herself into them, and Aidan cuddled her close, as he had when
she had been barely an armful of ruffles and hair ribbons.
    "Papa,
I'm sorry you didn't like the surprise. I truly thought that once you thought
about it, you'd come to like her."
    Aidan
stroked the girl's hair. "I'm certain you had the best of intentions,
sweeting. But you can't just go about arranging other people's lives to suit
you."
    Cassandra
sniffed, and Aidan rummaged in his pocket for a handkerchief. Grasping her chin
gently between two fingers, he turned her face up to his, dabbing at her cheeks
as he had when she was small. A forlorn sob shuddered through her.
    "I
know, Papa. I know it sounds childish, but I wanted her for me. I kept thinking
and thinking, and I couldn't get it out of my mind."
    "Get
what out of your mind, sweeting?"
    "That
the worst thing in the whole world was to be all alone."
    "I'm
not going to leave you alone." His own voice was unsteady, and he reached
out a hand to cup her cheek.
    "But
what would happen to me if—if you died?" The tremulous question struck
Aidan with the force of a Celtic broadsword.
    "How
did you get such a crazed notion in your head? There's nothing to concern
yourself—"
    "You
could get sick, Papa. There could be an accident. I'd have no one."
    "Despite
my advanced age,