Read Online Kathryn Caskie by Love Is in the Heir - Free Book Online Page A

not wish to discuss it, but I fear we must know what passed between you and Mr. St. Albans on the dance floor. You both are guests in our home, after all, and if something must be done to douse any flaring rumors, sister and I must know at once.”
    Hannah swallowed the rather large lump that congealed in her throat. “N-nothing happened . . . not really.”
    The elderly sisters said nothing. Instead, they sat looking at her, not even bothering to blink.
    “I swear to you. Nothing happened that should have necessitated Mr. St. Albans’s charging from the ballroom floor, leaving
me
the focus of the entire assembly.”
    Still, the ladies spoke not a word. It was clear they doubted her opinion.
    “
I
am the wronged party here. Not
he
!”
    “Ah, here it comes now, Viola.” Lady Letitia gave her sister a nod, then turned back to Hannah. “How did he wrong you, gel, and what, pray, did you do about it that sent the poor fellow retreating to the street?”
    Hannah looked down at her wringing hands. “There was something . . . different about him when we took to the floor after tea. An intensity I had never witnessed in him before. I own, I could feel it.” She allowed her gaze to travel slowly across the Aubusson carpet to the settee where the two inquisitors rested.
    “But what did he
do,
Hannah, to cause you such worry?”
    It took Hannah several seconds to find the words to express his transgression. “He . . . ran his fingers in tight circles on my back as we danced.”
    Lady Letitia chortled at that. “Well, that is a very egregious offense, to be sure. Viola, I vow we should summon the constables, at once!”
    “Letitia, do not mock her. She is a young woman and mightn’t have realized that there might have been an alternative reason for his fingers’ movements.” She focused her faded blue eyes on Hannah once more. “Feeling nervous might be an example.”
    “Oh.” Something seemed to sink inside Hannah. “I had not considered that.” In fact, she had been so focused on possible rakish behaviors that it never even occurred to her that there might be any other explanation for his touch.
    Hannah lifted the small crystal goblet, allowing the liquid to touch her lips, but she was too absorbed in thought to swallow. She replaced the glass upon the polished tea table.
    “No, I don’t agree with you. I do not believe Mr. St. Albans was nervous at all,” she told the Feathertons. “We had danced the entire first dance together, and not once did he appear the least unnerved. In fact, were I to describe his behavior to anyone earlier in the evening, I would have said that he was his usual supremely confident self.”
    “Nevertheless, Hannah, you did say he was somehow different when you danced the waltz.” Lady Viola leaned forward. “A dance, he requested . . . for
you
.”
    Hannah shook her head. “If it were simply nerves, he would not have reacted so strongly to my comment about his . . .
touching
.”
    Now both of the ladies were leaning so far forward that their weight and sudden momentum caused the back feet of the petite settee to buck from the floor.
    Lady Letitia’s eyes were wide and bright. “What, pray tell, did you say, dear?”
    Hannah rose from the chair and walked to stand before the low fire. “I-I told him that I did not know what game he played, but that I knew its purpose . . . or something of that nature. And then, without a word, he bolted from the ballroom.”
    “Ah, my lovely Miss Chillton,” came a deep voice from the doorway.
    Good heavens. A twinge of panic pinched at Hannah as she recognized Mr. St. Albans’s distinctive voice.
    Hannah spun around. She had not even heard the front door open, let alone Mr. St. Albans enter.
    “I do apologize. How rude I must have appeared to you at the ball this eve.” He tipped a deep bow to the Featherton sisters, then seemed to limp slightly as he moved through the center of the drawing room and made for Hannah.
    Lady Letitia tapped