Chapter Thirteen

Lady Kirby's eyes narrowed. ' I meant no offense. However, you shall have to curb your tongue if you hope to make a suitable match as well as live down your mother's reputation. >

there's the etiquette complicated prob alone takes to whom at things, but she matters " Victoria stood up and said with quiet dignity, ' I will find it very hard to live up to my mother's reputation. My mother was the gentlest, kindest woman who ever lived. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some letters to write.

Victoria shut the door behind her and went down the hall to the library, a gigantic room with Persian carpets scattered across the polished wood floors and bookshelves lining the long walls. Too angry and upset to sit down at one of the desks and write a letter to Dorothy or Andrew, she wandered over to the shelves of books, looking for something to soothe her spirits. Bypassing the times on history, mythology, and commerce, she came to a poetry section. Her gaze wandered distractedly over the authors, some of whom she had already read - Milton, Shelley, Keats, Byron. Without any real interest in reading, she haphazardly chose a slender volume simply because it was protruding several inches beyond the others on the shelf and carried it over to the nearest grouping of comfortable chairs.

She turned up the oil lamp on the table and settled down in the chair, forcing herself to open the book. A sheet of pink, perfumed notepaper slid out and drifted to the floor. Victoria automatically picked it up and started to put it back, but the first words of the torrid little note, which was written in French, leaped out at her:

Darling Jason,

I miss you so much. I wait impatiently, counting the hours until you will come to me ...

Victoria told herself that reading another person's letter was ill-bred, unforgivable, and completely beneath her dignity, but the idea of a woman waiting impatiently for Jason Fielding to come to her was so incredible that Victoria couldn't bridle her amazed curiosity. For her part, she would be more inclined to wait impatiently for him to go away! She was so engrossed in her discovery that she didn't hear Jason and Miss Kirby coming down the hall as she continued to read:

I am sending you these lovely poems in the hope you will read them and think of me, of the tender nights we have shared in each other's arms…

'Victoria!' Jason called irritably.

Victoria leaped to her feet in guilty nervousness, dropped the book of poetry, snatched it up, and sat back down. Trying to look absorbed in her reading, she opened the book and stared blindly at it, completely unaware that it was upside down. '

Why didn't you answer me? Jason demanded as he strolled into the library with the lovely Miss Kirby clinging to his arm. ' Johanna wanted to tell you goodbye and to offer her suggestions if you need to buy anything in the village. '

After Lady Kirby's unprovoked attack, Victoria couldn't help wondering if Miss Kirby was now implying that Victoria couldn't be trusted to choose her purchases. ' I'm sorry, I didn't hear you call, ' she said, trying to compose her features so she'd look neither angry nor guilty. ' As you can see, I've been reading and I was quite engrossed. ' She closed the book and laid it on the table, then forced herself to gaze calmly at the pair. The look of revolted disgust on Jason's face made her step back in alarm. ' Is - is something wrong ? " she asked, fearfully certain that he somehow remembered that the note was in the book and suspected her of reading it.

' Yes, ' he snapped and turned to Miss Kirby, who was staring at Victoria with an expression similar to his. ' Johanna, can you recommend a tutor from the village who can teach her to read?

' Teach me to read? ' Victoria gasped, flinching from the scornful pity on the brunette's beautiful face. ' Don't be silly, I don't need a tutor - I know perfectly well how to read. ' Ignoring her, Jason looked at Miss Kirby. ' Can you name a tutor who would come here and teach her ? ' Yes, I believe so, my lord. Mr. Watkins, the vicar, might do it. '

With the long-suffering look of one who has already been forced to tolerate too many insults and will not endure yet another one, Victoria said very firmly, ' Oh, really, this is absurd. I do not need a tutor. I know how to read.

Jason's manner turned to ice. ' Don't lie to me ever again, ' he warned. ' I despise liars, particularly lying women. You can't read a word and you damned well know it! '

' I do not believe this! ' Victoria said, oblivious to Miss Kirby's horrified gasp. ' I can read, I tell you ! '

Pushed past endurance by what he perceived as her flagrant attempt to deceive him, Jason took three long strides to the table, grabbed the book, and thrust it into her hands. " Then read it ! '

Angry and humiliated at being treated this way, particularly in front of Miss Kirby, who was not attempting to hide her enjoyment of Victoria's plight, Victoria snatched open the cover of the little book and saw the perfumed note.

' Go ahead, ' he mocked. ' Let's hear you read. '

Deliberating, Victoria slanted a speculative, sideways glance at him . ' Are you certain you want me to read this aloud? "

' Aloud, ' Jason said curtly.

' In front of Miss Kirby ? ' she questioned innocently.

' Either read it or admit you can't, ' he snapped.

' Very well, ' Victoria said. Swallowing the laughter bubbling in her throat, she read dramatically: ' Darling Jason, I miss you so. I wait impatiently, counting the hours until you will come to me. I am sending you these lovely poems in the hope you will read them and think of me, of the tender nights we have shared Jason jerked the book out of her hands. Raising her eyebrows, Victoria looked him right in the eye and blandly reminded him, " That note was written in French -I translated it as I read. '

She turned to Miss Kirby and said brightly, ' There was more, of course. But I don't think this is the sort of reading material one ought to leave lying around when there are gently bred young ladies about. Do you ? ' Before either of them could reply, Victoria turned and walked out of the room, her head high.

Lady Kirby was waiting in the hall, ready to leave. Victoria bid both women a cool goodbye, then started up the stairs, hoping to escape Jason's inevitable wrath, which she was certain he intended to unleash upon her the moment the ladies left. However, Lady Kirby's parting remark caused an explosion in Victoria's mind that obliterated everything else. ' Don't feel bad about Lord Fielding's defection, my dear, ' she called as Northrup helped them into their cloaks. ' Few people believed the betrothal announcement in the paper. Everyone was certain that once you had arrived here, he'd find some way to cry off. The rogue has made it plain to everyone that he won't marry anyone '

Charles pushed her out the door under the guise of escorting her to her carriage, and Victoria halted and swung around on the stairway. Like a beautiful, outraged goddess she stood trembling with wrath, staring down at Jason. ' Am I to understand, ' she enunciated furiously, ' that the engagement you said was " off '' was our engagement ? '

Jason's only answer was a tightening of his jaw but his silence was a tacit admission and she glared at him with blue sparks shooting from her eyes, heedless of the servants who were staring at her in paralyzed horror. How dare you ! ' she hissed. ' How dare you let anyone think I would consider marrying you. I wouldn't marry you if you were

' I don't recall asking you to marry me, ' Jason interrupted sarcastically. However, it's reassuring to know that if I ever took leave of my senses and did ask you, you'd have the consideration to turn me down. "

Perilously close to tears because she was losing her composure but could not shake him, Victoria passed a look of scathing scorn over him. ' You are a cold, callous, arrogant, unfeeling monster, without respect or feeling for anyone, even the dead! No woman in her right mind would want you! Her voice broke and she turned and ran up the stairs.

Jason watched her from the foyer, where two footmen and the butler stood riveted to the floor, waiting in frozen dread for the moment when the master would unleash his fury on this chit of a girl who had just done the unforgivable. After a long moment, Jason shoved his hands in his pockets. He looked around at the stricken butler and lifted his brows. ' I believe I have just received what is commonly called " a crushing setdown, ' Northrup. '

Northrup swallowed audibly but said nothing until Jason had strolled up the stairs; then he rounded on the footmen. ' Attend to your duties, and see that you don't gossip about this with anyone. ' He strode away.