Beauty in Disguise (22 page)

Thinking back now, he smiled as he kicked the coals in the fireplace and watched them spark back to a warm glow. Today, for a few hours, she had been the carefree daughter of a marquis, a seventeen-year-old debutante, once again innocent and happy. She had hugged the butler and her father’s valet, and he remembered things about her that he used to love. God’s truth, he missed her.

He had no right to ask her about Salford, but not knowing was eating at him. When she discovered the blackguard had misled her, and made her think that
he
had never truly cared for her, any trace of anger she carried seemed to melt away.

But he had been a coward. He had not confessed the one thing that might have changed their history. He had gone to the drawing room while she was with her father and cried for the nine years they had all lost.

When he heard her enter, much later, she had come to him and thrown her arms around his neck. He had been surprised! But it only took him a moment to wrap her tightly in his arms, realizing she was right where she belonged, then and now, and he did not want to let go.

He loved her. Perhaps he had never stopped altogether. But he loved the Kathryn she had become much more than he had loved the young girl. She was not the fragile flower he needed to protect from every bad thing. She was a strong, confident woman who had braved too many of those already, and conquered them all.

She had scars from the battles, yet she was able to fall in love with two small children—probably many more in her career—with her whole heart and soul, withholding nothing for fear of being hurt again. She had allowed him to come back into her life, vengeance making him cruel, until he got too close to hurting people she cared about.

And when she brought to light his part in the tragedy that had become her life, forcing him to confess it, she freely gave him what he needed—her forgiveness. He could not speak after that. He only wanted to ask her one thing, but he was too afraid of her answer.

He wanted to marry her.

He had to be realistic. She
had
come into his arms, but she had also hugged the butler! She was happy. So completely happy that she forgave and forgot nine years of unmitigated pain. And though she had forgiven him, he did not know if she cared for him. He did not know if she loved him, had ever loved him. He had been so busy wrapping her in cotton, she had left with another man.

He closed his eyes against the weariness and the melancholy. Only seconds later he heard the dreaded word...

“Fire!”

* * *

Kathryn sat at her dressing table, staring in the mirror at the strange creature reflected there. She had remained dressed, too drained to change, and had fallen asleep. The house was quiet now, and she lit the candle by her bed. She reached down, removed her shoes and rubbed her sore feet. She sat up and began pulling the pins from her hair to remove the offending wig. Her own hair fell about her shoulders, and she sighed in relief. Taking her spectacles off, she lay back on her bed fully clothed.

The tears rolled out of the corners of her eyes. She had been reunited with her father today! For the first time in nine years, she was joyful. Yet she let despair creep in because she now wanted the one thing she could never have. She loved Lord Dalton with her whole heart and soul, for the second time in her life.

She would probably never see him again; he had not said a word in the carriage after she told him she did not blame him for what had happened. She just wanted the past to be the past. She did not see him once they returned to the house, and he would be leaving in the morning.

Charity would rant and rave about the way each of them had interfered in her plans, and would use them both as an excuse for not catching him. And in her case, Charity would be right. Kathryn had quite a bit to answer for—another blot on her soul that God would not forgive.

She sat up on the bed and seemed vaguely aware of heaviness in the air, her lone candle shrouded in grayness. An acrid smell of smoke reached her. Going immediately to the fireplace, she could tell that the smoke did not come from there. She took her candle and turned to open the door to her room. A piercing scream she was likely never to forget rent the air with one word....

“Fire!”

The surprise of the scream made her jump, causing her candle to go out, but that did not stop her immediate dash into the hallway. She thought she recognized the scream as belonging to Sally, and that could only mean the fire was in the vicinity of the nursery. She did not know Sally well enough to guess a flair for the dramatic, so without further thought, she put down the useless taper and ran from the room.

The thick smoke washed over her immediately, causing her to cough as her lungs filled with the black cloud and her eyes burned in irritation. She pulled the sleeve of her dress up to cover her mouth and nose and ran to the nursery door at the end of the hall. The knob was warm to the touch, but she opened it and froze at the sight of the flames billowing out of the small book room off the main nursery chamber.

Sally appeared behind her carrying Lacey, who was crying in her arms. She grabbed at Kathryn’s gown. “Come, Miss Montgomery, we must get out and warn the family on the floors below. Maybe the stable hands can get water up here before too much of the house burns.” She tugged again. “We must hurry, miss.”

“Jacob!” Kathryn screamed as the flames crackled and the smoke thickened. “Where is Jacob?”

“He weren’t in his bed. He’s more ’n likely already downstairs. Come, miss, we must go now.”

“No, you go. Get Lacey to safety and warn the others.” Kathryn coughed, as talking made her take in the smoke even with her mouth covered. “There was no time for him to run. I was in the hall immediately.”

Sally began to cry. “He can’t be in there, miss. Nobody could...be in there.”

“Go! I must be sure.” The tears that flowed at the fear she felt at Sally’s words hindered her sight even more.

Kathryn called Jacob’s name over and over, terror at the thought of him still being in the nursery making her hysterical. The actual blaze appeared to be confined to the small book room where they had built his Martello Tower, but flames licked the top of the door frame and would soon catch on to the curtains and wooden panels of the larger room she was in now.

There was nowhere in the nursery Jacob could hide, so she must check the book room. The smoke was now making it difficult to breathe at all, and she could only see the floor clearly.

Running to grab Lacey’s doll blanket in the corner, she quickly drenched it in the water basin and made a tent around her head, hoping the smoke could not penetrate the damp cloth as quickly. She also knew she was as flammable as the nursery curtains, should stray embers catch her dress or hair.

Going to the door, she jumped back as the heat from the room overpowered her. No one could be alive in there.
God,
she pleaded,
please let Jacob be downstairs
. But she would not leave until she knew.

Sinking to the floor on her hands and knees, the smoke seemed less dense. She crawled through the doorway and screamed as the wall immediately to her left began to collapse in full flame. She dropped to the floor and rolled to her right. Nothing fell on her, but she now knew the doorway was partially blocked.

It was then that she saw him.

Jacob was huddled in the nearest corner, eyes wide in shock, his fear paralyzing him.

“Kathryn, where are you?” She heard the voices in the nursery and prayed they would all make it out alive. No doubt she would now be the cause of someone’s death as they came to
her
aid.

“I am here!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “I am all right.” She thought she heard Lord Dalton giving the same exclamation she had when she first saw the book room from the nursery. She wanted to keep them away. “Stay back,” she coughed out. “Jacob, must get Jacob,” was all she could say at the last, and she crawled to the terrorized child, trying with all her might to soothe him with words through a parched and burning throat.

He did not seem to hear her, so she took the soaked blanket from around her head and wrapped his shaking body in it as completely as she could. She knew she could not carry him out on her hands and knees, but standing meant any one of those flames could be upon her in seconds. She began to wring as much of the excess water out of the blanket and onto her clothes as she could.

“Here we go, Jacob, love. We are going to run out of here as fast as my legs will carry us.” She put her feet under her, but stayed crouched and lifted the little boy into her arms.

“Kathryn,” she heard from the nursery. “Get out of there, now!”

She knew Lord Dalton’s voice even through the crackling of the fire and the crumbling of the wood around her. And she had to admit that even amidst the biggest battle of her life, she knew a hysterical desire to laugh at him and ask him what in the world he thought she was
trying
to do!

“On the count of three now, Jake. You count with me. One, two, threeeee!” she screamed, stood and ran through the blazing doorway of the book room at full force into another body, who “oomphed” as she knocked the wind out of him. That same body she had run to when she was attacked on the bridge, and the same arms that had wrapped around her earlier in the day. He immediately pulled her to the ground and soaked them with the rest of the water in the basin.

Kathryn, still holding Jacob, was then lifted into strong arms and carried out of the smoke-filled nursery, which seemed filled with people.

As her rescuer carried her down the hall, she finally reached a point free enough of the smoke where she could see all of the Dinsmore servants lined up. They were passing buckets of water, man to man, down the hallway to the nursery. She was sure the lead man in the nursery must come out as he emptied his bucket, as it would be impossible for any one person to stay in that room for very long.

Kathryn felt water running down her neck and back, and it was the greatest feeling she had ever known. She was not lost to her senses despite watering eyes and no voice, and though she thought she could have walked, she was happy to be in Lord Dalton’s protective arms, finally feeling that she and Jacob were safe.

She leaned into him, closed her burning eyes and pulled Jacob closer to her, trying to get in greater gulps of air and letting Lord Dalton take her where he would. She found she was suddenly very dizzy, and so thirsty she would share a bucket of water with one of Lord Dinsmore’s horses if that was all that was available to her.

“Stupid,” she heard rumble through the chest conveniently pressed against her heart. “Stupid, brave girl.”

Kathryn smiled to herself and snuggled closer. It was not
precisely
a compliment, but she would take it nonetheless. Her eyes suddenly jerked open as she heard Lady Dinsmore scream in ragged tears, “My baby, my baby!” Sir John took Jacob from her wet grasp, causing a slight shiver as she became bereft of his body warmth.

“Oh, Miss Montgomery, is he well? How can I ever thank you?” Her hysteria increased with each word. “Sally told us you would not leave until you found him. God bless you Kate, again and again.”

Kathryn barely felt a warm, dry blanket being put around her shoulders and heard from far away Lord Dalton ask her if she thought she could stand.

“I believe so.... I do not know,” she croaked, and he gently touched her bare feet to the floor, holding on tightly until she was sure her legs would hold her. As soon as Lord Dalton tried to wrap her in a warm blanket, her knees buckled and he lifted her once again into his arms.

It appeared they were in the room where the party was held. She could not think why, even when she heard through a fog that it was the farthest room from the nursery. It seemed the fire was contained at the end of the third floor. A glass was placed against her lips, and a large shoulder lifted her head to receive the coolest liquid she could ever remember gliding down her parched throat. She sighed in total contentment.

As the drink continued in small doses, she heard, “Not too much at one time—your stomach is probably lined, as well.”

It was then she realized the entire household was present, and it was very quiet. It seemed every eye in the room was trained on her.

What were they staring at?

Then Kathryn did something she had never done before. She fainted.

Chapter Sixteen

K
athryn slowly opened her eyes to the sting of lingering irritation, and to sunlight that seemed extremely out of character with the condition of the world. She was in a bed, alone in a guest chamber. She did not remember anything after her knees gave way, so she must have been carried here...perhaps by Lord Dalton?

She was surprised when the door opened and two heads peeped in like baby birds above a nest’s edge. “Can we come in, Miss Montgomery?” asked a timid Lacey, for some reason unsure what the response would be.

Katherine knew she was not prepared for the visit. Her body screamed in several places as she tried to sit up in bed, but she could not bring herself to send them away. Indeed, they must feel quite left out, if the previous treatment of their worries was any indication.

“Of course you may,” she said, sitting up and realizing her wet dress had been removed, and someone had wrapped a warm robe around her. “I am afraid I was a little unwell last night, so I must have been allowed to sleep in. I am glad you have come to keep me from becoming a slugabed.”

At her words, Jacob began to cry, and Kathryn hurriedly bundled him into her arms as she carried him to a brocade settee, Lacey close behind.

“Hush, Jacob,” Kathryn whispered, calming him. “You two have never been to visit me before breakfast, and I own to being a bit surprised. Are you still scared about the fire last night? You must not be, you know. Everything will be determined safe before you will be allowed to return upstairs.”

“It’s all my fault, all my fault,” he sobbed. Kathryn peeked over his head to Lacey, seeking answers in her eyes. Lacey only lowered her own. “Sally told me...well, she didn’t tell
me,
I heard her tell the footman, but it makes no never mind. It’s still my fault.” Jacob could not continue, his sobs overcoming him again. She only held him tighter and turned to Lacey.