Dangerous Joy by Jo Beverley Page B

Mrs. Edey, taking his hand to control him. "It's Mr. Cavanagh. You remember him."
    The boy gave a rather sulky bow. "I want to see Sissity."
    "Another day, dear."
    It occurred to Miles then that after the early flurry of visits, Kieran hadn't been to Foy Hall in a week. "Why don't you drive over this afternoon? Felicity and I are going away for a few days, and I know she'd like to see you before we leave."
    Mrs. Edey was already shaking her head in a silent signal to him. Now, she said, "I'm afraid we can't, sir. Kieran's father has forbidden him to leave the estate just now."
    "It's not fair, and I hate him," the boy stated fiercely.
    "Hush!" Mrs. Edey said. " 'Tis wicked to speak so, Kieran."
    The lad just scowled and kicked at the polished hall floor with the toe of his sturdy leather boots.
    Miles told himself he had enough to worry over without being sorry for the child caught in this sordid conflict. Presumably once it became clear to Dunsmore that he wouldn't be allowed to marry Felicity before her majority—in fact, once Felicity was safely out of his orbit—there would be no more petty tormenting of the child.
    He tousled the lad's curls. "By the time Felicity is back, I'm sure your father will have lifted the restriction." No point in troubling the boy with how long that might be. A month would seem forever at his age.
    As he left the house, Miles decided Kieran's welfare was yet another reason for taking Felicity to England. It would be healthier on both sides if the bond were weakened. In time, Dunsmore was going to give up and find some other woman to marry and Kieran would learn to love his new stepmother.
    Miles realized then that he had no intention of ever letting Felicity marry Rupert Dunsmore. He just wished he knew how the devil he was to stop her once she was of age.
    The first step was to prevent her getting pregnant.
    He took Argonaut's reins from the groom and scanned the surrounding countryside. Was there any point in searching far and wide? He really couldn't imagine Felicity setting out brashly to fornicate with Dunsmore, but made himself consider where such a pair might meet.
    Not in the open on a frosty day in January.
    Barns and hovels, then. He spent a frustrating hour checking all the barns and abandoned cottages between Foy and Loughcarrick and found no trace of the truant lovers.
    By the time he arrived in the Foy stables, he was exhausted, angry, and worried half to death. There he was met by two females. Gardeen sat stiffly on a wall, exuding all the disdain of an abandoned cat. Felicity leaned nearby, looking smug, and as fresh as if she'd not so much as mounted a horse that day.
    As a substitute for laying his crop about her shoulders, Miles said, "I saw Kieran. He very much wants to see you. Shall we ride over there, since he seems to be confined to quarters?"
    She caught her breath as if he had hit her, but then masked it with a shrug. "There seems no point. I'll see him when I return. And of course, soon, we will be one family."
    She turned and left the stables. Miles dismounted and tossed Argonaut's reins to a groom, wondering if she could have carried through on her threat to try to get with child. Scooping up the still-haughty cat, Miles followed his ward's path to the hall, recalling and analyzing the look of her just now.
    "Not at all," he told Gardeen, "like a woman who had recently engaged in carnal intimacy in a barn."
    Gardeen decided to be wooed and began to purr.
    "But then," said Miles with a grimace, "she didn't look like a woman who'd been riding about the countryside in her morning dress, either. Damn the tricksy jade. She's capable of anything."
    And that, of course, was what made her so fascinating.
    Miles did his best to watch Felicity for the rest of the day, both guarding her and looking for signs of recent debauchery.
    All he saw was a proper young lady preparing for a visit. She organized the packing of a trunk which would be driven over to Clonnagh by coach at