Page 42 of From Rakes to Riches

“Cats? For God’s sake, Miss Templeton, you callthisanimal husbandry?”

The three heads hanging over the side of the pen all jerked around at once. Etienne and Ryan’s eyes went wide, but Miss Templeton’s narrowed, and she rose to her feet, dusting the hay from her skirts. “Is something wrong, Lord Hawke?”

“Wrong? Of course, there is. It’s no wonder my house is overrun with cats! You’re breeding them in my stables!”

“Breeding them? I beg your pardon, Lord Hawke, but youarefamiliar with the habits of stable cats, are you not? I’ve no need to breed them. They take care of that themselves.”

Unbelievably, a hint of a smile touched her lips. A smile, of all infuriating things, as if she found his objections amusing. “I believe I’ve made it perfectly clear that I despise cats, Miss Templeton.”

One dark eyebrow rose. “Abundantly so, yes, but this isn’t aboutyou, my lord.”

“Hecate is agoodcat, papa.” Ryan scrambled to his feet. “She’s not naughty like Hestia. She’s never leapt on us, or bitten or scratched us.”

“She doesn’t come inside the house, papa.” Etienne twisted his hands together. “She likes living in her pen.”

“Forgive me, Lord Hawke, but I’m afraid I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Surely, there’s no harm in observing the gestational calendar of domestic cats for educational purposes?—”

“There’s nothing educational about observing feral cats, Miss Templeton, no matter if you do present it under the guise of teaching the boys animal husbandry.”

Silence, then one word, hard and clipped. “Guise?”

“Hecate’s going to have her babies very soon, papa.” Etienne’s anxious gaze was moving between Adrian and Miss Templeton. “You can’t send her off now. What will she do?”

“You needn’t worry, Etienne.” Miss Templeton’s cool gaze never left Adrian’s face. “No one is going to send Hecate off, I promise you.”

It hadn’t even occurred to him to get rid of the cat, but whatever wicked impulse had been urging him to bedevil Miss Templeton since the moment he’d laid eyes on her made him snap, “That isn’t up to you, Miss Templeton. You have no business promising anyone anything.”

It was, once again, the perfectly wrong thing to say.

Etienne let out a little cry and hopped over the side of Hecate’s pen, throwing his small body in front of the cat as if toprotect her, and Ryan moved in front of his brother, his hand up to keep Adrian back. “You can’t take her away, papa. We won’t let you.”

“Take her away?” He stared at his boys in astonishment. Did they truly think he’d do away with their cat? “I’m not going totakeher?—”

“It’s alright, boys. Hecate isn’t going anywhere.”

Miss Templeton’s voice had gone so soft it was hardly above a whisper, but something about it made him pause. God knew he hadn’t the vaguest idea how to read her, but that shift in tone and the flush of color streaking her cheekbones were, in his experience, universal to all females.

They meant he’d do well to hold his tongue.

But it was too late for that. Miss Templeton’s eyes had narrowed to blueish gray slits. “Is it your intention, Lord Hawke, to interfere with all of my lessons?”

“I…no, of course not. I simply mean to point out that animal husbandry is a science concerned withlivestock. Since when are cats considered livestock?”

“Do you see any livestock here, Lord Hawke?” She swept an arm around the stables.

“Well, no, but that’s?—”

“As I’m sure you’re aware, my lord, animal husbandry is a varied science, with many different elements of animal management and agriculture. I’d prefer livestock for my lessons, of course, but the boys will learn a great deal, regardless of the species of animal. Wouldn’t you agree, Lord Hawke?”

“I don’t see that there’s much to learn from cats, but?—”

“Might I have a word with you, my lord?” She didn’t pause for an answer, but marched to the other end of the stables and stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, foot tapping as she waited.

A refusal didn’t seem likely to help matters at this point, so he followed reluctantly after her, feeling every inch a wicked schoolboy on his way to a sound thrashing. “I beg your pardon, Miss Templeton, but I?—”

“Is it your intention, Lord Hawke, to take Hecate away from Ryan and Etienne?”

“What? No, of course not. I’m not fond of cats, but I’d never take their?—”

---