Season's Feather

Chapter Sixty-Four

Williamson needed to get away. The night should have not ended like this. Tonight was supposed to be happy. It was supposed to be fun. He walked quickly through the outside until he saw one imperative figure alone.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked Kate Sharma.

She stood up with a breath and shook her head, "My apologies-"

"No. Stay." Williamson said.

Kate shook her head, "You were here first."

"I was just leaving."

"This is your house, My Lord."

"Technically, it's Delilah's," Williamson smiled, "It does not signify-"

Kate looked at him, "Perhaps it should."

Williamson scoffed to himself. Always putting others first. Never taking into account what her feelings may be. This woman was impossible but he couldn't find it in himself to argue, "Must you always?"

Kate scoffed, "You were the one insisting."

"And this is you compromising?" Williamson asked.

"Goodnight, My Lord." Kate said.

"Are you incapable of just agreeing with something?" Williamson pressed, "You have been like this from the first moment we met in the woods. Obstinate, inflexible, unyielding to good, plain common sense."

Kate smiled snarkily, "Well I can certainly understand why that would be so troubling for a man like you. A man used to always getting his way. A man used to giving orders-"

"I don't give orders. I follow them. You know I was supposed to come here and make Delilah my wife. She was intended to be with me. My father arranged my marriage and I came like a simpering dog to do as he wished. I do not give orders-"

"You give me orders!" Kate interrupted, "You give me orders and you expect me to listen. I do not listen."

"Perhaps you should," Williamson replied.

"I'll never listen to you! Or to anyone I wholeheartedly disagree with! The fact it has taken you this long to come to terms with that, to accept that fact-"

Williamson cocked his head, "You wish to know why?"

"I am uncertain you even know why." Kate spat.

"I know why."

"Oh, enthrall me with your self-awareness."

"It's because I've never met anyone like you." Williamson stated, "It is maddening. I grew up in the country, but I was raised in a home that might as well have been the city. All of these people I have met. All of these people I know. The Aevery's may not live in London, but we know London very well. We know Mayfair very well. And yet you consume my being.

"I am sitting here watching a family tread very close to ruin. A family that is extremely close to my sister. And, I am quite certain all of them and my own siblings secretly despise me. I am to be blamed for most of the scandal. Especially for Delilah. And yet, the only thing I seem to be able to focus on is you. Do you think I want to be in this position?"

Kate shook her head.

"I live with every thought of wanting to be nowhere else except with you," Williamson breathed, "Wanting to flee with you. To take you and drag you to the country and lay you in the fields and force you to know me. The real me. But, I am a gentleman, and you are a lady."

A gentleman. Williamson had to steel himself. But one catch of her perfume. One hint of her in the area and he was a starved man. There was no other woman. No one else. It couldn't be possible. But, this was not good. A gentleman, a gentleman, a gentleman. Oh how he prayed Anthony was keeping Delilah busy.

"You have to stop." He whispered.

Kate looked up at him, "I have to stop?"

Williamson shook his head, "There is no other course of action. You have to stop."

Kate shook her head and Williamson marveled at the anger rolling off her again. He marveled at the lust.

"It has been you!" She whispered, "It has been you this entire time. Spinning my world off its axis. Making me reconsider everything I have ever told myself. I came here resolved, to save my family. Everything I have ever done-"

"Has been for them." Williamson nodded his head.

Kate sighed, "Has been for them."

"Yea," Williamson whispered.

Kate let her hands fly, "You are the one who must stop. You are the one who must stop. Before-"

"Before what?" He asked, "Before we finally do something for ourselves."

He just stared at her. Madness, this was madness. She was crazy. He had come here to get a wife for his family. Kate would ruin everything. All of this progress, all of this work. He could let himself have another season to find a wife, but not if this infuriating and brilliant woman stayed here. He looked at her, "Please go inside."

Kate just glared at him and stayed where she was.

Williamson took a breath, "Go. In. Side."

"What did I tell you about you and your orders?" Kate asked.

Williamson was not a gentleman. Kate was not a lady. Control slipped. But sin had never felt so heavenly.