Free Dangerous Joy by Jo Beverley

used to benefit others."
    It was as if she shook herself out of melancholy. "Yes, of course. That's how I intend to use my fortune. And very soon."
    "You don't have free use of it until you're thirty," he reminded her.
    "Or until my marriage."
    "But it will still be under the terms of the trust your grandfather set up, with your husband as trustee. What is it you are so keen to do? I'm sure money could be released now—"
    "It will wait."
    Miles had the distinct feeling that he would not approve of these good works. What did she have planned? The financing of an armed rebellion?
    "I'm not an unreasonable man, Felicity. Why not tell me what you want to do? Don't marry just to get access to your money. A man you think would make a malleable husband and trustee could surprise you."
    She looked at him across the shadowy carriage. "Nothing men do could surprise me."
    It hardly seemed an appropriate comment for a proper young lady.
    Eventually Felicity had to carry through on her offer to hold an entertainment at Foy Hall in Miles's honor. "We might as well make it a grand one," she muttered rather ungraciously one evening, "and hold a ball. You are, after all, the heir to Kilgoran."
    "And it's a true albatross around my neck, I assure you. Why not just have a small dinner?"
    It was one of the dangerous occasions. Annie had retired to her room straight after dinner, and Felicity was curled up in a big chair, her hair entirely loose around her shoulders, a big black cat in her lap. There was only the light of two candles and the fire to break the intimacy of darkness. Miles wanted, with alarming power, to take her on his lap and ravish her.
    He rather hoped the cat was there to oppose such an act.
    She appeared unaffected by their situation. "A small dinner?" she echoed with a grin. "But that would deprive all those imported hopefuls of the opportunity to dance with you! No, Prince Charming, we'll clear out the hall for dancing and turn the whole house upside down in your honor. The cats will hate it." She lifted the one in her lap to face her. "Won't you, Neill?"
    It miaowed, eerily as if in answer.
    Miles found the Foy Hall cats rather disturbing. "Then don't try to pretend it was my idea. Since the felines rule this place, I'd doubtless be found delicately shredded one morning."
    "I wouldn't say they rule it exactly, but it's true they have their say. You should get Gardeen on your side. She'll protect you."
    Miles looked down at the small black cat curled by his boots. After the first day, Gardeen had made no attempt to climb on him, but like the most patient courtier, merely followed him everywhere, occasionally offering gifts—a feather, a scrap of silk, and once a half-scone which had been left under the sofa.
    At least she had more taste than to bring him dead birds.
    "The others would eat her," he said.
    "Oh, I doubt that. Gardeen is special. For one thing, Annie doesn't seem clear where she came from. She does generally know all the cats, and who their mothers are."
    Miles looked down. "A stray, eh?" On impulse—perhaps a protective one—Miles picked up the cat.
    Immediately, the silver eyes opened and a quite ferocious purr began. How did a small body make such a loud noise? Gardeen so radiated triumph that Miles hadn't the heart to put the animal back on the floor. After a moment, he placed her on his lap.
    Felicity chuckled. "She's won you over at last, has she? A persistent female will always win, you know."
    For the first time, Miles wondered whether Felicity was stalking him just as Gardeen had. Perhaps these disingenuously intimate evenings were no accident at all.
    "Don't bet your all on it," he said, enjoying the warm silkiness of Gardeen's fur. "I merely took your advice and recruited a feline ally."
    Felicity smiled in a strangely cat-like way. Miles reminded himself that she claimed to be a dangerous woman, and he believed her. It would be a serious mistake to forget that fact.
    The next day, Felicity was not