“I won’t ask what the second was,” he said with a hint of mischief in his voice.
He’d heard A Little Night Music enough times in his life to know when a wrong key was hit. Kate struck that wrong key and abruptly stopped, her lips silently mouthing something that might have been a curse.
“Do keep playing,” Susannah urged her.
Kate shook her head. “I know that’s the standard advice in these situations, but for me, once I hit a wrong key, I’m so flummoxed and flustered that all I can do is start over from the very beginning—and with a different piece.” She immediately started pounding out Mozart’s “Turkish March” as if she had to prove something to herself and everyone else here—that she would not allow herself to be mortified by the second scandalous thing she’d done, even if she was flummoxed and flustered by it.
Nor would she allow Nathan to mortify her. He still wondered if she regretted what had happened between them the other night.
He certainly didn’t regret it, and maybe that was why he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
The next afternoon he rode horseback with Trevor, who talked of how when he came to Ellington Hall a year and a half ago, a French-style garden had been planned and then scrapped. He’d spent the past year transforming it into a more natural English style, with meandering paths and randomly placed shrubs and flowerbeds.
Nathan wondered what sort of garden awaited him at Loring Park, and hoped it was the English style. He wondered which sort of garden Kate preferred. She didn’t strike him as the sort who might fancy the geometric French style or boxy knot gardens.
And then he wondered why he even cared about her preference.
“So Miss Baxter has stayed at Ellington Hall before?” he casually inquired as they cantered over the hilly grounds of the estate.
“A little over a year ago,” Trevor replied. “My grandmother had yet to leave for Italy, and she had some acquaintance with them, which I found rather surprising since she’s always been a bit reclusive—or at least she was until she left for Italy. Lord Bellingham apparently knew my wastrel cousin Ambrose from the gaming tables.”
“Such an acquaintance does not surprise me,” Nathan said, thinking of the last time he’d seen Bellingham.
That was almost a fortnight ago—a few days before he met the earl’s stepdaughter and his life was changed forever—more so, it seemed, than when he inherited the dukedom.
“Considering how far below the hatches they both were, ’tis a mystery to me how either of them fared playing against the other,” Trevor remarked.
Nathan chuckled mirthlessly. “You must not game all that much, or you might consider there would be at least one other player who cleaned out both of them.”
“You’re right that I don’t gamble, but you do make an excellent point. Anyway, Bellingham arrived here shortly after Twelfth Night last year with his wife and stepdaughter in tow. They were en route to his ancestral pile in Yorkshire. The weather was so wretched the roads were impassable for days, so they stayed with us for about a week. Miss Baxter got on quite well with Susannah, but it was painfully obvious to both of us that she did not want to go to Yorkshire. You’d think she was being transported to Australia the way she carried on.”
“How did she get along with her stepfather?”
Trevor shook his head. “Not very well at all. The animosity was mutual, and I gather ’twas of long standing. I’m not sure whether she was loath to go to Yorkshire because it’s so remote, or because she simply didn’t want to be with her stepfather.”
Nathan strongly suspected it was the latter—and he thought he knew why. “What about her mother?”
Trevor sighed. “She was the one who insisted her daughter accompany them—and I can’t help thinking that Miss Baxter, for all her reluctance to come along, hoped to protect her mother—from what, I’m not sure. If Bellingham was in the habit of beating his wife or even his stepdaughter, I saw no evidence of it when they were here. At one point Susannah contemplated asking her to remain here as a companion, or even, in time, a governess to our son, but decided against it, since she believed in her heart that Miss Baxter was meant for something greater.”
“Such as?”
Trevor chortled as he pulled on the reins of his mount, and Nathan did the same. “I have no idea what my wife meant, but she is something of a romantic.”
They were now on the broad, almost flat crest of a hill, looking out over the rolling, verdant meadows dotted with sheep and dappled with dark, dense woods, all of which made up the Ellington estate. They were high enough that Nathan could see in the distance, far beyond the manor, the village and the road from York to London as it wound its way around hills to a horizon brilliant with a flood of rare spring sunshine. Closer, almost at the bottom of the hill where they surveyed the sweeping vista, was a large pond reflecting the crystal-blue sky. He could make out a cottage on one side of the pond and what appeared to be a Grecian folly on the other.
“I must agree with your wife,” he finally said. “Miss Baxter strikes me as the sort of person unwilling to settle for a less than favorable situation. She will always try to find something better. She despises injustice and will not brook ill treatment. You might say she’s a bit of a fighter.”
Trevor nodded. “But if she’s meant for something greater, it won’t just happen to her. She’ll make it happen—and when she does, watch out.”
With that, he galloped off. As Nathan set off after his friend, he told himself that what he’d really have to watch out for was his heart.
Chapter Sixteen
Who was that woman in the mirror?
It had been so long since Kate had dressed up for a special occasion that she was stunned by the reflection in the full-length pier glass. She didn’t recognize the woman staring back at her.
For the past year she’d worn her hair pulled back into a severe bun. She’d never even bothered to curl it up in rags at night or take a curling iron to it. Her bangs had grown out and were always pulled away from her pallid face, leaving it in a stark relief that included a too high and too broad forehead, a nose so narrow that she swore she could only see it while surveying her profile from the corner of her eye, and a chin that was almost pointed.
As for her eyes, they were supposed to be green, or so her mother had always said. Kate had always been hard-pressed to see the green.
Until this evening.
But perhaps that was because of the gown Susannah had lent to her. It was a deep-emerald silk with an exquisite lace underskirt, puffed sleeves that looked as if they were ready to fall off her shoulders, and a daring décolletage that pushed up her breasts, making them look even more substantial than they really were.
Kate widened her now decidedly green eyes as she beheld something she’d never seen on herself before.
Cleavage.
As for her hair, Susannah’s maid had taken a curling iron to it, and now dozens of curls dripped all around her face, providing a soft frame for her previously harsh features. Wispy, stray tendrils curled around her ears and down the nape of her neck, while the rest of her hair had been twisted up into a knot adorned with a fillet of green leaves and purple flowers. Susannah had also lent her a pearl choker for her exposed white throat.
Kate didn’t feel like herself. Yet wasn’t this who she’d always longed to be? A beautiful diamond of the first water, clad in the first stare of fashion, the potential belle of the ball?
That, of course, would depend on how many other young ladies—ladies younger than Kate—would be at the ball.
She wondered if Nathan would recognize her and what he might think of how she looked. And then she asked herself for the umpteenth time why that even mattered.
She finally ventured downstairs to the ballroom and spotted Nathan immediately, because he was the tallest man here.
He was also talking to a woman who looked even younger than Kate. She was certainly prettier.
Her heart sank as she sought their h
ostess, who assured her that she looked lovely.
As she swept her gaze around the ballroom, a sudden wave of terror washed over her. “Susannah, everyone is looking at me!”
Everyone but Nathan.
“That’s because you look so beautiful,” Susannah replied. “And you must remember, Kate, that our other guests are all locals and they’ve never seen you before.”
Flustered, Kate said, “Just show me to the nearest, darkest corner, and I’ll—”
“Oh dear,” Susannah suddenly said, her face clouding.
“Oh, please don’t look like that. It’s really for the best. Unless you weren’t able to hire a traveling troupe for this evening’s entertainment, I daresay you’ll thank me to stay off the dance floor where I’ll only—”
“No, no, that’s not it at all.” Susannah now looked very distressed as she fixed her gaze on the wide doorway at the end of the ballroom. “It’s just that my stepfather has decided to attend, after all.”
Kate followed Susannah’s agitated gaze to a gentleman who appeared to be about forty, with blond hair arranged in the Brutus style. He was dressed identically to all the other men, with the same black coat and breeches and a cream-colored waistcoat. He wasn’t as tall as Nathan, but he was handsome and broad shouldered, standing erect as his blue-eyed gaze flicked all around the room before finally landing on Kate.
As it did, his face broke into a smile.
Kate found herself smiling back, and she quickly averted her eyes, not wishing to be caught gawping at a gentleman, especially if he happened to be Susannah’s stepfather. “I say, he looks rather young to be your stepfather. You never told me your late mother married a much younger man.”
“That’s because she didn’t. You’re obviously looking at the gentleman next to my stepfather. Since they appeared at the same moment and are standing so close to each other, I daresay he must be a friend of Sir Niles.” Susannah sighed. “I suppose I should be thankful he didn’t come with some lightskirt on his arm. Trevor told me he’s acquired at least one since my mother passed.”
Kate glanced back at the doorway, finally noting a much older man next to the younger, handsomer one who was still peering back at her with the hint of a smile, almost as if he recognized her. Only she’d never seen the man before. She’d certainly remember any man who looked at her the way this one did, and no man had ever looked at her that way before. Well, maybe Nathan had that night at the inn when he’d watched her braid her hair. But this evening he hadn’t even recognized her yet, whereas this gentleman had noticed her at once.
The stranger’s gaze was so intense that she had to look away, as if it might blind her. A moment later she stole another look. “Susannah, why do you think that man with your stepfather keeps looking at me—and smiling at me?”
“Clearly, he finds you attractive—and don’t scoff, Kate, because you are. But if he’s here with my stepfather, then I wouldn’t pay him too much mind if I were you.”
Kate knit her brow. “Do you mean that just because he’s friends with your stepfather, he must be a reprobate?”
Susannah patted her on the arm. “Birds of a feather, Kate. If he is indeed interested in you, then I daresay his interest will evaporate the minute he learns you have no dowry. You do look like an heiress.”
Kate smiled. “At long last, I look like something other than a governess.”
“Pardon me, dear, but I do believe I shall have to go and receive them, since Trevor seems to be engaged elsewhere.”
Kate wasn’t sure she agreed with Susannah’s assessment that if the newcomer was friends with her stepfather, then that automatically made him a rogue. After all, Kate’s own stepfather, for all his flaws, had kept some perfectly respectable friends over the years—not least of which had been Kate’s own father. And while he might have been unfaithful to her mother, he’d still been a good father to Kate and Anthony and enjoyed a brilliant career in the army. No man was perfect—not even Nathan. Why, the only reason Kate was standing here was because Nathan had been engaged in the same sort of scandalous activity that hopelessly attracted her stepfather.
And Kate certainly did not think Nathan was an irredeemable villain. No, Susannah was clearly falling into the trap of tarring two birds with the same brush, something Kate was selectively guilty of herself, and that wasn’t fair.
Speaking of Nathan, she glanced around the ornately gilded ballroom again and spotted him on the far side of the room chatting now with not one but two young women, both of whom looked as if they’d fallen in love with him already.
With a moue of disgust she turned away, just in time to see—was it possible? That strange gentleman was headed her way, accompanied by Susannah and her stepfather. Needless to say, Susannah did not look especially happy about this.
“Kate, I don’t believe you’ve met my stepfather, Sir Niles Barnett.” In addition to not looking especially happy, Susannah didn’t sound very excited, either. “Sir Niles, may I present Miss Katherine Baxter.”
The words were barely out of her mouth when Sir Niles stepped forward. “I’ve known your stepfather, Lord Bellingham, for many years, Miss Baxter.”
Susannah grimaced and rolled her eyes at Kate, as if to signify that Sir Niles had just made her earlier point.
He went on, “I have with me another old friend who is most anxious to make your acquaintance. May I present Lord Waldrop?”
As Lord Waldrop fell into a gallant bow, Kate curtsied not so much because of etiquette, but because her knees were suddenly wobbly in a way they’d never been since—since—
Well, since she met Nathan. At that very same moment she heard his laughter from across the vast ballroom and caught a glimpse of him talking to a third young lady.
No doubt he’d forgotten her by now.
Lord Waldrop favored her with a dazzling smile. “I’m so very pleased and honored to meet you, Miss Baxter.”
She wrinkled her brow. “Honored?”
“You are clearly the most beautiful lady in this room. To meet the most beautiful lady present is an honor for any gentleman.”
She was still trying to absorb this ridiculous declaration when Sir Niles addressed his stepdaughter. “Come, they don’t need a chaperone. You have more guests to receive, and I need a drink.”
Sir Niles and Susannah went off in two different directions, leaving Kate to bask in the rays beaming from Lord Waldrop’s brilliant smile.
“Now, you’ve only just arrived, my lord, so I don’t believe you’ve had the chance to really see any of the other ladies yet. I do believe your assessment of my—” She was about to say charms, only she didn’t believe she had any, so she amended, “that is, me—might be premature.”
“If that’s so, then it can only be because my eyes were instantly drawn to you.” He cocked his head to one side, still smiling. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“As a matter of fact, I don’t. I think you’re only saying it to be polite. I mean, you surely wouldn’t tell me to my face that I’m hideous?”
“No, because you’re not hideous. Whatever gives you that idea?”
“Well, my spectacles…”
“But you need them to see, don’t you? I should think you would be more hideous if you were forced to stumble through life, tripping over anything you don’t knock over, if you weren’t able to see.”
Kate couldn’t help laughing, thinking of how she’d stumbled around Nathan on the dance floor this week. “I tend to do that anyway, even with the spectacles. Truly, why are you so keen to know me?”
“For that matter, why are you so incredulous that any gentleman would wish to give you the time of day?”
“Because no other gentleman ever has.” She couldn’t help it. She had to glance around the ballroom again, searching for Nathan. To her annoyance, she spotted him chatting up four more chits.
He might well find a duchess before he left Derbyshire, in which case his Aunt Verity’s plans would be all for naught.
“I should like very much to dance with you later on,” said Lord Waldrop, flipping up a hand at the same time Kate opened her mouth. “And don’t tell me you’re not a very good dancer, or that you don’t even know how to dance. I daresay most of the people in this room have never been within ten miles of a dancing master, yet they’re here to dance.” He paused to smile, lowering his hand. “I most certainly am.”
Kate opened her mouth again, and again his hand flipped up. “Please, Miss Baxter. Please don’t tell me that you simply don’t dance. Why would you deny yourself the same amusements everyone else enjoys?”
She kept her mouth clamped shut.
“Now you may answer,” he said. “I’ll keep my hand down this time.”
“I’ve never danced, because I don’t know how,” she said. Her disastrous lessons earlier this week didn’t count. “But if I’m to believe I’m in no better a position than anyone else here…”
“Then may I have the first dance?”
“Well, maybe not the first dance,” she said. “I may need to sit out a dance or two before I can summon the nerve.”
“That’s quite all right. It will give us time to become better acquainted. I take it you’re visiting Lord and Lady Ellington?”
Kate nodded, explaining to him how she’d stayed here with her mother and stepfather on their way from London to Yorkshire last year. She thought the better of telling him how she came to be here now. Let him assume Susannah had simply invited her to stay for a few weeks.
“I suppose when she saw me in the doorway with Sir Niles, she immediately warned you about me?” he asked as the two of them watched couples now sorting themselves out and lining up in two rows on either side of the parquet dance floor. “I can scarcely blame her. She never got along with her stepfather, so naturally she thinks that anyone who would associate with him must be as reprehensible as he is.”
Wagered to the Duke (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Page 20
