Once again, her mother was right. He was really only being polite. This wasn’t the first time Kate had been asked to a party by someone who sounded as if they really wanted to see her, when in fact they just wanted more people at the party so they could claim it was a success, because once she was there, the person who’d asked her would favor her with nothing more than a greeting and she was thereafter left to flower the nearest wall.
Well, she wouldn’t give the Duke of Loring—for she had to start thinking of him that way—the same satisfaction. Besides, hadn’t he said it would be too scandalous for him to choose a bride who’d been wagered to him? She couldn’t imagine he’d consider it less scandalous if she’d been sold to him, regardless of what her brother said to the contrary. Let His Grace find his bride from among tonight’s debutantes if that’s what he wanted. He’d be disappointed and disenchanted in the end.
But as she rolled over on the mattress, feeling terribly queasy, she wondered if he would ever feel as desolate as she did now.
Or as silly.
Chapter Twenty
That evening, Nathan dressed up in his formal best and stood next to Aunt Verity, receiving one member of the ton after another. It seemed everyone had a daughter in her late teens or early twenties. Not one guest brought a daughter or a sister who was even close to his own age of twenty-eight.
Not even the Baxters.
“She said she was feeling too ill to come,” Anthony Baxter said ruefully. “I begged and pleaded with her…”
“Did you happen to tell her of our conversation this morning?”
“I told her some of it. She was shocked to learn that you ‘bought’ her from Lord Waldrop, even though I tried explaining to her that it was just the marker you bought. I doubt it was even legally binding.”
Exasperation gripped Nathan, and he lowered his voice as he leaned toward Anthony. “Did you not tell her that I asked you for her hand?”
“I wouldn’t let him,” Mrs. Baxter chimed in. “I think it’s better if Your Grace very happily surprises her.”
Nathan had to admit he thought that was better, too.
“Besides, under the circumstances, I didn’t want to tell her that as a means of persuading her to come this evening,” Anthony added. “She insists she’s not feeling quite the thing anyway, so she remains at home with our mother and the twins. You can always call on her tomorrow, if you’re that determined.”
Nathan tightened his jaw, thinking he was even more determined than that. He’d call on her tonight if only he could find a way to escape.
They moved on to make way for the next arrivals, but Nathan scarcely heard the names given to him, as he’d hardly heard any names all evening. He only heard one name ringing endlessly in his head, and most especially in his heart.
Kate…Kate…Kate…
It didn’t help that he was introduced to more than a few Katherines, or maybe they were Catherines. Regardless of the spelling, and for all their beauty and impeccable family connections, none of them was the Kate he wanted.
As the last of the guests filed into the cavernous ballroom of Loring House, Aunt Verity swept up to his side, tall feathers bobbing in her intricately coiffed hair. “Did she come?”
“I’m afraid not.” Nathan swept his gaze over the crush of ton as if he still hoped to see her somewhere. Perhaps she might have stolen in from the garden, or a side door. “Her brother informed me that she wasn’t feeling the thing this evening.”
“What a pity,” Aunt Verity tutted. “First Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold send their regrets, and now your true love. I was so hoping to meet her. Oh well, at least she can’t be indisposed for the same reason as Princess Charlotte.”
“I should hope not,” Nathan muttered as he recalled the heartbreak he’d caused her the night they’d made love. But at the time he couldn’t risk putting Kate in the same condition that Princess Charlotte was recently announced to be in.
“At the very least, we can start the dancing. Who do you think you’d like to dance with first?”
Nathan could only think of one person he wanted to dance with first—the only person he wanted to dance with—or at least stumble around the ballroom with her.
“My dear aunt,” he said, gently laying a hand on her arm, half of which was covered with a long, white glove. “Start the dancing when you wish. I will choose someone later on.”
Aunt Verity’s face clouded. “How much later? Before midnight, I hope.”
“I hope so, too.” Before she could protest further, he swiftly exited the ballroom, heading for the front hall where the doors were still wide open.
As he dashed through them and down the steps, he nearly knocked over two late arrivals slowly making their way up the steps. “Beg pardon,” he said quickly as he continued down the steps and then froze.
Offhand, he could only think of one person—no, two people—who would deign to arrive only after everyone else was gathered in the ballroom. His heart sank as he slowly turned to survey the tardy couple, who’d turned to glare back down at him. At least he assumed they were glaring. It was hard to tell, since it was dark outside and any light came from behind them, spilling out the gaping front doorway and obscuring their faces.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry, Your Grace?” she asked in a very haughty voice. “Did you somehow find out I’d decided to make an appearance, after all?”
Bloody hell and damnation! Nathan bowed so quickly and deeply, he wondered why he didn’t topple over headfirst and split his fool skull on the steps—not that he was complaining. But he would certainly deserve it in this case.
“Your Royal Highnesses,” he blurted. “Do forgive me. As I’m sure you’ve heard, I’m quite new at being a duke, when I’m really just another savage from Scotland. I’m delighted you came after all. May I offer my felicitations on your happy news?”
Princess Charlotte of Wales marched down the steps toward him, while her husband of one year, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Something-Or-Other, remained firmly planted on the top step. “Did you just mistake me for a princess?”
He caught a glint of light in her spectacles as he finally recalled that voice by its tone, and he felt his heart soaring as he gifted her with a broad smile. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t mistake you for a princess at all, Miss Katherine Baxter. This probably sounds silly to you, but to me you are a princess.”
She gaped at him for only a moment, long enough to make his racing heart trip and almost stumble, but just in time she smiled back and said, “I don’t think that sounds silly at all.”
He eagerly took her right hand into his, though what he really wanted to do was throw his arms around her and never let her break free of his embrace. “I’m so glad you came, only—well, who is that, if it isn’t Prince Leopold?”
“One of my brother’s footmen,” she explained, and she turned to address the manservant. “You may return home now. I know this gentleman, and I can assure you I’m perfectly safe with him…because I’ve always been safe with him before.”
“As you wish, Miss Baxter. Have a pleasant evening.” The footman tugged on his forelock and scurried down the steps, vanishing into the evening mist.
“Your brother told me you were justifiably furious with me for various but valid reasons,” Nathan said.
“I was sold to a duke—as if that’s any less scandalous than being wagered to one—but I felt, since I’d been reduced to mere chattel, that you would only send me away as you hoped to do back in York and return to the business of choosing your bride at this ball.”
“Only I never bought you, silly lass. All I did was buy a marker that had your name on it.”
“So my brother told me, but it means if my stepfather can’t pay you five thousand pounds, you can claim me and do as you please with me.”
“Point taken, but I don’t recall dispatching wild horses to drag you here,” Nathan said. “You’re free to leave me at anytime. I only hope you say good-bye if you do
, because you didn’t last time.”
Her voice softened. “That’s because I hoped to see you again. And only after my brother and wife departed this evening did I realize how silly I was being. So here I am.” She gifted him with a warm smile as she took his left hand into her own, holding them up alongside their already clasped right hands. “I thought I might steal into the ball after the dancing had started, and then—oh, I don’t know. I didn’t want to meet you again in a noisy receiving line, so I thought I might observe you from afar for a while, like I did at Ellington Hall, and then—well, I’m not sure what I would’ve done next, but I certainly wouldn’t have allowed myself to be charmed by some rogue you would’ve punched. I suppose it would have depended on who you danced with, and how many times.”
He laughed and held her hands against his chest. “You’re the only one I want to dance with, Kate.”
“You mean I’m the only one with whom you want to stumble around the ballroom floor.”
“The only one with whom I want to stumble through life. That’s why I was leaving just now. I was going to rush over to your brother’s town house and try to talk sense into you.”
“Even if I’d been in bed, in my night rail?”
He grinned. “I do believe I’ve seen you in bed already. In your night rail.” For that matter, in even less.
“You’ve seen me in bed, but not in my night rail,” she reminded him. “I believe I was wearing a shirt I borrowed from you. And were you only going to talk sense into me?”
“No, I thought I would also do this.” He brought his lips to hers, still holding her hands in a firm grip. Still, he felt her trembling as her mouth avidly yielded to his, letting him taste the warm sweetness he remembered from their journey, and…“Brandy? Have you been drinking brandy, Kate?”
“Thank heavens you’re not calling me Katherine. Yes, I’ve had a bit of brandy, but only for medicinal purposes. The housekeeper gave it to me earlier, but after that I felt so light-headed and warm and—and other delightful things, that I thought there was only one thing to do, and that was to tell her and my mother that I was feeling much better and would dress and go to the ball after all!” And with that, she stood on tiptoe to offer him another taste, teasing his tongue with her own, sending a shard of heat straight to Nathan’s groin. This time they let go of their hands and finally slid their arms around each other, their lips fused together as if neither wanted to be parted from the other again.
Nathan certainly didn’t. As Kate finally broke the kiss and gazed up at him with shining eyes—or maybe that was just the reflection of the moonlight in her spectacles, but he preferred to think her eyes really were shining—he simply said, “Marry me, Kate.”
To his surprise, she asked, “Why?”
“Well, I see I’ll have to talk sense into you after all. As you know, I’m a duke, and because I’m a duke, I can have my pick of brides. And instead of choosing a younger, prettier debutante who will only bore me with her mindless havering and cater to my every whim just to win my favor, at least until after I marry her, I’d rather choose the bespectacled spinster who always has something interesting to say and refuses to cater to my every whim to curry my favor, because she knows she doesn’t need to.”
“No, because I didn’t think I stood a chance,” Kate replied, always wonderfully pragmatic. “Believe me, had I flattered myself by thinking otherwise, I might well have employed a few artifices, though the notion gave me horrors.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. I want to know who I’m really marrying. I want a wife who doesn’t wait for me or anyone else to tell her what to think, but who thinks for herself because she knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. That’s what you did back in York, and that’s what you did tonight!”
She gaped at him in astonishment. “I did, didn’t I?”
He couldn’t help laughing. “You did indeed. And I’m no longer the stranger with whom you took a daring chance in York. Here in London, I’m the man with whom you’ve shared just about everything—secrets, shirts, meat pasties, washbowls, laughter…” He lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “Even a bed.”
That elicited a gasp from her, and she swiftly averted her gaze. If not for the darkness, he thought he might have been able to see the same blush he saw the morning when he first kissed her, after she’d glimpsed him naked and aroused.
He forged ahead. “So I thought, Kate, since we’ve already lived as husband and wife and we seem to get on so well together—despite a few rough spots, but what marriage doesn’t have those—well, why not become husband and wife?”
She continued gawping at him, utterly speechless now.
“And your brother has already given his blessing,” he added. “What do you say?”
Alas, she was still too stunned to respond.
He got down on bended knee, taking both of her hands into his. “Now what do you say?”
Her eyes suddenly glistened with tears. “Oh, yes. Oh, Nathan, I thought I’d lost you after our last night at Ellington Hall.”
He rose to his feet. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Because you didn’t—you didn’t—well, you know—”
“Believe me, I wanted to. Remember what I said? You were almost too much for me, my bonny thistle. I didn’t want to ruin you—”
“You already had!” she exclaimed. “I worried that maybe you did it—or didn’t do it—because you didn’t love me and didn’t want to marry me.”
“Well, I do love you, Kate,” he declared, still clutching both of her hands. “And I do want to marry you.”
“I love you, too,” she said, and then she laughed. “Oh, is my mother ever going to be surprised—but so happy!”
He laughed with her. “Now come, let’s go inside, where there’s light and I can see you better. Also, because I want everyone else to see the lady who will be my duchess!”
* * * *
The nervous flutters that had plagued Kate’s insides all the way to Loring House suddenly took flight along with her soaring heart as the man she loved led her into the illuminated front hall with its towering ceiling. Scantily clad nymphs and cherubs gazed down approvingly as Nathan and Kate, still holding hands, paused to face each other.
“At Trevor and Susannah’s I thought you looked like a thistle in your green gown and purple flowers,” he said as he swept his admiring gaze over her new gown of silver satin trimmed with exquisite lace and white, silk flowers. “But now you look like a duchess.”
Joy filled her heart. “And you look like a duke.” For he did. He wore a black evening coat and matching breeches, with a waistcoat striped in a pale blue and silver. Yet strands of his black hair still fell over that broad brow and curled around his blinding-white collar.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured, the two words like a breath as he stroked the back of his hand over her cheek. “Almost too beautiful for a clumsy half-Scot who still isn’t sure how to be a duke.”
She smiled. “Well, I’m not sure how to be a duchess and I’m just as clumsy as you, but we’ll stumble through it together, won’t we?”
Still clutching her hand, he led her into the ballroom, where couples were already dancing. Kate suddenly felt dizzy, not only from the sight of all the endlessly twirling couples, but from all that had transpired in the past few moments and maybe even from the brandy she’d quaffed earlier.
“Oh, look, there’s my brother and sister-in-law. They’re over by the musicians talking to that highly plumed lady.”
“That highly plumed lady is none other than my Aunt Verity,” Nathan replied. “She’s been most anxious to meet you.”
“Does she know exactly how we met?”
“Of course she does.”
“And she wasn’t at all scandalized?”
He threw her a teasing grin. “Pray, my lovely thistle, what is so scandalous about the two of us having met at your stepfather’s dinner table last summer?”
Kate nearly froze
in her tracks. “Is that what you told her?”
“Well, that is how we met, isn’t it?” He paused to take both her hands into his again. “You know I could never have chosen as my bride someone I won at the gaming table or met in the public room of a wayside inn. So I chose someone I met when I stayed overnight at an earl’s estate. As you might say, all very dull and proper.” His blue-gray eyes twinkled mischievously. “And I certainly wasn’t looking for love then. Were you?”
She burst into laughter. “No, because the last place I ever wished to find it was at my stepfather’s table. How unromantic!”
At that moment, Anthony and Georgiana swept up to them, along with Nathan’s Aunt Verity. Georgiana hugged her sister-in-law upon hearing that Kate had accepted Nathan’s offer of marriage.
“Nathan, I couldn’t be happier about this,” said Aunt Verity. “I’m relieved you won’t be marrying some younger, sillier debutante and her mother.”
“So am I,” he replied, squeezing Kate’s hand. “I’d like to make the announcement right after this dance.”
Aunt Verity frantically waved her fan at him. “Oh no, not so soon, dear boy. They’re likely to all go home afterward.”
“That suits me,” Nathan said as he drew Kate closer to his side.
“You must wait until midnight,” Aunt Verity said firmly.
“Oh, must we?” Kate tried not to sound too wheedling.
“Such announcements are always made at midnight,” Georgiana chimed in.
That was almost three hours away! Kate wasn’t so sure she could last that long in this crowded ballroom, especially since she still had no intention of dancing or even stumbling.
Well, maybe the stumbling, as long as it was with Nathan.
“Let’s step into the garden for some air,” he suggested, and she eagerly agreed, hoping they could stay out there all night in the cool dark.
Once they’d slipped outside into the chilly shadows, he turned to her and whispered, “May I kiss you again?”
Wagered to the Duke (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Page 26
