Katherine felt less at ease wearing the beautiful cornflower blue dress and white pearls around her throat. Before leaving she had glanced in the mirror, hardly recognizing the woman who stared back at her. She was still unsure if that was a good or bad thing to feel. She had never disliked who she was before but that didn't mean that she couldn't like who she was becoming.
Before entering the large townhouse Robin pulled Katherine aside just as Mrs. Brentley was taken away by an old friend with new gossip. “Don't forget what mother asked you to do.”
Katherine could not imagine why her sister would now suddenly care so greatly about who she chose for a husband. “Why do you care if I marry a titled gentleman or not?”
“I can't listen to what Mrs. Brentley says. I want a rich husband and I am going to get one. However I have taken her advice to heart, I might find it difficult to fit into some circles unless I am the sister of a respectable duchess, or lady or something. That means that you have to marry respectable. You probably would have anyway for mother's sake but I just think it would be best for the whole family really.”
Katherine hated how even now her family was asking her to help pick up after her sister's missteps. Everyone was trying to guide her life and her own opinion did not seem to matter to them. “I will do my best,” she said through clenched teeth.
Robin did not seem to notice Katherine's remark before plastering a carefree smile to her face and striding purposefully into the house. It told Katherine enough about her sister's mind set, and even worried her a little to see such drive so early in their husband hunting.
She had to remember that both of them were there for a purpose tonight. Not just for fun like most of the girls with their mothers or aunts who saw the event as mostly a source of amusement. Even the more serious girls who wanted to pursue Dukes and Barons spent more than one season looking into their choices for husbands, refusing a few offers before selecting one to pursue. The Wellings had no such luxury. By the end of the season they would be dropped off at their father's home if they had not procured a husband, and that would be the end of their chance to marry well. They needed to choose quickly; otherwise Katherine might never hear the end of it from their mother.
The glittering chandeliers and rich golden hued ornamentation of the Emerson's Ball did not distract Robin nor Mrs. Brentley. They each had clearly stated their goals and Katherine watched as both women sought out men using very different sets of rules to determine eligibility.
Many of the men they were introduced to were handsome enough, and both girls accepted every request for a dance, often only to be polite. Shortly after returning from such a dance the other women in the group who were friends of Mrs. Brentley would whisper back and forth about the advantages and disadvantages of the man, such as what wealth he had, if he was prone to scandals, or how many mistress he had been known to keep. Katherine discovered that some of the women that surrounded them included Mrs. Brentley's previous charges. They all treated Mrs. Brentley as the supreme authority on anything to do with husband hunting.
Nearing the end of the night, neither Katherine nor Robin could find one man amongst those that they had danced with that would work very well for either of them. Mr. Blackworth was far too poor, and had been openly searching for a rich bride over the past two years. He danced with both girls before declaring them divine creatures and then leaving them alone for the rest of the evening.
Charles Wentworth, Lord of Grinley, held an important seat in the House of Lords and was very kind, which quickly made him a favorite choice of Robin's for Katherine, as he was too sedate for her. He was in good health for being nearly fifty-five and relatively handsome with a few gray streaks to his hair. As Katherine danced with him, she could only think about the fact that he was older than her own father. Robin had accused Katherine of being too picky when she called him old, despite the fact that she too had declined interest in the man.
“Few men of great influence, power, and money are very young,” Robin chided her.
“I don't care, he may be a kindly man but I am not going to marry someone who could die of old age before I reach forty,” Katherine said.
“Then you would be an influential widower and could marry whoever you wanted to. That is not a bad plan to have,” Robin countered before running off to the dance floor with her next partner.
Robin's only repeated partner, Mr. Holbrook had a small estate in London and a much larger one on the border of Scotland, but Robin hated the cold weather up north and after their second dance she quickly dismissed him as a serious choice.
One of Katherine's favorites was Oliver Buckman, the heir to a rich Lord who was held in high esteem, and a force to be reckoned with in London's high society. However, Oliver's own experience and intelligence left much to be desired, and until his quite healthy and virile father's death, he was without a title and had little of his own wealth to speak of as he had a habit of spending anything that he received from his father.
At all times, the girls were cocooned with old matrons and anxious young women searching for the man that their mother or chaperone would approve of. For this reason any man who approached either twin came from solid backgrounds and had made a name as a good respectable person.
Of course there were other types of men present, those who did not have easily discussed backgrounds and businesses. Katherine watched Robin's eyes stray to a different corner of the room whenever she danced closer to that group.
It was a more boisterous section, where the men talked a little too loudly and an occasional word of profanity escaped their circle when voices were raised above the usual din of the room. All of this made it easy to spot the men who were considered part of London's scandalous new money, the very people that Mrs. Brentley had warned them against.
Most of them came to the events to speak to the influential men in parliament. They would encourage the politicians to vote on bills that would help their businesses and allow them to make more money. Sometimes money was even passed during such exchanges. Some of the rich new men were able to find wives amongst the higher circles, often as part of a business alliance, but most did not care to marry into the blue blood of London's elite. A few of the roughish men might never take a wife at all, sticking with mistresses and other less cultured women to keep company with.
Katherine wondered if some of the loud and impolite women draped over the men's arms might be their mistresses, who were never supposed to be taken out into public. Not that the men seemed to show any respect for the rest of the customs of London's elite society.
Watching the odd group, Katherine could see why Mrs. Brentley had strong feelings against marrying such men. They had not grown up with the same rules and therefore did not play the upper society's games as they were expected to. Most titled families would rather go penniless than be shamed by working for a living. Keeping their self respect, even if it meant losing everything they had once owned. Rich American women preyed upon such men, offering them wealth in the exchange of a sought after title that the women couldn't find back home.
The new money men didn't care about titles the way that their female counterparts did. They found that wealth was powerful enough. Some of the underhanded business deals they did everyday would have shocked their more gently bred counterparts, who would rather discuss options over brandy and cigars rather than fight with their fists. Katherine supposed that it was one of the reasons that the new rich men now flourished, while the gentlemen seemed to be a dying breed obsessed with their own shrinking stance of power. Or just aging she thought as she was released from the arms of a man more than three times her age.
Before she could speak to her sister Katherine noticed that Robin had a light gleam to her eyes that often happened right before she did something bad. She didn't have time to warn her sister not to approach anyone from the other group before she was swept up into another dance that she had promised earlier. Looking over the shoulder of her partner, she watched as Robin waited
for Mrs. Brentley to become distracted by the arrival of another friend, and then Robin quickly wound her way between the many groups and towards the section of loud and gruff speaking men.
Robin paused beside them, not quite joining in, as she listened and watched intently. One man stuck out from the group. He was taller, seemed self aware and was more confident than the others in his circle. The thick blond of his hair reminded Katherine of the honey that she adored the taste of, but she knew his taste would be far from calming as he looked too dangerous and exotic to be safe.
He was built too large and strong, with his sleeves straining from the force of keeping his muscles pinned inside of the slim style that less physically developed society men preferred and had made fashionable.
Robin waited nearby until she caught his eye before giving him a flirtatious nod and strolling over to the refreshment table with her hips swaying seductively through the silky green dress. Katherine kept her eyes fixed on them, trying to watch her sister's every move, worried that she might have to stop Robin from making a terrible mistake like the one that she had made last night.
“The gown that you're wearing matches the color of your eyes, so truly,” Oliver whispered, trying to bring Katherine's attention back to him as he noticed her looking over his shoulder.
Katherine had not fully realized, until that moment, which man had asked her to dance and she smiled sheepishly up at his boyish looking young face. “Thank you Mr. Buckman,” She said, trying to turn the dance back to where she could watch her sister and the strange man again.
“No, please Katherine, call me Oliver,” he insisted before again commenting on her eyes, the only subject that he seemed to know very much about.
During their brief exchange Katherine had lost sight of her sister, and she looked over at the group of men to find that one particular man was missing. Looking over at the refreshment table Katherine found that the doors to the Emerson's back garden had been opened to let in some fresh air. Once in a while a man or woman slipped over to the table, looked around the room and quickly vanished into the waiting darkness. Knowing her sister's wild and competitive nature, it was easy to assume that Robin had fled outside with him and was searching for her own late night kiss with a stranger.
Katherine had to get outside to make sure that her sister was not making a scene where anyone could walk past and witness it. Mrs. Brentley had been generous to them yet how would she react to having that generosity thrown back in her face?
She could only think of one way to escape Oliver, and fast. Cringing from the humiliation of sinking so low, Katherine held her hand up to her forehead, the way she had seen her mother do so often before, and let her knees start to collapse before catching herself at the last moment. She didn't let herself fall all of the way, Oliver did not seem like the kind of man who would know how to catch a fainting woman. To sell the act, she then swayed on her feet lightly as Oliver grasped her around the waist with one of his weak, thin arms. He really was more of a boy than a man.
“Do you need some air?” he asked nervously.
Katherine weakly held up her hand and pointed to the back doors and the fresh air outside. Happy to play the hero, he rushed her through the dancing couples, not stopping until he had led her to the cobbled porch outside.
Once on the balcony, Katherine squinted through the dark in search of her sister. “Are you sick, Ms. Wellings? Do you want me to get Mrs. Brentley for you?” Oliver asked. He pulled off his suit jacket and set it over her shoulders to keep out the cold night air.
“No I'm fine Oliver,” she said, peeking over the edge of the balcony to the gardens down below. She could make out a few couples here and there that were talking, some even kissing. But none of the men were as large and bulky as the blonde man that she had seen her sister flirting with. Unable to see a trace of either of them, she decided that they had not gone out the back doors as she had expected, and Katherine turned to go back into the ball. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a couple hiding in the darkest edge of the balcony beneath a vine covered overhang, whispering intimately to each other.
Robin's laughter was unmistakable. Katherine watched her sister giggle at some quiet joke between them. Her sister's hand went out to steady herself against his broad chest, nearly caressing him as she laughed again at something he whispered into her ear.
Katherine felt hypocritical, considering last night's events. She had done far more with her stranger than simply giggling at his jokes. Still, she couldn't let it continue. She motioned Oliver closer to her. “On second thought please get me a glass of water. I'm feeling a little faint again,” she whispered. Her eyes never moved from the target of her sister in case somehow they might disappear again.
Oliver hopped at once to do her service, and then ran back through the open doors, giving her enough time to venture closer to the couple. “Robin!” she hissed, when she was close enough to hear a few words of their whispers.
The tall figure had been leaning up against the wall causing Robin to almost lay across him every time she tried to whisper in his ear. He straightened his stance at the sound of Katherine's call. “Just a minute,” Robin hissed before whispering back and forth with the man again.
Hearing Oliver behind her as he sought to find her in the gardens, she called out more loudly this time. “Robin, come here now!” It finally got her sister's attention away from the man as she spoke her goodbye to him, touching his arm one last time before walking away.
“What were you doing?” Katherine asked gesturing to the man who still stood back, cloaked within the shadows. Robin smiled unapologetically as they walked back into the light from the open ballroom doors.
Oliver came running to greet them, the glass of water sloshing as he stopped in front of them too quickly. “How are you feeling now, any better?” he asked.
“Katherine's felling quite ill,” Robin offered, guessing at her sister's game from Oliver's worried expression. “I think we had best get Mrs. Brentley, so that we can take her home and set her to bed,” she suggested gravely.
Dropping the water into Robin's waiting hand Oliver ran to collect their sponsor for them. “He is quite a likable young man,” Robin commented as she pulled her 'sick' sister into the ball room and giving her the physical support that an ill woman might need. “Yet he has no title and he might not for many years to come.”
“Then you are still siding with mother on this?” Katherine asked feeling slightly betrayed.
“On this, yes. Mother is right that you are our only chance of having a Lord or Duke connected to our name. I could never be a nobleman's wife. My best chances rest with finding a wealthy man.”
Mrs. Brentley appeared almost instantly, showing concern for Katherine's well being and preventing her from questioning Robin any further.
While waiting for their cloaks, Katherine noticed that Robin's new suitor had rejoined his group, laughing loudly at another's joke. At the same time he watched Robin carefully from his little corner. He noticed Katherine staring at him, and raised his glass up to her with a wicked smile, before turning back to his group. One of the ladies leaned in against him, and he pulled her in closer as if they might be more than friends. The man seemed to be born to break women's hearts.
He was not the kind of man that Katherine wanted her sister's reputation to be connected to.
Chapter 4
“What were you thinking!?” Katherine shrieked at her sister once they had entered the quiet of their own room.
During the carriage ride home, she had begun quietly seething with her sister's selfishness at openly trying to catch a man's attention and then disappearing into a dark corner with him. “If Mrs. Brentley had caught you out there, with him instead of with me, she would have sent us both back home.”
Calmly undoing her hair and brushing the twists out, Robin seemed to wait for her sister to finish the lecture. “And don't tell me that it was the same thing that I did last night. I never planned
to kiss that man, it just happened. You went out of your way to find the most controversial man in the room. Besides what you did tonight could have been seen by anyone!”
Katherine knew that Robin was never this calm unless she felt absolutely sure of herself and her actions, which only frustrated Katherine more. “You need to be more careful about who you sneak off with. I doubt that man has a very good reputation to go with his handsome looks. Since, you weren't the only one that he was paying attention to tonight either, I saw him with another woman just before we left.”
Robin waited for her sister to finish and then appeared to be counting down from ten. Seeing that Katherine had stopped for the moment Robin spun around to face her. “His name is Victor. He owns a large plant in London that produces over half of the steel being used for the new railroad system. He's richer than even I had hoped for, and I think he's falling in love with me.” She giggled before turning back to brushing her hair in the small vanity mirror.
Seeing her sister so happy, it was hard to remember that Katherine had to be the practical one. She wanted to squash all of the alarms that her sister's new beau set off, to just hug Robin with excitement, to let someone else clean up after the mess that was left behind afterwards. Instead she started with the basics. “What's Victor's last name?”
“He didn't tell me,” Robin answered non-pulsed.
“You kissed a man without even knowing his last name?” Katherine let out, before biting her tongue a little too late.
Robin shot her a glare then returned to her happy thoughts. “First of all we didn't even kiss,” she corrected. “Victor asked me to go outside to talk with him alone, and that's all we did. To be honest I thought that he would want to kiss me. Instead he was the perfect gentleman, or as much as he could be considering he's such a large oaf of a man. He asked about me and I told him the truth, that I was looking to marry a rich husband.”
Katherine gasped at her sister's frankness.
A Taste of Honey Page 5
