Wanting to say something at this moment of power she confessed, “I won't let you marry my friend.”
Gathering his wits Kent smiled at the implied challenge. “Why is that?”
“She's too good for you,” Winnie told him before galloping away. She enjoyed having the last word on any subject, especially with Kent.
Katherine watched the strange events between Kent and Winnie from the window of her guest bedroom. She knew that when two people grew up together they tended to have a bond that allowed them to see each other in ways that no one else could quite understand from the outside. For Winnie, knowing Kent for so long had clearly left a negative impression, but they still butted heads like children rather than angry adults, which left some hope for a future friendship between them.
As Winnie and Kent parted ways, Katherine hurried to dress for breakfast, knowing that Kent would be heading in that direction. Her hair was still wet as she pulled it up into a tight bun high on her head. She had decided that if she wanted to make her mother happy by marrying a lord, then Kent was her best shot at doing so. With some careful prodding and planning she was sure that she could get him to propose soon, maybe even tonight. She wanted to be finished with the whole thing.
No more late night games that never turned out the way she wanted them to. No more hidden kisses that exploded everything that she had ever known before until nothing else mattered. Some women loved being courted by multiple men, but Katherine had discovered that she was not one of them. Once she was engaged, Katherine believed that Garrett would see he had lost and would leave her alone. Maybe they could even be friends at some point, if that was possible.
At least she knew that Kent was the kind of man that she could care for, even if she may never fall in love with him. It would have to be enough for her, she decided. Better to take her chances with him than risk losing her mother forever.
“Katherine, wait!”
The voice down the hall yelled to her retreating form. She thought about acting like she had not heard the sound but after a moment she stopped to let her sister catch up to her.
“He proposed,” Robin gushed and hugged her sister warmly. “I told him that he could announce it tonight at the ball. Isn't that exciting? I could be mistress of this house before the end of next week,” she sighed as her eyes took in the hall around them. Katherine knew that she was also looking beyond that to the pocket book of riches that Victor would offer her.
She had expected it to come soon. Still it bothered Katherine to know that her sister, who had been given the choice of picking whoever she wanted, was still so casual about not marrying for love. “That's great,” she told her, trying to force a believable smile to her face.
Luckily Robin was too happy to notice her sister's lack of enthusiasm. “Now I just have to work on all of the wedding arrangements. I'd like to be married within the month, at the latest; which will keep me busy for awhile. After that I could help you find the right husband too, since you haven't really found any one yet.”
“I hope to be engaged to Kent by that time,” Katherine insisted.
“Well I mentioned him in a letter to mother and I have just received word back from her. Since Kent is only a lord she feels that you should be aiming for a duke. At least until it is further into the season. If you haven't found anyone in the next month then she advises you to settle for a lord.” Robin pulled out the letter so that she could skim it for any other bits of advice that their mother had imparted on them.
“Does she mention father?” Katherine asked as she peeked over the edge of the paper. She had not heard back from him since arriving in London and was becoming more and more concerned about his health.
“Yes, she did mention that he was doing very poorly right now; bed-ridden for nearly a month in fact.” Robin continued to scan the letter as if that bit of information wasn't too important. “Yes, here it is,” she declared happily. “I asked mother what she thought about Garrett's interest in you and I can tell you that she wasn't very pleased.”
“You told her?” Katherine nearly shouted as she pulled her sister into one of the rooms where they could speak without others overhearing them.
“Well I had to tell her. She wrote to me asking if you'd met anyone.”
“And what does she say about Victor?” she asked heatedly. They both knew that had Katherine even considered such a match, she would already have been disowned.
“She didn't really mention it,” Robin admitted in a more subdued tone. “I'm sure that she will agree with me that he is the right choice. There are so many riches at his fingertips that I can't imagine anyone not approving of the match.”
“Mother doesn't care about that,” Katherine bit out, even as she knew that she shouldn't be saying it. “Mother simply doesn't care about anything that you do.”
Robin's head whipped back and her eyes widened as if she had been slapped.
“I'm sorry,” Katherine started to say.
“I already know that I'm not as wonderful as you. Do you think that I've been blind all of my life? I know that mother and father will never love me the way that they do you. But I had always hoped that somehow you didn't see me the same way that they did. That you didn't think I was a failure. Why can't you be happy for me now that I've found what I wanted?”
“You must want more than a rich husband that you don't even care for,” Katherine argued as she stepped closer to grasp her sister's arm.
Robin pulled back from her touch. “His money will be enough for me,” she insisted despite the light quiver that had touched her voice.
“You don't have to marry him. You can find someone else. It is not too late to say no to him. Don't you want to spend your life with someone that you can love?”
There was a light gleam in her eyes and Katherine realized that her sister was close to crying as she continued to slowly leave the room. “I'll try to have that with whoever I choose to pick up an affair with,” she promised as if that would please her sister. “For now I can't afford the luxury of passing Victor up. I've already ruined my reputation too much for any other man to consider me.” Before Katherine could argue, Robin had left the room and hurried down the hall.
Kent was nowhere to be found by the time that Katherine came downstairs. Instead she joined Winnie who sat off to the side of the group. She had apparently not gone on a very long ride as she was already dressed for the afternoon. Winnie jumped a little as Katherine approached her, she seemed nervous and jittery. “Did you want to go for a walk?” she asked, before Katherine could take the seat beside her.
A quiet walk in the gardens had never sounded quite as appealing as it did now. “Yes,” she sighed happily. Of the four paths that wound around the gardens, there was only one that they had not taken yet and she started towards it when Winnie stopped her.
“I'd like to walk by the little cherub statue again,” Winnie suggested. Katherine knew which path she meant, they had taken it together on their first day at the estate. The path was rather short and ended at a little cherub fountain, before heading back to the house.
“Are you sure? We haven't taken this one yet,” she reminded her.
But Winnie was already walking toward the trail head. “We'll save the last trail for tomorrow,” she insisted. They walked quickly, reaching the cherub faster than the last time, due to Winnie's hasty speed.
Just beyond the little statue, Katherine caught sight of two people fighting and turned to go back down the path so as not to interrupt. She motioned for Winnie to follow her to the house but Winnie ventured on.
“Isn't that Kent?” Winnie asked, as she stared at the two who were slightly hidden from view.
Katherine turned back to get a closer look at the couple. There was a woman lying on top of a man's lap with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and her lips pressed against his. Katherine didn't want to pry into someone else's business but she realized that Winnie was right, locked in a rather scandalous position, Kent was hiding
from view.
He struggled against the woman who clung tightly to him. “You used to like kissing me,” she purred even as he tried to force her off of his lap.
Liza Clayton was a young widow who was known for her extravagant affairs with many of London's best rakes. She liked being taken care of and only chose men rich enough that they could buy her whatever she wanted. Even amongst what few friends she had, she was known as a woman with few scruples.
The couple remained unaware of the prying eyes that watched them closely. “Our affair ended months ago,” Kent tried to reason with her as he shoved her away. “I have moved on Liza. There have been many other women since you.” Kent picked her slim form up and set it on the bench beside him, then tried to stand and walk away.
Katherine did not appreciate the way that he had emphasized the word 'many', and in only a few months time!
She watched as Liza's hand reached down to his pants and her other arm tried to hold him in place. “Just for a moment. No one will see us,” she cooed as she started to undo the buttons.
Somehow Kent must have sensed that he was being watched and turned to find the two shocked women standing only a few feet away. Liza removed her hands from him but smiled devilishly up at Katherine. She had to have known that Katherine was pursuing him. They had spent most of the last few days together. But Liza seemed thrilled to be caught in the act with one of her old lovers.
Ignoring the slightly disheveled woman behind him, Kent came forward, grasping Katherine's arm. “We need to talk,” he told her. “I don't know what all you saw but I can assure you...”
“It's all right,” she told him as she looked up into his worried face. “I know that this wasn't your fault. This isn't the first time that I've heard about Liza's scheming ways.” She recalled that it was Winnie who had warned her against being associated with the woman.
“She is trouble.” Winnie had told her their first day at the estate when she had noticed that Liza was numbered amongst the guests. It appeared that once again, Liza was looking for some fun and a way to make other people miserable.
Kent smiled at her brilliantly, seeing her trust and patience. Had he caught her in the same scene would he have been quite so understanding? Probably not. But then it was easy for Katherine to forgive him and ignore what she had seen. It caused her to wonder if she would ever care about Kent as much as she cared about Garrett.
“We'd better get back,” Winnie said as she pointed down the path and motioned for them to lead ahead of her. Turning back to Liza, who sat calmly on the bench, Winnie mouthed 'What happened?', only to have Liza shrug her shoulders in bewilderment.
It was unlike Kent to refuse a woman who wanted a bit of time alone with him. Katherine could not have changed him that much, Winnie was sure of it. Somehow he must have known that it was a setup and he had planned all along to put on a show for Katherine's sake. Assured that his scheming was the only reason her plan had failed, Winnie relaxed a little. She just needed to think of another way to separate them.
The musicians began to arrange themselves, even practicing a few notes before the first dance was to start. Victor had been right; he had easily convinced Mrs. Brentley to allow her daughter to dance the first dance. “But only the first dance,” she had been quick to say. Had she known who her daughter's dance partner was to be, Mrs. Brentley might not have been so accommodating.
Winnie had hoped that he would not have the gall to actually approach her for the first dance, but Kent stood behind her, holding her shoulders to keep her in place as if she might run away.
“That was a good idea trying to have Liza seduce me in front of Katherine to break us apart,” Kent said and Winnie stilled at the words, dread drawing through her. “But there is something about me that you should have known.”
“And what is that?” she asked through clenched teeth.
“Once I'm done with a woman, I never want her back again.” He whispered the words close to her ear so that no one else could hear them. “Had you thrown something fresher my way, you might have gotten the clandestine scene that you were looking for,” he admitted devilishly.
Winnie shoved her elbow back until she felt it connect with his ribs and heard a satisfying groan. “At least I don't have to worry about you going after me,” she said crisply as she turned her cold eyes back towards him. “If you never go back again.”
Unable to stand there and listen to him belittle her again, Winnie hurried away from him and back up the stairs to her room. She didn't care if people were upset that she had not kept up her end of the bargain to dance with Kent. He was too impossible for her to even try and be civil with.
Chapter 14
Garrett walked up behind Katherine and rested his hand on her shoulder as he waited for the dance to begin. “I'm sorry for being a cad last night,” he told her quietly.
“No you aren't,” she said, not having to look at his face to know that he was already smiling as he lightly brushed his lips against her hair causing a stirring of reaction within her.
“At least I'll finally get to dance with you.” He brushed his finger along her neck a little too possessively as if proclaiming that she was his. “How is your ankle?” he asked with a touch of concern entering his voice. “Have you felt any more pain from it?”
“No, it's fine,” she said a tad too quickly. While most of the pain was gone, it was still sore after long walks or when she had been standing on it for too long.
“If it starts to hurt tonight, I hope that you'll sit out some of the dances,” he lectured gently.
Looking back at him, she smiled, “In that case, it hurts terribly right now.”
With the music finally starting Garrett swept her out onto the floor in one fluid motion. “That's not going to work,” he warned, as he held her close to him.
Katherine had never quite realized how most dance steps seemed to be modeled after some sort of love making. Garrett's legs brushed past her skirts and they danced close enough that she could feel the tips of her breasts brush against him. He controlled what moves they made, deciding what pace or rhythm to create. Their embrace seemed almost scandalous until she realized that other dance partners had done worse before without her ever realizing it.
“Now that we've done some of those things that we shouldn't have,” Katherine blushed as he watched her face intently; he seemed amused that she could not put words to their actions, “Dancing in public doesn't seem quite right. Like it should be forbidden or something.”
“Its high society's little secret,” he told her, “Music and dancing is its own form of foreplay.”
Katherine crinkled her nose at the term. “Foreplay?”
“It's everything that a couple does before they have sex,” he told her openly.
Katherine considered it for a moment as they continued to dance and swish between the other couples. “Then what we did the other night, it really wasn't sex, it was only foreplay?”
“When done right it's hard to tell where one begins and the other ends.” His hands tightened around her and when her legs brushed against his she could feel a slight bulge brush against her waist.
“Maybe we should talk about something else,” she suggested with a shaky laugh.
“I thought you were enjoying our conversation,” he dipped his head close to her throat as if he were about to kiss her.
“Garrett please don't...”
“It's fine Kat, I was only joking.”
She thought about telling him not to call her Kat, but she knew that he wouldn't listen.
“Winnie has told me that you love to read.” He changed the subject for both of their sakes.
After a moment Katherine nodded her head. “I love reading.”
“You should visit our estate sometime,” he suggested. “I think you'd enjoy how many original printings that my father was able to collect over the years.”
“Winnie has been telling me about your library,” Katherine admitted. “I would love to see it
some time.”
“If your sister does become engaged tonight we should plan a trip with Winnie to escape to the country for a few weeks. I'd even let the two of you go horseback riding without me assaulting you,” he promised.
Katherine began to feel a dreamy sense of contentment in his arms as she danced with him. They talked to each other easily and even lapsed into a calm silence without feeling awkward. Perhaps there was a chance that more could exist between them besides those moments of wild passion; something more comfortable and trusting.
“What were you saying?” she asked softly as she realized that he had spoken. The song ended before he could tell her and Katherine tried not to pout as the warmth of his body was removed from hers. After placing a small kiss on the back of her hand, Garrett allowed her to drift away.
Before they had left the center of the room Robin came running over to them, taking Katherine quickly by the hand as she pulled her from the room and out of earshot. “What was that!?” Robin demanded angrily.
“What are you talking about?” Katherine asked annoyed at her sister's tone and still blushing from Garrett's chaste kiss that mirrored the one he had given her days before after riding with her on the horse.
“Everyone saw the way that you danced with Garrett. You may as well have been kissing the whole time too! We've talked about him; he's a bad choice for you to be seen with. Mother would be very disappointed as well,” Robin hissed as she straightened her dress and repositioned her fake smile as she readied to return to Victor.
“You hate Victor, don't you?” Katherine asked bluntly to stop her sister from leaving.
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