The Scandalous Love of a Duke (27 page)

She did not respond. She’d no idea what to say.

At the first movement in the dance which brought them close, he spoke again. “If you need any help,
ask.
Jane can advise you. She’s experienced society’s fickle wrath herself in the past.”

Katherine smiled. “Thank you.”

“John can be hard work. He has his problems, I know, Katherine, but you’ll mellow him.”

The dance steps separated them for a while but when they came together again, he said, “You’ll do. You’ll do very well.”

When the dance ended, he bowed courteously and then took her back to John. But it was like the introductions, there followed a stream of gentlemen asking her to dance.

It was different from an assembly at home, at least there she knew people. She didn’t know anything about these men bar their names, and they continually asked questions. Where was she from? What was the name of her family? Where had John been hiding her? She did not answer and she did not like any of them. Most of them flirted with her as though she was not even married.

Curio, Robert had said, she felt more like fresh cattle at a market.

Then a waltz began and the man who’d danced with Mary earlier, Lord Framlington, stood before her. She accepted him out of politeness. Even if John thought him a risk to Mary, a fortune hunter could be no risk to her.

She learned very quickly she was wrong.

“Pembroke is dull. Perhaps when you tire of him you might think of me…” he whispered seductively in her ear, as they made a turn. “I would be willing to warm your bed if it is cold.”

“I will never tire of my husband, my Lord…” Shock and insult made her pitch sharp.

“But there is much to be said for variety, my dear, and your husband knows it, look, see, he’s speaking with my sister, an old flame he probably wishes to rekindle.”

Katherine glanced at John. He was talking to a beautiful dark-haired woman, who rose to her toes and whispered in his ear. He gripped her arm and whispered something back.

Katherine felt pain grip about her heart.

John leant down to whisper to Lady Ponsonby. “Go away, Elizabeth. I am not interested. I will never be interested.” He gripped her arm to set her away.

She seemed to think his marriage an amusing game and was casting dice to win him back.

John looked at Katherine.

She was dancing with Framlington for God’s sake, Elizabeth’s younger brother. John felt manipulated as Katherine glanced at him and then looked away, blushing. “Have you deliberately deterred me, so he might dance with her, or distracted her so you might annoy me?” She followed his gaze back to Katherine, laughed, and then simply walked off.

John stared at Katherine, incensed. She had heard him say Framlington was no good.

Framlington’s palm was splayed on Katherine’s slender back and it slid a little downwards.

For the first time since he’d returned to England John had actually been enjoying an evening, because Katherine was here, but now she’d done this. Before John even realised it, he was in motion, ignoring onlookers and surging through the dancers. It was fortunate for him, and Katherine, the dance came to its natural end. He’d have made a spectacle of them both if it had not.

He looked daggers at Framlington when he reached them. “I’d already made a note this evening to warn you off – I do not want you dancing with my sister – and now I see I must also warn you off my wife. Just so that you know, Framlington, hunting my sister is pointless, I would not agree the match and never pay you her dowry, and if you touch my wife again, I’ll kill you.”

The man just smiled, bowed and walked off, his retreat as silent as his sister’s. Which implied it was no retreat at all.

John gritted his teeth more firmly, to prevent his mask slipping, and gripped Katherine’s arm, then half dragged her from the floor. She was not happy with him but then
he
was not happy with her.

He did not stop moving until he’d led her into the card room and there he drew her to one side of the door. “Please tell me what you thought you were doing? Why did you dance with him?” His voice was a harsh whisper.

“I didn’t think it would harm. I’m hardly prey for fortune hunters. How was I to know he’d proposition me?” She was bristling too. “And you are making things worse!” Her gaze spun pointedly to the card room.

He glanced back across the room, and saw people staring.

His eyes turned back to Katherine. She was flushed and angry.

Damn, he’d become so used to hiding his feelings he’d forgotten she could not, and Lord, he did not wish her to. But nor did he want his wife to become fodder for men like Framlington.

Suddenly the anger in her eyes turned to doubt. “He said it was his sister you were speaking to…”
Ah bloody hell.
“He implied you were having an affair with her.”

Damn.
Why did this have to come tonight?
“Not here, Katherine.”

“Why were you whispering with her?” The question in her voice had a razor-sharp edge, and it carried. More heads turned their way.

“It was nothing, Katherine.”

“Nothing?”

“It ended years ago and I am not talking about it here.”

“Then take me home and tell me.”

“No, Katherine.”
An exasperated breath left his lungs. He could not. “Not when the entire room will believe there is something wrong. Go back and dance and smile, or people will talk about you more.”
Damn.

He noted the glint of tears in her eyes as she pulled her arm free from his grip and turned away.

Hell.
The expletive was followed by others in his head as he watched her walk away.

Unsure what to do, he followed, only to see her leave the ballroom and hurry to the privacy of the retiring chamber. He’d made a mess of the second night of his fledgling marriage.

~

Katherine weaved her way through the throng of guests, refusing to look back as she fought to stop the tears from falling. She was so out of her depth. This was John’s world and she didn’t fit. She didn’t understand these people and their debauchery.

In the hall, she turned to a footman to ask for guidance and he directed her upstairs. John’s mother’s maid was there and Katherine sat down to let Esther check her hair, just simply seeking time to pull herself together.

She’d embarrassed John and he was angry because of it, but if everyone in the room knew about him and Lord Framlington’s sister then surely John’s whispering in the woman’s ear was an equal embarrassment for her.

Katherine closed her eyes.

It was no wonder John had thought nothing of asking her to meet him in the tower if this was the world he lived in.

She opened her eyes. She had two choices. One was to let this world beat her. The second was to fight. She felt a surge of determination. She could rescue John from this life. He hid from these people. He did not hide from her. Surely she was the only one who could rescue him then. She was going to fight. She was going to save him and not let him be like these debauched, selfish people anymore.

“All done, Your Grace,” Esther stated.

Katherine stood. “Thank you, Esther.” She felt much better, she felt in control again and she ignored the other women in the room who were staring at her. Let them stare, she was his duchess now.

When she left the room, she hastened back to the ballroom. She understood why he’d insisted they stay. But she would much rather they were alone and not among all these false, affected people.

Her mind raced with plans as she neared the top of the stairs, thinking of how she must speak to his servants and take charge of his house, and force her courage for tomorrow when people would call. She was not going to let him down, nor let these people think less of her… She was going to make John trust her and encourage him to end his part in this charade and simply be himself. She could not take him away from these people, but she was going to stop him being like them.

A woman blocked Katherine’s path.

“John’s
young
Duchess?”

Katherine’s heart pounded. It was the woman John had whispered to. Close up, Katherine could see she was much older than John but still beautiful, and she had an allure that said she knew she was. She had huge brown eyes and dark hair.

“Pretty. Where did he find you?” Her casual voice had a hard edge, and Katherine had a feeling their chance meeting was no accident.

“Forgive me, I do not remember being introduced. Excuse me.” Katherine moved to walk about the woman but her arm was gripped.

“Perhaps not, but we have a mutual experience, we have both been in John’s bed, only I was there before you, in fact, I was his first, I broke him in. So you may thank me for his skill. But be warned, he will tire of you. I—”

Katherine did not stay to hear anymore, she pulled her arm free and walked on, mentally ranting over the woman’s poison. These people played with one another for fun while they hid behind their expressionless faces. They were heartless and shallow. They didn’t seem to care who they hurt. She was not going to let John be like them anymore.

She glanced about the crowd in the ballroom, but could not see him.

Mary and his parents were dancing.

She was saved by Eleanor.

“Katherine. You sly thing, marrying John. I’m so sorry we could not call earlier. Harry insists I rest in the afternoon if I am to go out in the evening, and the Earl of Derwent is his distant cousin so I could not cry off tonight. Oh, I cannot believe you and John managed to keep this secret, and more fool I, I even let him deceive me into sending that dress and thinking nothing more.” Eleanor’s fingers touched Katherine’s elbow. “You may tell him I am disgusted with him for not at least inviting family to the wedding. How did he court you? Did he shower you with flowers, or was he lax? I shall tell him off if he was lax.”

Eleanor led Katherine to a loveseat, while throwing question after question at her, and once they were seated, side-on, Eleanor raised her open fan so they might gossip without their lips being read. “You must tell it all, I am dying to know…”

Katherine knew so little of how to live in John’s world – she could not lie to Eleanor, though she was sure John would. “Promise me you will say nothing, not even to your family…”

Eleanor nodded.

“I am with child, John’s mother and father and Phillip are the only people who know…”

Eleanor’s eyes widened. “The cad, what a rotter… And he made me give you that dress …  Oh, I’ll—”

“It isn’t what you think, really. He’d finished everything and it had not gone so far. The dress was an apology for beginning something which could have no end. Only I did not wish it to end. I went to him. But swear to me you will say nothing…” It felt so good to be honest.

Katherine went on to explain everything. She told Eleanor about Richard, John’s proposal and Phillip’s outrage, and then she told her about that woman too.

Eleanor wafted the fan casually, hiding Katherine’s distress, and when Katherine finished, Eleanor gripped her hand.

“I think John loves you, I would believe him. He says nothing lightly, Katherine. He may have a hard exterior but he’s caring and principled. He’ll do and say nothing unless he believes in it. Harry constantly complains that John will not be swayed to vote one way or the other in the House of Lords. Trust him, Katherine…”

Looking across Katherine’s shoulder then, Eleanor lifted her voice and stood up. “
John
.”

Katherine looked back and stood too, as he crossed the last few feet to join them. He was so outrageously handsome, even with his austere, untouchable look.

“Timely,” Eleanor stated mockingly. Then she struck his sleeve with her closed fan, having snapped it shut. “You are a bounder, cousin. You had better look after my friend.”

“She is my wife,” John answered, “of course I will.”

Eleanor’s fingers touched the scab on his lip then the bruise on his cheek. “And you deserve these.”

“Thank you.” His pitch was bitter.

“You’re welcome,” Eleanor chimed. Then she smiled at Katherine and dropped a little respectful curtsy. “Good evening, Kate, call on me whenever you wish and I shall definitely call on you. In fact I shall speak to Harry about asking you both to dinner.” After that she kissed the air beside Katherine’s cheek and then disappeared.

Katherine dropped back down on to the loveseat and John took the other side. He did not sit as she and Eleanor had done though, but leant back and crossed his arms, looking at the room.

“You’ve told her everything, I assume.”

“She is my friend.”

His pale blue gaze turned to her but she saw John in the depths of it. He sighed. “I—” She didn’t know if he was going to apologise, berate her or explain – she didn’t give him chance to speak.

“I saw that woman. She spoke to me.”

His face flushed and his jaw tightened to hold his indifferent mask and once again his eyes turned diamond-hard. “Not here, Katherine, wait until we are home.”

“Then take me home. I wish to speak.” She was not going to let him set her aside.

He held her gaze in silence for a minute and then sighed. “Very well, if that is what you wish.”

~

Katherine seated herself in the far corner of the carriage and longed for darkness to hide in, but John’s servants were too fastidious to leave the internal lanterns unlit and so a low light illuminated John as he climbed the step behind her and slid into the corner diagonal to where she sat.

She watched him as the carriage door shut.

He leant back and looked out the window into the darkness, or at his reflection on the black glass, she couldn’t tell which. Then his fingers lifted and brushed back his fringe.

A deep emotion of love and longing clasped in her stomach, she sensed vulnerability in him again. It only proved to her that the plans she’d made earlier had to be carried out. He needed saving from himself.

“So will you explain to me now?” she asked, her hands gripping the edge of the seat.

His head turned slowly, and his gaze struck hers, not with its ducal hardness but with intensity, expressing both his irritation and that he deemed the conversation unnecessary. “It was years ago, Katherine. I’m sure you do not wish to hear about it really. Besides, I hardly remember.”