Chapter 4
The next day, as she enjoyed a solitary mug of chocolate, Kate considered her success in reentering the ball without being noticed.
Her misfortune rested with something less expected . . . an inability to forget the man from the grove. As unimpressed as she’d been by his lavish charm, her erratic heartbeat couldn’t be denied.
Though her knowledge of men would fit on a grain of salt, she wasn’t a novice. There was no denying her reaction to his mouth caressing her hand. In control of her fluttering heart, she pushed aside thoughts of what the brush of his lips against her skin had done to her.
Despite him stirring something deep within her, thoughts of her betrothed and her duty intervened, altering her memory of the captivating stranger; the way the moonlight had glistened off his naked chest.
Kate took a careful sip of the hot liquid. At least I’ll never see him again. Her future was with Blackthorn. Her duty to her father demanded it. She had no room for daydreams over a handsome stranger.
“Has your headache improved?” Helena asked as she unceremoniously entered the morning room.
It was on the tip of Kate’s tongue to deny she ever had a headache, when she remembered the excuse she’d given as an explanation to her long absence the prior evening. “It has. A night of sleep must have been all I needed.”
Taking the seat opposite Kate, Helena eyed her from under a lowered brow. No doubt because Kate had never suffered from such an ailment in all her nineteen years. She was not the lightheaded, fainting type.
“What brings you by today?” Kate opted for changing the subject.
Snatching a scone from the tray on the low table, Helena answered between bites. “I came to fetch you.”
Kate watched a bit of pastry fall. “For what exactly?” Of her sisters, Helena was the one most likely to cause a scandal, and probably would have if not for becoming engaged to Hayward during her first season.
“Nothing to destroy your reputation as the perfect daughter. Though I can’t determine why you desire such an accolade.” Helena took another substantial bite of scone, ignoring the crumbs accumulating on her lap. “It seems rather tedious,” she mumbled around the treat in her mouth.
“Says the one who married the man Father hand-picked for her.”
Helena swallowed before her light laugh filled Kate’s ears. “Dear sister, you have much to learn. If Father thought I’d wanted to marry James, he would have found a different suitor. I knew I wanted to be James’s wife the night I met him. Which was several weeks before Father introduced us.”
Kate remained doubtful. Without raising a hand against his children, her father had effective methods for demanding their obedience. As sad as it was, Kate suspected she feared more than loved him.
Besides, Helena had never spoken of Hayward before their introduction. Surely meeting the man of one’s dreams would be something one shared with a beloved sister.
Either way, Kate knew her duty . . . to marry and marry well. She wouldn’t fail where her sisters had succeeded.
“Where do you think you are taking me?” Kate pressed.
Her scone devoured, Helena brushed the crumbs from her lap. The tidiest sibling, she was not. “James’s sister is having a small garden party.”
It had been over two years since their marriage and Kate still wasn’t accustomed to her sister referring to her husband by his given name. It wasn’t done. Certainly, not in their household growing up. Then again, Helena rarely did the proper thing. Which made Kate think perhaps her sister had tricked their father into allowing Hayward’s courtship.
“I wasn’t invited,” Kate demurred.
Helena smiled. “Yes, you were. Just now. By me.”
“Wonderful reasoning, sister. But I doubt Lady Laura would appreciate you expanding her guest list.”
“Don’t be silly. The more, the merrier.”
Kate couldn’t help but join in Helena’s infectious mirth. Through all their differences, she loved her sisters and uninvited or not, Kate wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to spend the day with one of them.
“You win. Though, don’t say I didn’t warn you when Lady Laura turns me away,” Kate taunted.
~ ~ ~
Kate stood on the grass, observing the guests wandering about. Helena had been correct. Lady Laura clearly did follow the motto, ‘the more, the merrier.’
Her event was quickly becoming a crush. Which, considering it was being held outdoors, said a lot. Thankfully, during the season, Kate had perfected the art of navigating a highly-attended soiree.
She was less accustomed to escaping the relentless inquiry into her potential marriage to Blackthorn. Though he remained one of the few noblemen absent from the gathering, still she wasn’t spared.
Helena had become her only salvation, along with Lady Laura who’d excitedly welcomed Kate into her party. The two women’s companionship allowed Kate to enjoy her plate loaded with fruit and her glass of lemonade as she watched the few children in attendance dodge between guests.
“Aren’t you glad I forced you to come along?” Helena whispered.
“Stop your gloating. You aren’t always right, you know,” Kate joked in return.
“Surely I am. You and Valarie just won’t admit it.”
Kate turned to set her sister straight when her heart caught mid-beat at the sight of the man entering the garden. “What is he doing here?”
“He who?”
Kate hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud until Helena’s question penetrated the hum sounding in her ears. Tingles from the night before broke over her skin, impeding her response.
“Who are you staring at?” Helena turned to follow Kate’s line of sight. Panicked, Kate distracted her sister with a hand on her arm.
As she forced her eyes from the late guest, Kate struggled for an excuse. “No one. I thought I saw someone but I was wrong.”
“You are acting unusual.”
Kate squeezed out a laugh through lips tight with shock. “Says the woman who used to dress as a stable boy so she could avoid her studies.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
Finding it easier to breathe, Kate congratulated herself at successfully diverting her sister. If Helena discovered her connection to the man making his way to the refreshments, it would not end well.
By the by, sister, do you see that impeccably-garbed man currently reaching for a glass of lemonade? Well, I know what he looks like, mostly naked. You see, he kissed my hand in a secluded grove while I ogled his rippling muscles . . .
No, it wouldn’t end at all well.