The Engagement - Regency Brides 02 (12 page)

"I know, I know," she muttered irritably. "I wanted to tell you I have-well-you might say I've added another ingredient to the pot."

Katherine's heart started beating rapidly. "What have you done?" she asked faintly, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"I've written Cameron," she informed her with an evil grin.

"And when he gets the letter, I suspect we shall see him before his four weeks are up."

Katherine shook her head in horror. "Do you have no thought for what might happen to either of them, especially Cameron? If he challenges Thomas to a duel, he might be killed!"

Theodora dismissed her words with a defiant lift of her pointed chin. "You worry about things that might never happen, Kate. Stop being so dramatic!"

Kate knew her mother would be furious when she found out, and the sad thing-was that it would probably be blamed on her, not Theodora. There was only one thing to do. She was going to have to find a way to tell Thomas and convince him to try any nonviolent things he could to dissuade Cameron from challenging him.

Time is on my side,
she thought with some relief He would not be able to leave school unless he arranged to take his exams early, and that would only cut one week from his four.

She'd need that time to think of what to do.

"Theodora, I beg you--do not take it upon yourself to do anything else!" she implored. "Do not forget we are in this together."

"You don't forget this is all a charade, Kate," she spat back. "Those adoring eyes you keep sending him better be make-believe!"

At that point, Ty began to fuss and started trying to climb out of the pram. She grabbed hold of his restlessness as an excuse to get away from her cousin. "Are you wanting to see the horse, little Ty? Let's go see the horsy!" she told him in a singsong voice as she pushed the carriage into the stables and away from Theodora.

She was relieved to find her cousin had gone when they finally came back out. After they rounded the corner to the front of the manor, however, she saw one of the groomsmen leading a carriage and four horses toward her.

She started to ask the servant whose carriage it was, but once she saw the crest on the side of the black shiny vehicle, she knew.

It was the Earl of Kenswick's crest.

Nicholas Thornton must be inside with Thomas!

Panic seized her, but peering down at Ty, she knew she must go back in, that she couldn't stay out in the sun much longer.

"Hey, whose black, shiny coach is that, do you think?" Lucy asked, always the curious one.

"It is Lord Kenwick's coach."

She looked down at her sister and watched her eyes register with recognition. "Wasn't he the first man you were supposed to marry?" she asked bluntly.

Katherine bit her bottom lip as she unconsciously gripped the pram's handle tightly. "We really must work on your tact, Sister dear," she murmured, her eyes trained on the front door she had to enter.

Lucy made an unladylike snorting noise. "I think you have larger problems than my manners,
Sister dear,"
she retorted.

"Please, Lucy. I'm scared to go in. I don't want to face him,"

she admitted, her voice growing hoarse with tears.

Then her sister, who was usually a thorn in her flesh, surprised her by reaching over and putting her hand over Katherine's clenched one. "You have Thomas now. Think of how lovely it is you have such a wonderful man you'll marry soon, then perhaps Lord Kenswick will not matter anymore,"

she said matter-of-factly in a voice beyond her twelve years.

Katherine smiled down at her sister with amazement. "You really are quite smart, you know that?"

She took the compliment as if it were her due. "I know."

She then pointed to the pram. "Do you want me to take the pram, or do you want something to hide behind?"

"Maybe too smart," she muttered, throwing her sister a frown. "I'll take the pram, thank you." She proceeded determinedly to the door.

McInnes showed her to the parlor, where they were gathered, and once they noticed her standing in the doorway, all talking came to a stop. Uneasiness filled the room as Nicholas and his wife stood. Thomas stood, too, and came immediately to her side.

"I didn't know they were coming," he whispered in apology as he put a hand at her back and ushered her farther into the room.

Katherine forced herself to look at Nicholas, then his wife.

She was surprised to find the bitterness she thought would arise did not consume her as she'd expected. Perhaps it had been her little sister's words that had done the trick; she did not know. But, as she turned from Nicholas's strained expression to his wife, who was smiling uncertainly at her, she felt strangely calm and-Free.

"You know Nicholas, of course, but I don't believe you have met his wife, Christina," Thomas said quickly as if he were in a hurry to break the awkward silence.

Katherine curtsied, and Christina did the same. "It is nice to meet you, Lady Thornton. Thomas speaks very highly of you," Katherine said first.

The uncertainty left Christina's pretty features as she smiled at her. "Please call me Christina, and I am very honored to make your acquaintance, also!"

Christina, Katherine could tell immediately, was so different from any of the women she knew from the
ton
with her open smile and readable face, but she also finally understood why Nicholas had chosen her. Her uniqueness had apparently been what he had needed to shake him from self-destruction.

Something Katherine had been unable to accomplish once he returned from the war.

Nicholas, however, did not share his friendly wife's openness of expression or eager acceptance. He even put a hand on Christina's arm when she stepped closer to Katherine to speak to her as if to protect his wife from her!

Offended by his action, Katherine stayed only a short time more before making her excuses to leave. Thomas stood ready to escort her out when Nicholas stepped forward.

"I would like to walk Katherine out, if you have no objections,"

he said to Thomas, but his eyes remained watchful and, to Katherine's dread, mistrustful as he trained them solidly on her.

The moment Nicholas had passed through the door with Katherine and her sister, he asked Lucy if she would give them a moment so he might talk to Katherine alone.

Lucy grudgingly agreed, and suddenly they were alone for the first time since the night he'd broken their engagement. "I won't mince words, Katherine. I need to ask you why out of all the men in England have you chosen my brother to become engaged to?"

She stared at him, aghast at his nerve. "You of all people should know I did not have 'all the men in England' to choose from, thanks to you!" she snapped back.

"So you are using him because you have no other recourse?"

he persisted.

Katherine had to take a few breaths to calm the anger that was boiling inside her at his nerve. "How dare you?" she said slowly and distinctly so he could understand every word. "You have no right to question anything I do. I have been through untold anguish, not because of a broken heart"-she wanted to make that clear--"but because the backlash of your actions has ruined my good name. You should be apologizing to me as you told my father you wanted to do, instead of accusing me of using your brother."

They stared at one another for what seemed like centuries before she finally saw a shift in his expression. "I apologize, Katherine," he offered, astonishing her. "I did not mean to come down on you so hard. I-" He stopped and seemed to be thinking of the right words to say. Something that was I04

uncharacteristic of the old Nicholas. "I just don't want to see
my
brother hurt. He's been through so much, and I suppose I simply want to protect him."

"I'm not going to hurt Thomas, Nicholas. I love him." As .

soon as she spoke the words, she realized they were true. She did love Thomas Thornton, and she wanted to marry him.

Nicholas, never one to miss much, narrowed his eyes at her.

"You seemed surprised by that admission."

She blinked in wonder and Iooked up at her former fiancé.

"I suppose I am," she admitted. "I mean, I knew I was fond of him, but-I truly do love him."

"You have not told him?" Nicholas was back to sounding protective again. "Whatever were you marrying him for if you did not love him?" he demanded.

Katherine was not intimidated. She folded her arms about her waist and stared him squarely in his blue eyes. "We didn't love each other when you proposed to me," she reminded him.

Nicholas had the good graces to look away in discomfiture, but then he brought his eagle gaze back to her. "I still do not have a good feeling about this match-I won't deny it." He sighed. "But I will say no more about it."

She let out a breath. "Thank you."

"Unless you give me cause, of course," he added, making her want to slap him.

"Kate!" Lucy called to her as she came running to where they were standing on the steps. "Theodora wanted me to let you know the carriage is ready."

"Nicholas, I must bid you good day, but before I go, you need to know, although I hated you for what you did at the time, I can now say thank you. If you had not stopped our getting married, then I would not have met the right man for me."

"Nor I the right woman," he said in agreement. He surprised her by taking her hand and bowing over it. "I wish you happiness, Katherine. And if it is found with my brother, then I cannot begrudge it."

She gave him a tired smile. "Be well, Nicholas," she said quickly as she bobbed a curtsy, then turned to leave.

Excitement churned in her chest as she walked briskly to the carriage. She was in love! For the first time in her life, she loved a man who truly loved her back.

She had so much to think about--so much to contemplate and plan for. But one thing was certain. Under no circumstances could she tell Theodora about her change of heart.

On her wedding day, she'd just have to be surprised when she walked down the aisle and took her place by Thomas.

Where she belonged.

~

"Ye look tae be a bit out o' sorts, my laird," McInnes observed from his post by the doorway, watching Thomas pace back and forth in the foyer.

"He's more than out of sorts, Mr. McInnes," Christina spoke up as she came down the stairs. "He's in love."

“Aye," The big, middle-aged man nodded sagely as if that answered all his questions. "And tae a verra fine lassie, if ye don' mind me saying."

Thomas heard both of their comments, but his mind was on what was going on outside the manor. "What do you think they are talking about?" He stopped to run a hand through his thick brown hair, causing it to stand on end.

"Thomas, would you please relax? He is only trying to bring some sort of conclusion to what transpired between them a few years ago," Christina explained reasonably. "Nicholas has felt great guilt over what he did, and I know he only wants to apologize. "

Thomas shook his head. "I don't know, Christina. He does not want this engagement between Katherine and me. I do not want him to say anything that will cause her to have second thoughts."

Christina walked up to him and laid her hand on his arm.

"Thomas, surely her feelings are not so fragile. She has chosen to marry you, so she must love you. Nothing Nicholas could say will change that."

Thomas's worry only increased as he listened to her.

Katherine had not told him she loved him. He did not have that particular reassurance.

All three of them heard the handle of the door being pushed, and McInnes was quick to grab hold of his end and open the door, causing Nicholas nearly to stumble. After he'd regained his balance, he shot a sharp glare at the Scot. "Does he always hide by the door to scare any who might want to open the door themselves?" he growled, directing his question to Thomas.

"'Tis my job, my laird, tae to be ready and waetin'." McInnes stared back, not cowed by the earl in the least.

"You obviously do not understand the proper conduct of one in your position! If you were in my employ-"

"You would fire him, then rehire him in the next breath as you've done your butler and valet a thousand times," Christina interrupted her husband's tirade in a matter-of-fact tone.

Thomas wasn't sure, but he thought he heard McInnes make a comment about "the overbearing English" before he excused himself from their company.

"Nick," Thomas called out loudly to interrupt the whispered

·argument his brother and sister-in-law seemed to be having. "I would like to know what was said between you and my fiancée."

Nicholas gave his wife a warning look that seemed to promise they would resume the argument later, but Christina only smiled at him in her charming way. "Before I answer that, I would like to know why you would marry a woman who has not even declared her love for you. Did you not tell me your second marriage would be for love?" Nicholas charged, his frown deepening with every word.

Thomas froze, astounded he even knew. "Katherine told you she didn't love me?" he asked, horrified at the possibility.

Nicholas shook his head in disgust. "No, little brother, she told me she did love you but that she hadn't told you." He snorted. "I told her it was not very-"

"Stop!" Thomas shouted, pushing out his hand toward his brother.
"Katherine - told
you - that she loved
me?"

"Yes, and I told her--"

"She told you-but she didn't tell me," he stated slowly as he tried to understand the reasoning behind his fiancéeʼs withholding this from him.

"Yes, yes, and I-"

"Nicholas, will you stop for a moment?" Christina scolded her husband, grabbing him by the arm and giving it a small shake to get his attention. "Can't you see he is in shock at what you've told him?"

Thomas rubbed his forehead . "What does it mean, Christina, when a woman loves you but does not share it with you?" He pointed to his brother. "Instead she tells her former beau about it!"

Christina left Nicholas's side and came to take her brother-in-law's hand. "Dear Thomas, it simply means she is afraid to expose her feelings to you. As you grow closer and come to trust one another, she will tell you."