The Viscount Needs a Wife (2 page)

T
he next day, Kitty entered the parlor and found it empty. John and Sarah had driven out to visit friends who were celebrating the healthy birth of a child. Kitty could imagine how fearful the parents must have been with such a prominent example of the dangers. Lady Cateril must have been going over the household accounts with the housekeeper, for mourning had not led her to loose the reins of management. Lord Cateril would be in his office, where he spent most of his time when at home.

Kitty settled by the fire, Sillikin at her feet, to seek escape of another sort—in the delightful adventures of
Love in a Harem
. She'd enjoyed novels when young, but they'd become a precious escape during her marriage. The unlikely adventures had transported her far from the Moor Street rooms in London that she and Marcus had called home. Marcus hadn't liked her to leave him alone, but as long as she was in the room with him, he hadn't minded her reading. In good times she'd read to him, and they'd chuckled together over the most implausible parts.

He would have enjoyed
Love in a Harem
. The heroine had been plain Jane Brown when she'd set sail from Plymouth, but her ship had been captured by Barbary pirates and she'd been sold into the harem of the Sultan of Turkey and renamed Pearl of the North. She'd narrowly escaped
being ravished by a number of men, including the captain of the ship, but now, trembling and dressed in the skimpiest silks, she awaited her lord and master. The harem door opened. . . .

“Silent reading, Kathryn?” Lady Cateril asked, coming in. “You know I don't approve.”

Suppressing some salty words she'd learned from Marcus, Kitty did her best to be pleasant. “Would you like me to read to you, Mama? You might enjoy
Love in a Harem
.”

She heard her own words only as she spoke them and had to fight the giggles. “Fulminating” was exactly the word for the look she received. Kitty was saved from another unwise remark by Becky, the housemaid, coming in with a letter.

“His lordship's sent this for Mrs. Marcus, milady.”

She looked as if she might give it to Lady Cateril, so Kitty held out her hand. “Thank you, Becky. It will be from my friend Ruth Lulworth,” she told her mother-in-law, for Ruth was her only correspondent.

“Ah.” Lady Cateril's expression lightened a little. Ruth was a clergyman's wife and thus approved of. She sat. “You may read
that
to me.”

It was revenge for that mischievous offer to read from the novel, and probably for Kitty's putting off mourning, but not worth fighting over. Kitty and Ruth were long past their school days, when they'd shared all the anxieties, dreams, and longings of their silly hearts. The letter would contain news about Ruth's home and family, and of her work in the parish around the Gloucestershire village of Beecham Dabittot. Kitty broke the seal and unfolded the letter, but was startled to see that Ruth had written a great deal. To save the cost for the recipient, she'd kept to one sheet of paper, turning it sideways and continuing the letter crossways. There were even a few lines on the diagonal. A
sense of dramatic doings rose from the jumble, especially as one crosswise phrase stood out, because Ruth had underlined the “Yes!”

Yes!
I'm sure your astonishment
equals
mine.

At least that didn't sound like tragedy.

Kitty needed to read the astonishing news in private, but Lady Cateril was waiting. The beginning of the letter seemed to be normal news and she didn't think Lady Cateril could see the crossways writing, so she'd make do.

My dear Kitty,

It's been a long time since I wrote, but we've been very busy here in Beecham Dab. Such terrible news about Princess Charlotte. All around put on some mark of mourning, and we tolled the bells at the time of her interment. The tragedy is a reminder to us all to be mindful of our brief lives and the judgment to come.

Sadly, we have been visited by death more frequently than usual here this year. In August a sickness carried off ten souls and weakened many others, even at harvesttime, so Andrew went out when he could to help in the fields.

“Andrew is Reverend Lulworth, Mama.”

“So I remember. A charitable act, but not, perhaps, suitable for a man of the cloth.”

Kitty was tempted to debate how any charity could be unsuitable for a clergyman, but she returned to the letter.

By God's grace, we are all well. Little Arthur is babbling very cleverly for three. Maria is still quiet, but that makes her an easy babe.

Kitty remembered that Ruth's second birth had been difficult, but she and the child had survived, unlike poor Princess Charlotte.

She continued to read more descriptions of the children, the work of the parish, and about a pair of clever cats they'd acquired who were keeping the vicarage completely clear of mice.

At that point she invented a farewell and folded the letter. She longed to leave the room immediately to read the rest, but that could stir suspicion, so she used Ruth's comment about the cats to introduce a subject she needed to discuss with her mother-in-law. The housekeeper had asked her to try to persuade Lady Cateril to allow some cats in the house.

“Mice are causing problems in the kitchen area, Mama. A cat or two would control them.”

“I could tolerate cats
there
, Kathryn, but cats do not stay in their allotted space.” Kitty had no answer to that. “I'm pleased you see for once that I am right. It's a pity that your dog doesn't kill mice. Dogs do generally obey orders.”

Sillikin half opened her eyes, as if commenting on that.

“I've never known her to kill, Mama.”

“If she weren't fed, perhaps she would.”

Preferably kill you!

Seething, Kitty called Sillikin and left the room without explanation. She retreated so she wouldn't say something unforgivable, but she needed to read Ruth's astonishing news.

Perhaps Andrew Lulworth had been offered a grander parish, or even a place in a bishop's establishment. Kitty had no idea how advancement in the church was achieved, but she was sure Ruth's husband deserved it, if only because Ruth had chosen him. Perhaps they'd received an unexpected inheritance, or found buried treasure in the garden. Perhaps the Regent had dropped by for tea!

Her flights of fancy were interrupted by the sight of the portrait of her husband hanging over the stairs in such a way that it always confronted her as she went up. It had been painted after Marcus's death, but based on a miniature done in 1807, before his heroic maiming. It showed a young, dark-haired officer in his gold-braided regimentals, bright with vigor and life. It showed the Marcus Cateril she'd never known, for she'd met him after he'd lost a leg and an eye, been scarred in the face, and broken in other ways that caused him pain till his dying day.

She fought tears, as she still often did, not of grief over his death, but of sadness for all he'd lived with. He'd often said he wished he'd died alongside others during that magnificent assault at Roleia, and she knew he'd meant it. The overdose of laudanum that had killed him had not been accidental, no matter what the inquest had said.

She hurried on into the refuge of her room and wrapped herself in two extra shawls. Fires in bedrooms were left to die down in the morning and not lit again until close to bedtime. Then she unfolded the letter, hoping for truly diverting news.

Now for the main impetus for writing, Kitty. The sickness carried off our local lion, Viscount Dauntry, and his only son, a lad of eleven. That was sad, to be sure, but it also produced an interregnum.
There's a daughter, but of course she can't inherit, so no one knew who the heir was or, indeed, if there was one at all.

Now the new Lord Dauntry has arrived. He's a very distant relation of the fifth viscount, who had no notion of being in line and has never been here before. By blessed good fortune, he and Andrew both attended Westminster School only a few years apart, though he was plain Braydon then.

Ah. A friendship with the new viscount might advance Reverend Lulworth's career.

Dauntry has joined us to dine quite frequently in the weeks he's been here, and thus we have become familiar with his situation.

At this point Ruth had run out of paper and begun the crosswise writing, so Kitty turned the page.

He did not rejoice to find himself a lord. He didn't need the wealth or want the running of estates. To make matters worse, the late Lord Dauntry's will makes his successor guardian of his daughter and imposes a duty to care for his mother, who lives on in the house. In short, Dauntry has decided he needs a sensible woman to assist him with these responsibilities. I immediately thought of you.

A laugh escaped. What was Ruth thinking of?

Then she read the next line.

It would mean you living close, Kitty. Only think of that!

Oh. Yes. Only think of that.

She and Ruth had met when they were both parlor boarders at school in Leamington. They'd become inseparable, but when they'd left school their paths had gone in different directions. Ruth had found employment as a governess. Kitty had returned home and soon been wooed into marriage by Marcus. They'd rarely met since, and not at all since Ruth's marriage four years ago.

To be close again.

Wondrous, but surely impossible.

I know it would mean exchanging life as part of a noble family for one as a servant, but I have the feeling that you're not entirely comfortably situated.

It was so like Ruth to read between the lines. Kitty had tried to put a bright face on her situation here, just as she had during her marriage, for she didn't believe that a trouble shared is a trouble halved. It seemed to her that complaining of trials that couldn't be changed was merely sharing the misery.

Was this a possible escape? What would this position be? Surely the girl had a governess. Was she to be companion to the elderly lady? That might be no better than being trapped with Lady Cateril—except that she'd be free of mourning and have Ruth nearby. There could even be weekly visits.

Kitty focused eagerly on the page again.

I put forward your name and explained why you might be suitable, which I confess involved a little exaggeration of your sober nature, but then Lord Dauntry shocked me by saying he'd resolved that the lady he needs must be his wife. My hopes were exploded.

Kitty's were, too.

How could Ruth lead her on like that?

She crumpled the letter and threw it across the room. But Sillikin ran to retrieve it and bring it back to her, stub tail wagging.

“This isn't a game, you foolish creature.”

But she took it, picking up the dog to hug. “I don't suppose I'd have liked the position anyway. I'd have been a servant, no matter how it was dressed up, and with no other company than my lady, who could be even worse than Lady Cateril.” The dog licked her chin. “Yes, I know I have you. But would I be allowed to keep you?”

Sillikin turned to settle on Kitty's lap, but pushed the letter sideways with her paws so it slid toward the floor. Kitty caught it and realized she'd not yet reached Ruth's astonishing news. Perhaps that would raise her spirits. She smoothed the paper and found her place.

I was bold enough to ask why, and Dauntry pointed out that his ward is hard to handle and the dowager Lady Dauntry difficult in her grief. Then he asked if you would fulfill his requirements as wife.

Yes!
I'm sure your astonishment
equals
mine.

It did indeed. Marriage? To a viscount? Was it a full moon?

I was cast into a tizzy. He, however, continued as if discussing whether to plant turnips or cabbages to say that he needs his household under sensible management without delay
,
and asked again if my friend might be suitable and willing.

I didn't know the truth about either, but the thought of you within miles, not to mention the
opportunity for you to become my lady, was too much to resist, dear Kitty. I said you might be. Of course, that commits you to nothing, and I know you've said you will not marry again, but do please give it thought, for Lord Dauntry means what he said.

“He must be mad,” Kitty muttered. “Would I marry a madman to escape?” She answered herself. “Perhaps. If he was safely mad.”

Ruth was correct in saying that she didn't want a second husband, but that was largely because she couldn't imagine finding a comfortable one. After the storms with Marcus, she needed calm waters, but she was not in a position to pick and choose. She had no great beauty or elegance, and a pittance of money.

This offer tempted, but it was too good to be true. There must be something markedly wrong with a man who sought a wife in such a way. A difficult marriage would be far worse than life at Cateril Manor, and there would be no escape.

I respect your devotion to Marcus, but can you continue as you are for the rest of your life? Upon hearing of the death of Princess Charlotte, I found myself contemplating the uncertainties of life and our duty to use our time on earth well. I fear your current situation leaves you idle. However, my desires might cause me to overpersuade you, so let me tell you of the problems.

The writing was becoming even smaller. There must be a great many problems, and that was a relief. Kitty could feel the pull of this ridiculous plan, and she needed reasons to resist.

Lord Dauntry stated plainly that he sought a wife who would not seek to change his ways. Kitty, I fear those
ways
include
carousing
and wicked women. He behaves with complete propriety here, but he is a very
fashionable
gentleman. I understand he is commonly called Beau Braydon, in the style of Beau Nash and Beau Brummell! His life since leaving the army has been mostly in London. You are more familiar than I as to what that might involve.

Kitty was, but she was fixed on the words “since leaving the army.”