Page 99 of Duke of Destruction
Not for nothing, though, had Catherine raised her two younger siblings from a time when she herself still belonged in the schoolroom. She found the triplets to be delightful.
Even so, she recognized that, if they were missing, it was probably because they were doing something that they really ought not be doing.
“Oh, dear,” Catherine said.
“Just so,” Persephone agreed. She looked like she was preparing to push back to her feet, which, in turn, looked extremely difficult.
“You sit,” Catherine urged, flapping her hand at the younger woman. “I’ll find them.”
Persephone’s eyes went wide. “But it’s your wedding! You have to go…be feted, or some such.” She looked so sweetly distressed at the idea that Catherine had to smile.
“What if I promise to make Ariadne go find them?” she posited.
She recognized the conflict in Persephone’s gaze, the maternal responsibility that warred with just wanting to sit there for a little while. She made the decision on Persephone’s behalf; after all, it seemed unlikely that the woman was getting back up on her own.
“I’ll send Ari to find them,” she said. “And I will send them back to Hugh. And then I will dispatch one of the endless Lightholder cousins to come in here and help you back to the party.”
“I don’t want to put anyone out,” Persephone protested, but she was wavering, Catherine could tell.
“Oh, dear, fret not,” she soothed. “That’s what they’refor. My grandfather said he had so many children for purposes of dynasty, but it’s really just so that you always have someone to offer a steady arm when needed.”
This comment likely would have made her grandfather roll over in his grave. It would, however, delight Catherine’s new husband, and she knew whose opinion mattered more to her.
“Oh, all right.” Persephone’s tone was reluctant, but she leaned back in her chair with an undisguised air of relief.
Catherine took one last glimpse at her reflection, confirming that her gown was without so much as a wrinkle and her hair was all pinned as it ought to be, before pressing a quick kiss on Persephone’s cheek and heading out to find the Duchess of Nighthall’s wayward children.
Before she could find any trace of mischief that might lead to the girls, however, Catherine encountered Xander. He was standing in the doorway to the dining room, where everyone was gathered for the post-wedding festivities, with an air of satisfaction about him.
Xander had taken exception to finding out that Catherine had been involved in a secret romantic intrigue. Helen had blamed this on the man’s newfound fatherhood.
“I think he sees his sisters, sees women he’s supposed to protect, and then fears that, if some harm can befall you, could the same happen to Cordy?”
Cornelia, now old enough to recognize her own name, let out a happy coo in response.
“In short,” Helen concluded, “it has taken him, an overprotective man, and made him worse. It’s all bluster.”
Catherine had accepted the wisdom of this information—nobody knew Xander better than Helen, after all—but had wondered if there wasn’t just a bit more to it. If it wasn’t just that one of his sisters had had a secret intrigue, but that it wasCatherine.
After all, it had always been Catherine and Xander against the world, ever since the night of the fire that had killed their father and wrapped their mother so tightly in her grief that they’d never truly gotten her back. And yes, the family was bigger now; Catherine knew that Helen and Cornelia were Xander’s focus now, as they should be.
But still. Perhaps she owed him an apology. Just a little one.
Her amends had not gone as planned.
It had been about a week after Catherine had woken from her injury when she found him, looking properly brooding as he nursed a whisky in front of the fire. She smiled just looking athim. Lord, she hadn’t seen him pulling off this whole ‘wretched duke’ act since before he’d married Helen.
“Good day, Xander,” she said.
Xander had given her a look that, while technically silent, still had a distinctly grumbly air about it.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Percy,” she ventured.
He had leaned forward. “Yes. I’ve been meaning to ask you about that. Why didn’t you tell me? Because I know IsaidI wouldn’t murder him, but if he’s acted in a way that was ungentlemanly…”
Percy had, alas, acted in a great number of ungentlemanly ways, but Catherine had liked most of them, and the ones that she hadn’t liked, she had since forgiven, so she just gave her brother a chiding smile.
“It’s nothing like that,” she lied through her teeth. “I just…needed to figure it out for myself, first.”
