Page 45 of Enticed By an Earl
Kit found it interesting that Dev would choose that particular word instead of “devastating” or “disastrous”, or even “difficult”.
“Perhaps it would not be a total disaster,” she said. “Your family are so good and so kind, and they seem quite liberal in their ways of thinking. Perhaps they would understand.”
She was unable to secure any sort of answer from Dev about what should be done and when, or to continue the conversation. They arrived at the churchyard moments later.
Part of Kitty supposed she should begin to grow used to being the center of so many people’s attention, but as she and Dev took seats in the Ogilvy family pew near the front of the room, a great many of the other parishioners’ eyes were on her. When the minister read the banns, announcing her and Dev’s marriage, she felt all of those eyes bore into her as several people exclaimed happily or whispered something to their neighbor.
Sitting through the sermon itself was nerve-wracking enough, but once it ended and the congregation spilled out into the yard, that was when the real test began.
“Lady Everly, you must be so pleased for your young charge,” Lady Hayes, who lived across the street from Bedminster House and had seen Kit nearly every day of his younger life when he’d gone out for a walk, said. “And you as well, Lady Russell. I have heard nothing but the highest regards for Miss Dryden.”
Kitty stood between the two formidable, older women, feeling both protected by them and accentuated. Dev had gone off with his brother to receive congratulations fromfriends Kitty did not know, and although he was within the line of Kitty’s sight, it felt as though he were very far away.
“We are delighted to welcome Miss Dryden into our family,” Lady Russell said, taking Kitty’s arm as if she could physically claim her.
As she always did when someone other than Dev or her trusted friends touched her, Kitty flinched in fear that Lady Russell would realize her arm was too firm or her waist not slender enough.
She did nothing of the sort, though. She merely smiled at Kitty as if she had brought sunshine into her life. Kitty could not help but smile back at her, marveling once again that a woman like Lady Russell could embody the spirit of motherhood so much more than her own mother.
“I would invite you to call, Miss Dryden,” Lady Hayes went on, “but we are to depart for the country tomorrow.”
“It is odd that you would plan a wedding during the summer months in London,” Lady Iris, Lady Hayes’s daughter, who had once been considered as a potential bride for the Earl of Castleton, and who had been regarding Kitty with a puzzled look through the entire conversation, said. “Did you not want to wait until everyone returns to London for the new season?”
Kitty gulped a little at being asked so direct a question, and at the scrutiny Lady Iris directed toward her. “It is Lord Deveraux’s wish that we decamp to the countryside as well,” she answered nearly in a whisper, so nervous was she about conversing in public with people who had known her from before. “It would not be proper to do so before we are wed.”
Lady Iris hummed, but Kitty was not certain she believed the excuse. Her fears of the worst happening were renewed when Lady Iris went on to say, “I suppose it is a summer of strangeness. We have all been kept in London far later than is usual because of the coronation, and we have beensurrounded by great mysteries while we have been here. Do you know that they still have not found so much as a scrap of cloth belonging to Lord Castleton?”
Kitty’s heart dropped like a rock into her stomach. Lady Iris was not asking because she knew, was she?
But Lady Hayes scolded her with, “Iris, I have spoken to you about your unhealthy obsession with Lord Castleton’s disappearance. It is not a topic that young women should know anything about.”
“But you must admit, Mama, it is the most intriguing mystery of the summer,” Lady Iris protested. She turned to Kitty with a conspiratorial look, lowered her voice, and said, “My wager is that the Duke of Bedminster had a hand in his son’s disappearance. We live quite close to them, you see, and it has been clear to all who have observed them that that family had no love lost for poor Lord Castleton.”
“I—” Kitty blinked rapidly, no idea what to say to Lady Iris’s cheeky comment. She would not have made it if she believed Kitty to be Lord Castleton in disguise. All the same, hearing that she’d been the subject of such gossip was alarming to Kitty.
“Iris,” Lady Hayes hissed. “You are upsetting Miss Dryden.”
Lady Iris had the good sense to look sorry. “I do apologize, Miss Dryden.” She smiled and went on with, “Perhaps in the autumn, when we have all returned to London, I should pay a visit, particularly if there have been advancements in Lord Castleton’s case before then.”
“I…I do not know,” Kitty said. On the one hand, she would not have minded having more friends, particularly if that meant she could integrate into London life more fully as a woman. But on the other, the more acquaintances she had, the more likely she would be discovered by one of them, especially if they’d known her before.
She stood a bit taller and looked around for Dev. It concerned her that her betrothed was no longer within her sight.
“If you will excuse me,” she said, glancing apologetically to Lady Everly and Lady Russell.
“Not at all,” Lady Russell said with a smile, perhaps understanding why Kitty wanted to get away.
As Kitty turned to go off in search of Dev in the churchyard, she heard Lady Hayes say, “She really is a sweet thing, but so timid. I always imagined that a man like Lord Deveraux would end up with a headstrong girl.”
Kitty pressed a hand to her stomach as she walked on. It was wild and almost laughable that so many of her former neighbors had not recognized her and that they accepted her as Kitty without thought.
Then again, as Dev was constantly telling her, shewasKitty. Everything that Kitty embodied was the essence of who Kit had felt he was all along. She could see the difference in herself when she looked in the mirror. It had nothing to do with her features or physical attributes.
She rounded the side of the church, craning her neck as she searched for Dev, feeling as if she might actually be able to transition to her new life without incident after all. Something about the sun in the sky and the kindness she had already been shown that morning gave her hope. All she needed was to find Dev, and?—
Her hope and ease vanished in a heartbeat as she came face to face with her brother George on the far side of the church.
George was walking toward her at a quick pace, head down in thought, but he looked up suddenly when his and Kitty’s paths nearly rammed them into each other.
