Page 103 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke
After dinner, in her room, she’d found the dress which the modiste had altered to fit for the evening. It was a shimmering yellow satin and it fitted tightly to her waist, with a low bodice. The short sleeves draped from her shoulders and the heavy material in the skirts hung flat across her stomach and flowed like water as she walked, caressing her thighs while the bodice embellished her figure, defining it. Small seed pearls were sewn in patterns over it, and it was edged with gold embroidery.
The dress made Katherine feel like a goddess. After Esther had dressed Katherine, and put up her hair, leaving occasional spirals loose, the image in the mirror had been that of a beautiful stranger.
When John had entered her room his eyebrows had arched upwards and his smile had lifted in approval. Then he had given her a pearl necklace consisting of three strands. Now it lay heavily about her neck in a constant caress. He had also taken her fingers and removed his loose ring before replacing it with a simple gold band and another ring with a single large diamond.
‘That is more appropriate,’ he had stated, but she had refused to let him keep his signet ring because it was her wedding ring. She had tucked it into her bodice to stop him taking it.
He had laughed.
Her own gaze turned to the dark window and she saw her reflection. The light from a single lantern burning inside the carriage glistened on her blonde hair.
She felt like Cinderella tonight, her childhood dreams felt as though they had come true.
When the carriage halted before the Earl of Derwent’s town house and the carriage door opened, she saw it was raining.
John’s father climbed down first and helped Mary and John’s mother descend. Then John turned to her and drew up the hood of her new cloak.
‘How are you faring?’ he whispered. ‘It has been a long day. If you feel as though you are flagging let me know.’
‘I am well, just terrified,’ she whispered back.
‘You will be fine. If you can manage those children in Ashford, you can manage the aristocracy. We are not much different. Bear up.’ He gripped her hand and pulled her with him as he stepped out of the carriage.
‘I’m sure they are not like children,’ she answered as her foot touched the carriage step, although she remembered thinking it of his servants yesterday.
‘If I recall, you told me I was spoilt…’ he said to her ear as she stepped down.
‘Youare,’ she stated. Then she smiled. ‘But now I am, too.’
He laughed. ‘If not already, you will be. I intend spoiling you rotten for the rest of your life. Come.’
She laid her ivory silk glove on the sleeve of his ebony evening coat.
They climbed the stairs but as they did the muscle in his arm beneath her fingers tightened and he straightened marginally, dressing himself in his ducal armour.
She glanced at him as they crossed the threshold and saw his jaw had set and his expression was unreadable. His eyes had lost the laughter they’d only just shared and become hard. It was the Duke of Pembroke beside her, not John Harding.
Her heart raced.
If she must do this in isolation she did not know that she could. John had been so solicitous throughout the day she had felt capable but she would not feel so without him.
As though he sensed her hesitation, his fingers pressed over hers for a moment.
They entered the hall. He carefully lifted the hood from her hair and untied the ribbons of her cloak then took it from her shoulders before passing it to a footman.
‘Your Grace.’ Another footman bowed low and then they were led across the black and white marble floor to the open doors from which an orchestra’s music spilled, along with the sound of many voices.
‘Brace yourself,’ John whispered as she caught the first glimpse of the swirling colours of many dancers and the bright shine of huge chandeliers, throwing sparkling light about the gigantic room. She had never seen anything like it. Nothing could be as grand and beautiful as this. It really was a scene from her fairy tale.
‘The Duke and Duchess of Pembroke!’ a man in a royal blue livery called out beside them.
As they walked into the room Katherine could see many heads turning and then the sound of voices seemed to merge in a wave of whispers.
The room was suddenly airless.
Ignoring the attention, John faced the Earl and his wife, their hosts, who greeted John and then Katherine once John had made the introductions. Katherine saw the Countess glance at the bruise on John’s cheek and then her gaze skimmed over Katherine from head to toe, as if to say,who is she?
When they walked further into the room the conversation grew louder, and again numerous people glanced their way.
