Page 105 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke
‘John can be hard work. He has his problems, I know, Katherine, but you will mellow him.’
The dance steps separated them for a while but when they came together again, he said, ‘You will do. You will do very well.’
When the dance ended he bowed courteously and returned her to John. Like the introductions, there followed a stream of gentlemen asking her to dance.
It was different from an assembly at home, at least there she knew people. She did not know anything about these men bar their names, and they continually asked her questions. Where was she from? What was the name of her family? Where had John been hiding her? She did not answer and she did not like any of them. Most of them flirted with her as though she were not married.
Curio, Robert had said. She felt more like fresh cattle at a market.
Then a waltz began and the man who had danced with Mary earlier, Lord Framlington, stood before her. She accepted him out of politeness. Even if John thought him a risk to Mary, a fortune hunter could be no risk to her.
She learned very quickly she was wrong.
‘Pembroke is dull. Perhaps when you tire of him you might think of me…’ he whispered seductively in her ear, as they made a turn. ‘I would be willing to warm your bed if it is cold.’
‘I will never tire of my husband, my lord…’ she snapped, shocked and insulted.
‘But there is much to be said for variety, my dear, and your husband knows it. Look, see, he is speaking with my sister, an old flame he probably wishes to rekindle.’
Katherine glanced at John. He was talking to a beautiful dark-haired woman, who rose to her toes and whispered in his ear. He caught her arm and whispered something back.
Katherine felt pain grip about her heart.
John leaned down to whisper to Lady Ponsonby. ‘Go away, Elizabeth. I am not interested. I will never be interested.’
She seemed to think his marriage an amusing game and was casting dice to win him back.
John looked at Katherine.
She was dancing with Framlington, for God’s sake, Elizabeth’s younger brother. John felt manipulated as Katherine glanced at him and then looked away, blushing. ‘Have you deliberately deterred me, so he might dance with her, or distracted her so you might annoy me?’ She followed his gaze back to Katherine, laughed and then simply walked away.
John stared at Katherine, incensed. She had heard him say Framlington was no good.
Framlington’s palm was splayed on Katherine’s slender back and it slid a little downwards.
For the first time since he had returned to England John had actually been enjoying an evening, because Katherine was here, but now she had done this. Before John even realised it, he was in motion, ignoring onlookers and surging through the dancers. It was fortunate for him, and Katherine, the dance came to its natural end. He would have made a spectacle of them both if it had not.
He looked daggers at Framlington when he reached them. ‘I had already made a note this evening to warn you not to dance with my sister – and now I see I must also warn you to stay away from my wife. Just so that you know, Framlington, hunting my sister is pointless, I would not agree the match and never pay you her dowry and if you touch my wife again, I’ll kill you.’
The man simply smiled, bowed and walked off, his retreat as silent as his sister’s. Which implied it was no retreat at all.
John gritted his teeth more firmly, to prevent his mask slipping and clasped Katherine’s arm, then led her from the floor. She was not happy with him but then he was not happy with her.
He did not stop walking until he had led her into the card room and there he drew her to one side of the door. ‘Please tell me what you thought you were doing? Why did you dance with him?’
‘I did not think it would harm. I’m hardly prey for fortune hunters. How was I to know he would proposition me?’ She was bristling too. ‘And you are making things worse!’ Her gaze spun pointedly to the card room.
He glanced back across the room, and saw people staring.
His eyes turned back to Katherine. She was flushed and angry.
He had become so used to hiding his feelings he had forgotten she could not, and he did not wish her to. But nor did he want his wife to become fodder for men like Framlington.
Suddenly the anger in her eyes turned to doubt. ‘He said it was his sister you were speaking to…’Ah, bloody hell. ‘He implied you were having an affair with her.’
Why did this have to come tonight?‘Not here, Katherine.’
‘Why were you whispering with her?’ The question in her voice had a razor-sharp edge, and it carried. More heads turned their way.
