Page 49 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke
She wore the same tired blue dress she had worn last week. He had never seen his sister, his mother or his cousins wear a dress twice within a month. No wonder she thought him spoilt.
She smiled at her reverend, before even looking at John. Contempt and envy filled him.
He had watched her during the service, moving behind the ironwork screen closing off the chancel chapel. She had grace, and she showed compassion and gentleness to the children.
He had smiled at the thought of her employing those qualities on him. She shone like a light in the barren darkness inside him. Egypt had been the arid desert of his life, Katherine his oasis.
When she faced him, he smiled and felt a lightning bolt of recognition. He knew her naked body. His gaze swept over her.
‘Your Grace.’ She dropped a formal curtsy.
He had become so unaware of the difference in their status he had forgotten she needed to curtsy.
‘Miss Spencer.’
‘I’m sorry I took so long.’
‘Are you ready?’
She nodded.
He offered his arm.
When she laid her fingers atop his coat sleeve, he felt a rush of overwhelming warmth as the ground rocked beneath his feet. It was a mix of gratitude, protectiveness and a deep-seated respect which hit him like a fist to the stomach.
Behind her, her reverend said, ‘If you will wait a moment, Miss Spencer, I shall be free to run you home.’
John seethed with jealousy. Her reverend must have something to hide if he used her given name in private only. She may not realise her reverend wanted her, but he did.
‘There is no need, Reverend Barker,’ Katherine said. John knew she had felt his arm stiffen and sensed his anger. ‘His Grace has offered and I accepted.’
That routed the bloody man.
The reverend turned to John.
John smiled, the stiff taut smile he had inherited from his grandfather. Let the good reverend know the truth, John was claiming his ground and he was never stepping back. He was not saintly.
‘Excuse us,’ John said.
‘Of course.’ What else could the man say? But then the reverend looked at Katherine meaningfully, communicating concern. He and Katherine must be close if they spoke in looks. She must have shared thoughts with him. John’s envy hit him harder.
‘I shall look forward to seeing you at Miss Jennifer’s coming out then, Miss Spencer.’
She nodded and bobbed a lesser curtsy, blushing.
In a moment she was up in John’s curricle beside him, her thigh pressing along the side of his, while one hand clung to the edge and the other held her reticule in her lap.
Behind them John’s groom perched on the step at the back, bracing himself by gripping the frame as John flicked the ribbons again and lifted the animals’ pace from a trot to a canter.
She did not speak, and nor did John. When they reached her home he slowed the horses and steered them onto the crescent drive. Once he had stopped the horses, he jumped down at the same moment as his groom who moved forward to hold the animals while John walked about to the other side.
As he handed her down he heard the door open behind him.
‘Katherine?’ It was her father. ‘If Reverend Barker was busy you should have spoken up, we would have waited.’
Her hand was still in John’s when she turned to her father, it slipped free.
‘John offered, Papa.’
