Page 53 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke
John watched their interaction with amusement.
Katherine was different again with her brother. She smiled and laughed in a way he had not seen her do before, her eyes shining.
Heavens, he had missed her. He had missed her glowing honesty. He had been reminded in town of just how precious she was when he had faced the ennui of the women of his class. She had permeated his hard exterior as no other woman ever had.
He had not appreciated seeing her seated beside her reverend though.
She was the first person he had seen when he had walked through the door, even though her back had been to him. The instant he had seen her, a desire to cleave the other man in two had roared through John’s head.
The sound of instruments being tuned stretched from the hall next door.
‘Phillip!’ Phillip’s mother’s voice rose behind them.
‘Damn,’ Phillip said quietly, throwing a conspiratorial, amused look at Katherine.
She smiled.
‘My summons, I am afraid,’ Phillip said, glancing at John. Then he looked at his sister and shrugged his shoulders. ‘Sorry, you shall have to take second place again.’
She nodded, smiling still.
But when Phillip turned, John saw pain touch her eyes and her smile fell a notch.
‘She will make him lead Jennifer out first,’ Katherine explained, answering John’s unasked question.
‘My daughter is judged enough for her birth… She does not need vultures circling over her to add to her pain.’ Her father’s warning replayed in John’s mind. He had heard these words over and over for the last three days.
But he refused to believe he had hurt her. He had taught her a few things she ought not know, but they could cause her no lasting harm.
‘Richard said you have dismissed Mr Wareham.’
So her reverend had been telling tales. ‘Yes. Although I cannot see why that is your reverend’s concern.’
‘People talk, John. Why did you dismiss him?’
‘And that is none of your concern.’ He had no intention of involving Katherine in his dispute with Wareham, and John did not wish to even think of that tonight. He had spent three days in London with Phillip and Harvey seeking further evidence, and today he had interviewed potential replacements. Tonight he wished to concentrate on her.
‘How will you replace him? He was there for years.’
‘I’m sure you are not really interested, Katherine. Tell me why your mother is excluding you, have you fallen out?’
She bit her lip, but then laughed, as though it were a foolish question.
He noticed she wore no jewellery, not even a pretty ornament in her hair. No flowers either. Her dress was pale pink and again it looked as though it had been owned and worn for years. He looked over at Jenny. She had taken Phillip’s arm across the room and she laughed at some comment.
Phillip must be teasing her in the same way he had teased Katherine. But the difference between the sisters could not have been more obvious. Jennifer had a string of glossy pearls about her neck and her hair had been curled and coifed and decorated with small pale-yellow rose buds and sparkled with what looked like a small silver and diamond comb. Katherine’s hair had been scraped back in a chignon she had clearly secured herself. John had seen her do it in the tower room.
Equally there was a difference in attire. Katherine’s dress was old and plain muslin. Jenny’s was a luscious striped yellow and cream silk and obviously new.
Katherine smiled as he looked back at her.
He smiled in return, feeling thrown off balance again.
He thought of her gazing longingly into the milliner’s window in Maidstone at the bonnet he had later bought. Her mother and her sister had been shopping inside while she had carried parcels. He remembered looking at the portraits in her parents’ parlour. There had been none of Katherine.
What of that foul old spencer she wore every day and her tired kid leather gloves, when most women wore lace ones in the summer?
She was Phillip’s sister, but she was not. John had always known she was adopted, everyone knew it. But why on earth would the Spencers adopt her only to treat her with scorn? ‘She does not need vultures circling over her to add to her pain…’ Her father knew the distinction between the sisters hurt Katherine, yet he allowed it.
