Page 96 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke
Phillip and the vicar’s housekeeper signed as witnesses.
The vicar took her hand. ‘Felicitations, Mrs Harding.’ She knew for certain how little Phillip had told him then.
She wished she was merely Mrs Harding. If she were merely Mrs Harding she would be happy because then John would just be John.
Outside the church, John smiled towards her. ‘I will take you home now, but I ought to warn you, my family are there, my parents and the children are staying with me. Mary made her debut recently.’
Sheer terror beset her.
‘I will leave you,’ Phillip said. ‘John’s groom will have taken my curricle back to the mews.’
John nodded while Katherine felt her lifeline being cut.
‘Phillip.’ She hugged him, tightly, not knowing what to say. She could hardly ask him to stay. She had a new life to begin and yet she felt petrified at the thought of stepping into it. How could she do it? It was one thing to have dreamed of being with John. It was another to achieve it. ‘You will call on us…’ she said before letting him go.
Phillip kissed her cheek and whispered, ‘I will call on you tomorrow to see how you go on.’
She nodded and tried to smile but could not. Instead she bit her lip.
When she took John’s hand to climb into the carriage she remembered she had not one stitch of clothing with her, only what she wore. She was a ragtag girl, the illegitimate daughter to a dairymaid, and now his Duchess – with child. What on earth would his family think?
He did not speak as they rode through the London streets. He appeared to be in his own world, looking out the window. She longed for some sign of John, a gentle word or gesture, but John was in retreat behind the duke. She supposed he must be concerned about taking her to meet his parents too.
She longed for her bedroom at home, to be sitting in the window seat with her mending, in a life she knew.
The houses on either side of the street became grander. She felt too uncomfortable now to look at John. Then she recognised the streets from their journey on the day of the funeral and felt trapped. If she listened to her instinct she would leap from the carriage and run. She did not. But she clasped her hands and held them together in her lap. She did not even have her reticule or a bonnet or a pelisse. What on earth would his family think?
At least the opulence of his town house was not a shock when the carriage drew up outside it.
The carriage rocked as a footman jumped down from the back, and then the door opened. The house door opened too when the footman helped her down.
Katherine recognised the butler who was framed in the open door.
Her heart pounded. John alighted after her and offered his arm. The action looked purely instinctive, not intentional. Still she clung to it, feeling his solid muscle beneath the cloth of his coat.
He was dressed entirely appropriately in gloves and hat and coat. It would make the state of her undress only more remarkable. John’s fingers covered hers on his arm as they crossed the threshold and the butler’s gaze skimmed over her attire, from her uncovered head to her worn half-boots.
She could have cried she was so glad of the reassurance John’s touch provided. She looked up at him, but he was facing the butler. ‘Are my mother and father at home, Finch?’
‘Lord and Lady Edward are in the family drawing room, Your Grace.’
‘And Finch…’ John added, as the man bowed far less deeply to her than he had done to John, ‘gather the staff in the library in half an hour. I will speak to them shortly. I need to introduce the Duchess of Pembroke.’
The man did well to cover his shock. She would swear his mouth nearly fell open but his lips closed tightly instead, yet he nodded at John in an informal agreement that was clearly a slip before he bowed more markedly again. ‘Certainly, Your Grace.’ Then he turned to her. ‘Welcome, Your Grace.’
‘Thank you.’ Her voice was steady despite her fear. She must set John’s staff an example from the beginning if she was ever going to cope.
When they climbed the stairs a moment later, John said quietly, ‘Are you bearing up?’
She glanced at him and for the first time in four hours she saw John in his eyes. Her fingers squeezed his arm, but she did not answer, she was not quite sure what would come out if she did.
‘You will manage, Katherine,’ he stated so matter-of-factly she found her voice.
‘I’m glad one of us thinks so.’
He laughed and she felt a rush of relief sweep over her.
As they walked along the landing, she could hear conversation, it grew louder the further they progressed. Her heartbeat thundered.
