Page 64 of The Duke's Last Dance
She turned on her heel and hurried inside. She took the servants’ staircase to avoid being seen by the duke and her parents. Instead of going to the dining hall, Catherine went to her room.
The little jewelry box was where she had left it. She picked it up, and then went back down the servants’ staircase, being careful not to trip. She returned to the garden, and then went further. There was a river that flowed through the Camberton grounds, just a ways past the gardens.
When she had reached the river, she took the little brooch out of the box. She held it tightly in her hand, and then looked down the river.
With one arm, she threw that brooch as far as she could. It made a satisfyingplopas it fell into the river, to be washed away with the fears and hurt of the past by the river’s water. Nicolas had left her one too many times, and if that was going to result in her being hurt over and over again, she wanted nothing to do with him.
“I am to marry the Duke of Hestina,” she whispered to herself. “That is where I will truly be happy. He has kept all his promises to me, unlike Lord Lockhart…”
She then took her little box back up to her room.
As she walked up the staircase, she realized she had got mud on the hem of her skirt. Her mother was going to be so mad if she found out that she had been out to the river in one of her best breakfast dresses.
She quickly changed into a walking gown and summoned Miss Amelia. When Miss Amelia saw the dress, she quietly reassured Catherine that she could get the mud out since it was fresh mud. She took the dress, and Catherine returned to the dining hall.
“Ah, there you are,” the duke said upon her entrance. “I was just about to go to the gardens and see if you were all right.”
“I am wonderful, thank you, Lord Burton,” Catherine said. “I was wondering if perhaps you would like to accompany me on a walk down the Thames?”
“I would be honored to walk with you down the river, Lady Catherine,” Lord Burton said.
Her parents nodded slowly, excusing them both without a word.
Lord Burton offered his arm, and they started towards his carriage. It was odd, being able to go to the river with him but without an escort. She had never thought she would reach that point with a man of the duke’s respectability, but here she was, doing just that.
Catherine smiled, her eyes sparkling softly. This was the life she wanted, and she would make do without the butterflies in her stomach.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nicolas had returned to Town, and though he was in mourning, he knew he needed to find Catherine. Their love had to endure beyond anything that had happened in the last two months, right? It was not as if he had not written her, and if he was able to show her that, perhaps he still stood a chance. Perhaps. It would all depend on how she had taken his lack of letters getting to her.
As he strolled through Town on his way to see about putting together a funeral for his father, he passed Lord Radcliff’s law firm. He decided to stop in and see his friend. If anyone knew what Catherine had thought the last two months, it would probably be her brother, though his honeymoon had just ended…
Whatever had happened, Lord Radcliff had probably heard of it by now.
He entered the law firm’s building, and then he waited for someone to fetch Lord Radcliff for him. The secretary alerted Lord Radcliff to Nicolas’s presence, and soon, Nicolas had been escorted to Lord Radcliff’s study.
“Nicolas! I am glad to see you are well, though since you are back in Town, I believe ‘tis not all good at Ashwood?” Lord Radcliff looked up from his paperwork as he spoke. “Mourning black…”
“My father passed away a week ago, Lord Radcliff,” Nicolas replied, his voice quiet. “I am in Town ahead of my mother to arrange for the funeral procession and find a place to keep his body while we wait to get everything sorted out and paid for.”
“I am sorry to hear that, Nicolas,” Lord Radcliff said, motioning to a chair. “What can I do for you? Since you are here in mourning clothes, I fear you need my help in the law.”
“No, no, nothing of the sort,” Nicolas reassured him. “I simply came to talk to you… I learned of something while I was at Gracemere that I would like your opinion on. ‘Tis nothing scandalous as far as the law is concerned, I promise.”
“Ask away.” Lord Radcliff leaned forward.
He produced the letters, and then told Lord Radcliff of everything he had learned. How his father had kept the letters from Catherine from reaching him, and how he had stopped Nicolas’s letters from ever leaving Gracemere, though he had written a fair number of them that he had tried to send, and many more that had never been finished because he didn’t know what to say to Catherine without seeing her letters to him.
“I do not know what to do, Lord Radcliff. My father confessed to it all on his deathbed, long after I could have ever rectified his actions while at Gracemere,” Nicolas sighed.
Lord Radcliff leaned back in his chair, his left hand on his chin and his right resting against his legs.
“She waited to hear from you…” He sighed. “Nicolas, your father has cost you a lot more than you may want to believe. Catherine is engaged to be married to the Duke of Hestina, one Lord Burton.” Lord Radcliff put his elbows on his desk.
Nicolas felt his stomach turning, twisting, knotting up. His father’s actions had indeed dearly cost him. Though he had tried to write, had tried to give Catherine an indication that he was still interested and still loved her, she had given up on his love for her.
“What do I do?” Nicolas could not believe it. “How could she… why…?” His stomach tightened even more as he tried to digest the information that Lord Radcliff had given him.
