Page 28 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke (The Marlow Family Secrets #6)

‘You are coming, Katherine,’ Eleanor stated. ‘We are not taking no for an answer, are we, Margaret?’

Katherine looked from one to the other, feeling blown on a storm. They had been sitting in the parlour suffering her mother’s company as they waited for her to return from Maidstone.

‘Aunt Ellen and Grandmamma have agreed. You are to stay the night. You are coming,’ Eleanor repeated.

Katherine was certain John could not have agreed to this. He would surely not want her there.

‘Pack up her things,’ Margaret said, looking at Hetty.

Hetty looked uncertain about taking orders from a visitor but Katherine’s mother interjected.

‘Go, Hetty, do as the Countess asks.’

Jenny, who, Katherine was fast realising had started growing up at last, smiled across the room as if to say, you must go .

‘Katherine,’ Eleanor said. ‘You cannot refuse. You will not come and visit me in town, so I wish your company here. I shall sit here until you accept, and Harry will not be happy with you if I do, he’s grown terribly protective now I’m with child.’

Katherine’s heart thumped. ‘It is John’s home, and you have made no mention of an invite from him. I should not come unless he has agreed.’

‘Poppycock, he has not even been there all week, his mama is organising it all. I doubt he even cares who is coming, all he appears to think about is business. Now get ready.’

‘Yes, do, Kate,’ Margaret added. ‘I really do not think John will mind. Pembroke Place is so big he will probably not even notice you are there.’

‘It will be like old times,’ Eleanor said.

Katherine looked from Eleanor to Margaret and back again. She was never going to persuade them to leave without her. ‘Very well.’

‘Wonderful,’ Eleanor said, rushing to hug her. ‘I am so glad. We shall have so much fun.’

Less exuberantly, Margaret kissed Katherine’s cheek and whispered, ‘It is good to see you once more.’

This must be Eleanor’s idea. She must have dragged Margaret along, just as she always used to do when they were children.

They were not children any more. Life had changed completely, and Katherine knew her place now.

If she had been a little confused about it recently John had made it plain again the other day.

Half an hour later Katherine arrived at Pembroke Place in Eleanor’s carriage, with her small holdall containing the evening dress John had bought her, and other effects.

Even that ridiculously worn bag was an embarrassment to her.

John was nowhere in sight when they entered but Katherine’s heart pounded when she heard Eleanor say to the stiff butler, ‘Has His Grace returned?’

‘Not yet, ma’am.’

‘At this rate he shall not even be here for his own dinner party,’ Margaret complained.

‘Papa cannot believe he asked us all and then was not here when we arrived,’ Eleanor responded. ‘When I see John I am going to give him a talking-to. I swear he avoids us all in town. Harry says he has a reputation as a bore.’

‘I do not think him dull…’ Margaret responded, taking Katherine’s arm.

Eleanor held the other and they led Katherine towards the stairs.

‘…he always strikes me as elemental,’ Margaret continued, ‘but he has that brooding, haunted look, like Grandpapa. He glowers at people in town and scares them all off. George says he tried befriending John in the House of Lords but gave up because he was so standoffish.’

‘Precisely. I did not mean boring, I meant boorish. Harry says he is always irritable and sharp with people.’

‘Mama said we should be patient with him,’ Margaret said. ‘And Papa said he was always more silent as a boy because he never had a father to turn to.’

‘He had Uncle Edward.’

‘Not until he was ten…’

Drawn along between them, Katherine did not know what to make of their conversation.

She had never heard them speak of John so disparagingly.

When they were young, they had idolised him.

She knew he had changed, but it seemed strange to her that he would keep himself distant from a family she could only dream of having.

But he had admitted to her he trusted no one, perhaps he did not want anyone to understand him. It was probably the shield he used to hide himself behind so no one would see the vulnerability she kept sensing. Perhaps she knew him more than she thought she did.

Katherine was taken to the drawing room first and found it bursting at the seams with John’s family and full of noise.

Everyone was here but John.

After being reintroduced by Eleanor and Margaret who ensured the whole family recognised Katherine and made her welcome, Eleanor then drew Katherine away and insisted she dress in her room.

‘My maid will dress your hair and make you look ravishing tonight. It was such a good idea of John’s to ensure you had something special to wear.

At least the brute can still show the occasional kindness. ’