She reached out and took his hand. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. And I’m glad you kept the horse – it wasn’t the horse’s fault. I imagine Father spent a good deal of time kicking it and whipping it, trying to get it to behave the way he thought it should. I’m surprised the creature didn’t try to attack him before.”
There was a short, comfortable silence between them. William felt some of his anxiety draining away.
Some, not all.
“You really don’t think I’m like him?” he said, after a pause.
Katherine squeezed his hand. “No, I don’t. And deep down, neither does Alex.”
“I think… I believe Mother perceives me as a reflection of him. She has expressed this belief on more than one occasion. It is perhaps the reason for her disdain towards me, despite her fervent affection for Father. She foresees what I am destined to become.”
Katherine grabbed his shoulders, turning him to face her.
“Stop this, Will. Stop it right now. I won’t watch you slip into melancholy, thinking that your future is all preordained for you. It is not. You are your own man. Perhaps we all have some of Father’s traits, but it is up to us to become our own people and make our own choices. If we choose to be cruel, or cold, or miserly, then we only have ourselves to blame. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you,” William said, smiling wryly.
“Excellent. Now, let us discuss the soiree at the house. I, for one, am quite elated.”
“I lament that I cannot share in such delight.”
Katherine shot him a sideways glance. “You’ll see Miss Bainbridge. I saw something of her in London while you were away, you know. I quite like her, I think. She’d make a fine duchess. She doesn’t worry herself with love or courtship, she only thinks of logic and good decisions. I think she would suit you.”
“She thinks so, too,” William remarked, and Katherine’s eyes widened.
“Shespoketo you about it?”
“Not in so many words. She’s very forward, Kat.”
“That’s a good thing, don’t you think?”
“Perhaps. I like ladies to be forthright, but unfortunately, Society does not feel the same.”
There was a short pause after that. William shifted his weight, trying not to think of the owner of the locket. That woman had preyed on his mind for longer than she should. Even now, he held the locket in his pocket, its smooth, oval surface gradually warming beneath his fingers. He knew he should return it. And yet, he kept it.
Her face popped into his mind. How had he managed to recall her in such detail? They’d exchanged only one conversation, and on a dark balcony too. Shecouldn’tbe a very genteel lady, to chat with a man under such circumstances, so freely.
And yet, and yet.
Stop it,he warned himself.She’s not suitable for you. Stop thinking about it. She won’t think about you, I guarantee it.
“Well, it’s up to you,” Katherine said with finality, cutting into his thoughts. “I like Miss Bainbridge. For what it’s worth, she’s exactly the sort of girl Papa would approve of, not that that is much of a recommendation. I think she’d suit you, and perhaps you’ll fall in love after you are married.”
“Is that what you did?” William asked, lifting an eyebrow. “Fell in love after you were married?”
Katherine blushed, and William bit back a smile.
The terms of their father’s will had been particularly cruel to Katherine. He had always made it clear that she was not what he wanted his daughter to be and had exerted almost as much effort to break her as he had William. Katherine, however, had a strong character, and had not bent to his will by the time the late Duke met his accident.
Not like me,William thought, with a flush of shame.I gave in early on.
Katherine was subject to the same requirements as her brother – to marry within a year or live as a pauper forever. However, there was an extra stipulation in her case. She had to marryfirst, and if she did not marry, none of her brothers could receive their inheritance.
With the weight of not just her future, but that of her three brothers weighing on her shoulders, Katherine had attacked the marriage mart with desperation, keen to find a match.
She hadn’t looked for love, but she had found it. Timothy was their childhood friend, at one time inseparable from William, and wrote popular novels under a pseudonym. He still did, as far as William knew, despite their newfound wealth. He had loved her for years, in secret, and the two of them were perfectly matched.
In fact, all of William’s siblings had found their perfect matches. Henry had found a woman to match his intellect and ambition, while Alexander had found a practical, kind young woman who could temper his excesses and help him to become a better man. All of them were in love, and William heartily approved of all of their matches.
