Page 28 of Return to Satterthwaite Court

“What kind of a threat?”

“Against your mother’s life,” she said. “Didn’t they never tell you?”

He shook his head, stunned, even as a grim possibility occurred to him. “Perhaps this letter came from the same person?”

“Oh no, sir. The gentleman what wrote the last letter is long dead. Your father—” She stopped herself. “But I’ll not be telling tales about the past. Captain and Mrs. Heywood have been good to me. Like family they are. I wouldn’t have them worried over another anonymous letter.”

“Nor would I,” Charles said.

Certainly not now he knew it would cause them distress.

Indeed, when he returned to the drawing room, he found his parents and sister sitting together in such joyful harmony, he was reluctant to give voice to anything that might disturb their peace.

“Come and join us,” his mother said. “Hannah has been singing your Lady Katherine’s praises.”

Charles crossed the room to sit down beside his mother. “She’s not my Lady Katherine.”

His protestation fell on deaf ears.

“Do you suppose she’ll be returning to London in the spring?” Hannah inquired. “I know so few people there. It would be nice to have a friend when I make my come-out.”

“I thought you were resolved on having your season in Bath,” Arthur said. “Don’t say that one young lady’s opinion has been sufficient to change your mind?”

“She made many good points, you must agree, Papa.” Hannah turned back to her mother. “She was so beautiful, I wonder that she wasn’t betrothed in her first season.”

“When did you meet her, Charles?” his mother asked.

“She must be a new acquaintance,” his father said, “given that your ship only docked a fortnight ago.”

“A very new acquaintance,” Charles replied.

He would offer no more on the subject. To do so would only cast Kate’s behavior in a poor light. Aggravating as she was, he had no wish for his parents to think ill of her.

His father didn’t press him. His eyes nevertheless held a glimmer of sympathetic amusement. He alone seemed to understand the tenor of his son’s predicament. For the first time in his life, Charles was being pursued by a lady. And such a lady!

It was unhinged. Unheard-of. Men were the ones who did the pursuing, not the reverse.

Courtship must have changed a great deal during Charles’s time away from England.

“She’s a comely young lady,” his father remarked a short while later after Philly and Hannah had departed the drawing room with the dogs. “Though her temperament may prove to be at odds with your plans for peace and tranquility.”

“Lady Katherine Beresford doesn’t figure into my plans at all,” Charles replied. “I have more pressing concerns.” He paused. “I wanted to ask you about something.” He held his father’s gaze. “Did mother really receive an anonymous letter once that threatened her life?”

His father’s expression sobered. “Who told you that?”

“Is it true?”

Arthur lapsed into silence. “Yes,” he said at length. “But it was I who received it, not her.” A deep line etched his brow. “Forgive me, it’s not the happiest of memories.”

“Why on earth would someone threaten mother?” Charles asked in bewilderment. “She’s never harmed anyone.”

"Not directly, no. Certainly not purposefully. But when your mother and I met, she was intended for someone else.”

“The Duke of Moreland. Yes, I know. I’ve heard the story.”

“Not the whole of,” Arthur said.

“Then tell me.”