Page 95 of Return to Satterthwaite Court

“Lieutenant Heywood,” Lady Mattingly said. “How delightful to find you here. Mrs. Catmull would have had us believe Lady Katherine was alone with her son.”

“Not for a moment,” Charles said. “My betrothed has been well looked after.”

“Excellent,” Lady Mattingly said without so much as a flinch of surprise.

Christine’s eyes goggled. “Your betrothed! But Kate—”

“I’ll explain later,” Kate said quietly.

“What’s this I hear about a betrothal?” Lady Chesham swept toward them, the diaphanous folds of her crepe gown brushing over the floor of the conservatory. Her manner was as commanding as an admiral assuming charge of a rogue crew. “A Valentine’s Day match between the children of two great families? We must announce it at my party, of course. It promises to be the talk of the season.”

“My dear lady,” Lady Mattingly said. “We none of us would dream of eclipsing your glory on your birthday. Let us leave it to the Earl of Gordon and the Earl of Allendale to arrange the announcement of the engagement. The rest of us would do better to return to the ballroom before we draw undue attention to Lady Katherine’s absence.”

“A wise idea,” Lady Chesham said. “One can’t be too careful with one’s reputation these days. We must all work to minimize any hint of scandal. Mrs. Catmull? If you will join us?”

Mrs. Catmull glowered. “It seems I was in error,” she said stiffly, moving to follow them from the room. “Apologies, my lady.”

Lady Chesham waved the apology away. “No harm done, my dear.”

Christine took Mr. Catmull’s arm. “I’m anxious to better my acquaintance with your mother, sir. Shall we join her?”

Mr. Catmull’s face tightened. “We may as well. There’s nothing for us here.”

Lady Mattingly smiled back at Charles before exiting the conservatory. “Lieutenant Heywood, I shall allow you five minutes alone with Lady Katherine. After that, I trust you to return her to me.”

Kate’s face betrayed a glimmer of surprise. “I’m amazed she didn’t drag me off straightaway,” she said when everyone else had gone and she and Charles were alone.

The light from a waning moon shimmered through the glass walls of the conservatory, casting a luminous glow over Kate’s face. She had a garland of flowers in her dark hair. White roses and deep blue forget-me-nots twined together to complement the silvery-blue of her frothy ball gown. She looked rather like something out of a fairy tale.

Charles’s voice went gruff. “She wouldn’t have done,” he said, “considering we’re engaged to be married.”

She gave an eloquent grimace. “I don’t know what possessed me to suggest such a thing. I daresay it was only to see the look of shock on Mr. Catmull’s face. The swine. It was good of you to play along.”

“I wasn’t playing.”

Her brows notched. “I don’t understand.”

“You asked me on Monday why I was late in coming to town. It was because I stopped off somewhere first.”

“Where?”

“At Beasley Park,” he said. “To speak with your father.”

Her lips trembled.

“This afternoon, I was delayed from calling on you for a similar purpose.” Charles reached into the interior pocket of his evening jacket, withdrawing the small velvet box he’d purchased earlier that day at a jeweler’s shop in Bond Street. He pressed the box into her hand.

Kate opened it, revealing the sparkling ten-carat oval sapphire ring within. Surrounded by an equal weight of small diamonds, it had taken a substantial portion of Charles’s prize money. Money he’d gladly spend again to see such a look on her face.

She caught her breath. “Oh.”

He smiled. “You’re beginning to understand, I take it.”

“Yes, but…” Her eyes met his. There was a peculiar sheen in them. “You shouldn’t have…,” she stammered. “You needn’t have… And to call on my father?” She made a choked sound, part laugh, part sob. “Oh, what is this?”

“It’s whatever you want it to be,” he said. “A proposal. A valentine. Both.”

“Both,” she answered.