Page 121 of Kathryn

“How?”

“By making him believe that I still care for him. By making him think that I would run away with him”—she scowled at Becky’s ear-piercing yelp— “and by making him believe that he will get his hands on my vast riches. And then…” She paused and narrowed her eyes, visualizing the scene. “Just when he is secure in his newfound wealth and imagining himself wasting my money all over the Continent, I will wrench the rug out from under his feet and leave him humiliated and poor.” She grinned and knew the expression was not a nice one.

Becky stared for a moment in open-mouthed horror before slumping into a nearby chair and covering her face with both hands. “That is the worst idea you have ever had! We are doomed. His Grace will find out and banish you to the north of Scotland. I will never see my family again. I will never—”

“Will you quit exaggerating?” Katie demanded. “I will not get caught.”

“Yes, you will.”

“I won’t. But if I do get caught then I can explain this to Dulverton. He is not an irrational man, he—”

“He is irrational where you are concerned, Katie. And you know it. Everyone knows it. He almost choked that foolish earl to death at the Red Lion just for talking to you.”

Was it wrong to enjoy the warm feeling of satisfaction that spread through her body at her friend’s words?

“Fine,” Katie said. “I will allow he can be a little possessive”—Becky snorted—“but I feel certain that he will listen to me before doing anything rash.” She didn’t, really, but what else could she say to convince the other woman?

Becky shook her head, unconvinced. “If he will be so understanding then you should tell him now. Because this—what you are talking about—is madness. Lord Jasper is viewed as a scoundrel in the neighborhood. His Grace would be most disple—”

“That is for me to worry about,” Katie said firmly. “Now, will you spread the gossip or do I need to find another way?” Katie suspected that Jasper was already in hot pursuit and didn’t really need more encouragement, but it couldn’t hurt to set the hook a little deeper. She had no real idea whether she could get her hands on the money her brothers-in-law had settled on her, or not, but suspected it was all under Gerrit’s control, just like everything else. But Jasper was so greedy he would probably believe anything.

“Oh, Lord,” Becky mumbled, shaking her head. “If I do what you ask then I am abetting you to ruin. If I do not, who knows what you will do to spread your—your gossip. So, yes, I will do it. But I will say this one last time, Katie. I am your friend and love you, but you are wrong-headed in this. Just as wrong-headed as you were with your kissing contest. Worse, even.”

“Thank you,” Katie said, and then squinted at her reflection in the mirror and changed the subject. “I think I am getting a freckle on my chin.”

Becky just groaned.

Despite what she asked her maid to do, Katie behaved herself for five whole days. She told herself that she stayed away from the cottage to give Jasper the chance to do the decent thing and stop pestering her. After all, she wasn’t really angry at him anymore. She saw him for the vain, shallow, grasping man he was. He truly had no idea what he’d done to her that summer. It simply would not occur to a man like him that there could be repercussions from lying with a woman half a dozen times.

But the real reason she stayed away was because of Gerrit. She was happy for the first time in years, and it was thanks to him. Katie did not want to hurt her husband. Not just because Gerrit angry was a terrifying sight, but because she cared about him. She thought she might even love him, although she was such a stranger to that emotion that she wasn’t sure how a person could tell. Oh, she loved her sisters and brother, of course, but that was not the same thing. At least she did not believe it was.

But whenever she ran all these reasons to stay away through her mind, at the end was always the sheer, unmitigated gall that Jasper possessed to believe for even a second that she would have anything to do with him at this point.

And so on the sixth day, after the vague rumors of her great wealth had time to circulate, she stayed home on the pretext of tending to some genuinely overdue correspondence—she owed all her sisters at least one letter and Phoebe had written a stunning four—and kept herself busy until a quarter to three, at which time she donned her work habit and had the stables saddle up Robin.

It was just a few minutes past the hour when she turned onto the narrow path that led to the cottage, riding for perhaps one hundred yards or so before the trees cleared, and the tiny house came into view. A horse was tethered at the hitching post.

Katie paused, uncertain. Meeting him here for a few minutes was one thing, but going into a cottage with him? No. That was one step too far, even for her.

The door opened. “Katie! I knew you’d come.” Jasper’s grin was triumphant, and his blue eyes shone as he hurried toward her.

“I was just passing by and was curious if you really came here every day at three.”

He laughed. “Putting me through my paces, are you?”

She shrugged.

“Let me help you down. I’ve brought a few delicacies in the house and—”

“I am not going into the cottage with you Jasper.”

He frowned. “Whyever not?”

“The reason I came to see you—other than curiosity—was because you are correct, we can’t talk in the middle of the path. But now that I am here why don’t you tell me why you are so keen to see me?”

For a few seconds, he was flummoxed, and Katie could almost hear the clanking of gears as his brain shifted directions. But Jasper would always come about when it came to getting what he wanted.

“I cannot stop thinking about you—even though I know it is… wicked. The truth is, Katie, that my heart has never gotten over you.”