Page 25 of Against the Wind

“It isn’t what you might be thinking. Ours is not a love match. Martin and I hardly know each other.”

“Well, Kit,” said Mary, “if Ormond and I are any model, it can occur quite suddenly. Before you realize it your heart has given itself away. The job is done. Then it takes you weeks, even months, to realize what happened. Neither Ormond nor I wanted a marriage when we first met, but staying away from each other proved impossible. Now look at us.”

“Not in my case,” Kit replied.

Mary’s mouth twitched up at the corner. “If you say so. But enough of that. Tell me where you have been all this time Martin has been searching for you.”

“Well, I took a position as a finishing govern—”

“I knew it! I told my husband as much. That is just what I would have done. Tell me about it.”

Mary seemed most curious to know all that Kit had lived through since leaving Willow House, so Kit settled back with her tea and told her of the de Courtenays and of the twins, Pris and Pen.

“What a delightful family!” Mary said at the end.

“They are, really.”

Mary rose to pour them more tea. “No wonder we did not find you. I was asking around my friends, but of course the de Courtenays are new to Town. Since they have been on the Continent, we would not know them. Or at least I would not, unless I’d met them in Paris. Ormond might have heard of Mr. de Courtenay. I simply must be introduced.”

“They were very kind to me. Mrs. de Courtenay even bought me several lovely gowns so I might accompany the twins to their entertainments.”

“We must fetch your wardrobe for you,” Mary determined.

Kit did not see how she could ask the kind Mrs. de Courtenay for the garments after abandoning the family as she had, even if her work with Pen and Pris had been for the most part accomplished, but then a thought occurred. “I know the gowns were costly, but perhaps they would consider trading them for my wages.”

“An excellent thought,” conceded Mary. “I will go there this very afternoon and inquire.”

“Could not a footman be sent?” Kit was mortified at the thought of a marchioness running an errand for her.

“Nonsense! And deprive me of an adventure? I have so few these days.” Looking out the window rather wistfully she explained, “My dearest friend Lizzy is so great with child she never gets out anymore, and I have had no one to go adventuring with. Our young son Henry is but a few months old and very sweet, but he requires little of my attention just now. He sleeps rather a lot, as babies do. But now that you are here,” Mary crowed, a gleam in her eye as she returned her gaze to Kit, “perhaps my prospects will change. In any event, Martin is right. It would not be wise for you to be seen on the streets of London. Rutledge may be having the de Courtenays’ home watched if he saw you with them last night at the ball.”

“Oh, my.” Kit covered her mouth with her hand. “I hadn’t thought of that, but yes, it would be just like him.”

“If he is as ruthless as we all believe, it is quite likely.”

“He is. He never treated my sister Anne—his wife—with any kindness.” Kit couldn’t stop the tears. They welled up in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. She cried for a sister who deserved love and never found it in the husband fate had given her, and she cried for herself, for the dreams she had left behind in her first Season, dreams of an honorable man who would be her true love. “I’m so sorry. I don’t seem to be able to stop.”

Mary crossed to where Kit was sitting and wrapped her arm around Kit’s shoulders. “You have been through a lot. More than any woman I know. Do not apologize for having a good cry.”

Kit took a deep breath, forcing herself to regain control. Taking the handkerchief Mary offered, she dabbed at her eyes.

The marchioness smiled and made an obvious effort to cheer her. “Remind me to tell you of what I went through before Ormond and I finally married. Suffice it to say, I shed many tears before it was done.”

The mention of Mary’s husband recalled the question that had been rumbling around in Kit’s mind. “What will Ormond say if you go to the de Courtenays’?”

“Ormond? Oh, he would prefer I send a servant to be sure, but he will not be surprised if I go myself. He is aware of my…tendencies. Besides, I would not be deprived of meeting these two charming girls of whom you are so fond. I imagine they will want to be assured you are doing well.”

“And if—as you suggest—Rutledge is having their home watched?”

“Oh, do not worry about that, Kit. I have often worn disguises on my adventures. I will dress in a more common fashion, in something a shop worker might wear, and take a hired coach with a roundabout journey back here. If anyone is watching that house, they will think me a tradeswoman. To tell it true, you have no idea how I have longed for such an outing.”

Kit could not argue with the sparkle in Mary’s eyes. The marchioness seemed to be in her element.

A thought occurred: “Mary, if you can go in disguise, why not me as well? I would dearly love to say a proper goodbye to Mrs. de Courtenay and the twins.”

Mary seemed to consider. “Well, I do have a disguise I once used in Paris, a stable boy’s clothes. Yes, it might work. I even have a cap that will hide that beautiful auburn hair of yours.”

Feeling like she had taken back some control of her life, Kit spirits brightened. It would be right to see the de Courtenays again, at the very least to thank them. “Oh, Mary, that would be wonderful. Let’s do it.”