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Chapter Twelve
By the time they reached Kitty’s home, Ashford was utterly terrified; terrified that something had gone wrong in the time it took for them to arrive, terrified that he’d been wrong in his assumptions and had mucked up his marriage before it could even begin. The front of the house was quiet when they arrived, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a portend of things to come. Sebastian all but flew out of the carriage once it stopped, sweeping up the stairs and ignoring Amberwood’s impatient grumbles at being left behind. The door swung open before he could knock. Kitty’s butler stood behind it, as if awaiting his arrival for some time. “This way, Your Grace,” he said politely, an undercurrent of disapproval in his voice. “Everyone is with Miss Kitty in the parlor.”
“Everyone?”
The man nodded. “Mr. Barrow and Lord Highbridge are here. His Lordship arrived just a few minutes ago.”
“Practically a party,” Amberwood said cheerily from beside him. The man’s emerald eyes glanced ahead. “Oh, here is Miss Highbridge’s maid.”
Sebastian looked to see Mary White briskly descending the stairs, her face pale and her head wrapped in bandages. She paused halfway down after spotting him. He nodded cordially, even if his emotions towards her were anything but. “Miss White.”
The woman dipped into a shallow curtsey, glaring at him from hooded eyes. “Your Grace. Do excuse me, I must attend Kitty.”
“Your daughter, you mean?” He replied.
Amberwood whipped his head between the two of them in shock.
“Yes, my daughter,” she replied, the thin veneer of politeness fading. “My pregnant, no doubt terribly confused and frightened daughter.”
The words hit their mark. A fresh wave of guilt assailed him, but he needed to hold fast, needed to find answers. “Was it you who told her to trap me?”
“I advised her to encourage a courtship, for I saw how fond of each other you were, but she didn’t think you’d ever want to marry her, didn’t think anyone would want to marry her. She was merely seeking an affair, as silly as it was. And no,” she continued, eyes skewering him, “she has no idea who I am. For now, at least.” She cast an anxious glance at the closed door of the parlor, where muffled but intense conversation could be heard. “I’m sure Charles is telling her right now.”
“So, all this icy drama of yours has been for nothing then, Ashford?” Amberwood shook his head. “I hope you’ve prepared yourself to grovel sufficiently.”
Miss White snorted inelegantly, the gesture reminding him so much of Kitty it was nearly painful. “His Grace certainly better.”
“Rest assured, I plan to,” he said, his mind in an absolute whirl as his worst fear became a reality. He needed to speak to Kitty. Now.
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, for him, the object of his tumultuous affections came careening out of the drawing room. A cacophony of concerned voices calling her name were drowned out as she slammed the door in their faces and began storming up the foyer. She registered his presence, coming to a dead halt only a few feet from him. Kitty stared between him and Amberwood with wide, watery eyes. “You came.”
“That I did,” was all he could say, words fleeing him at the sight of her again.
She looked at him for another moment, before bursting into tears and attempting to push her way past him to the stairs. Again, she was delayed at the sight of Miss White, who put out a placating hand. “Dear, how about we talk?”
Kitty shook her head, lifting her skirts higher and marching briskly past the woman, who moved aside to let her pass before following. He heard the sounds of arguing upstairs followed by the deafening slam of a door. Sebastian stood numbly in the hall, at a loss for his next course of action. The parlor door opened again, and Lady Amberwood calmly appeared in the hall. She looked at him with calm, steady blue eyes. “Go up there, Ashford.”
“My wife is right,” Amberwood chimed in. “Right now, I think your mess is the only thing that can be resolved for her at the moment. Besides, watching you muddle about like a forlorn puppy is supremely unsettling.”
Sebastian looked at his friend with a haughty frown. “Careful now, Amberwood. The only one allowed to insult me at the moment and get away with it is Kitty.”
Amberwood laughed and gave him a bracing smack on the back. “There he is. Go up and get your bride.”
“Jasper, calm yourself,” Lady Amberwood said with an affectionate huff. “Riling anyone else up will not be good for Kitty’s health. And mine neither, now that I think about it.”
Sebastian ignored whatever Amberwood said in reply and brushed past the couple to make his way up the stairs. To do so was beyond improper, but Sebastian was hardly in a position to give a damn. He ran into Miss White in the hall.
“I was just coming to fetch you,” she said, weariness carved into her face. “I’ve been locked out of her room, not that I was expecting a better reaction.”
“You lied to her for her entire life.” And he had stubbornly refused to believe that fact until it was too late.
Miss White sighed. “It is a complicated situation.”
Sebastian didn’t much care for any halfhearted justifications and was far too eager to see his fiancée to needle the woman about it. “Just show me to her, if you please.”
**
“Leave me be,” Kitty growled at the door as a soft knock sounded upon it. She flopped on her back atop the bedclothes, trying to calm her whirring mind enough to stem the ugly tears falling down her face. Mary’s presence would not help things in the least, not right now. Kitty knew she would have to let her in eventually, and she wanted to do so once her mind was settled. For now, however, she needed time to process the shock of her father’s words.
