Chapter 18
Eighteen
T he risk inherent in bringing Kitty to Russell House for the final days before the wedding was not lost on Dev. From the start, the primary risk came from explaining to his father why it was necessary for Kitty to seek safety and protection with the family to begin with.
“She is not in some sort of trouble, is she?” Dev’s father asked as his mother selflessly fussed and fretted and helped Kitty to settle in one of the house’s grander guest rooms. “She looks as though she has been battered.”
Dev flinched at the statement. Indeed, Kitty’s face was a mask of bruises and swelling from where her father had struck her.
The doctor who had come to examine her assured them that the swelling would go down and the bruises would fade, but Kitty was devastated by her current appearance and feared she would look a fright for the wedding.
“She is….” Dev attempted to make light of his father’s concerns, but there was no way to do so without lying outright to his sire, something his heart was unable to let him do .
His father must have sensed there was something profound at play.
He rested a hand on Dev’s shoulder, and moved him out of the way in the hall outside Kitty’s room as a veritable army of maids paraded in with everything Dev’s mother thought a soon-to-be daughter-in-law of hers would need, and fixed him with a look of concern.
“I must confess, son, it has occurred to me that there may be more to Miss Dryden’s story of origin than you have let on,” his father said.
“It is entirely too convenient for the young woman to have come from the country so far from here and to have no living relatives to speak for her. And to be quite honest, innocent young ladies are rarely attacked to the degree that our Miss Dryden has been.”
Dev lowered his head slightly. He should have known he could not fool his family for long. “You are correct,” he confessed. “Kitty is not who I have said she is.”
When he did not proceed to elaborate, as he had yet to discuss whether his family should be told with Kit, his father asked, “Is she a criminal of some sort? Was she employed as an actress or a courtesan before now?”
“No, Father, I can assure you, that is not the case,” Dev said.
He glanced up and down the hallway, almost smiling at the delight in his mother’s voice as she directed the maids, even though Kitty protested that she did not need so much, making certain no one was listening too intently to his conversation.
“I can only say that Kitty is not who she has been made out to be. Beyond that, I must discuss the matter with Kitty first before revealing all, as revealing the truth would have a profound impact on her.”
His father hummed and rubbed his chin, staring at Dev as if he were trying to work out the riddle himself.
“I trust you, son,” he said at last. He rested a hand on Dev’s shoulder again with a smile.
“I trust your judgement. Regardless of her provenance, Miss Dryden is a gem. We have all come to adore her like our own.” He chuckled as he pulled his hand back, then added, “You are fortunate to be only a third son. Your lot is notorious for making questionable matches. My younger brother, Stephen, married a Spaniard, as I’m sure you know. ”
Dev laughed, remembering Uncle Stephen and his rather bohemian wife. It gave him hope, though there was a world of difference between marrying a Spaniard and marrying a woman who was a man.
The matter seemed settled for the moment.
Kitty was installed in the guestroom comfortably, and even though Dev’s mother thought it odd that she did not want the help of a maid to tend to her, she pretended to turn a blind eye to the fact that Dev intended to slip into Kitty’s room at night, ostensibly to help her in the way a maid would.
It would have been a perfect, easy deception, were it not for the rumors that began to circulate almost immediately.
“I believe I understand why you wished to stay here with us until the wedding, Miss Dryden,” Evelyn said the next morning at luncheon.
Both Kitty and Dev perked up at the statement.
They were seated next to each other at the table, and Dev reached for Kitty’s hand under the cloth.
“When I called on Lady Willoughby earlier, the talk in her salon was all about how Miss Dryden was keeping some sort of notorious secret that would ruin her and everyone associated with her.”
Kitty caught her breath, and Dev found her hand and squeezed it.
“Lady Willoughby always was careless about the sort of gossip she allowed in her salons,” Dev’s mother said with a sniff. “I will remember not to call upon her in future.”
“What are people saying about Miss Dryden?” James asked from his seat near the end of the table, by their father. He seemed both curious and anxious, as if he had heard rumors as well.
“One rumor is that you are a woman of ill-repute and that you have tricked my brother into marrying you,” Evelyn said.
“I can assure you that no one has been tricked,” Dev said.
“Another,” Evelyn went on, “is that Miss Dryden is a foundling who has lied her way into a marriage far above her.”
“Ridiculous,” Dev’s mother sniffed.
“Still another,” Evelyn went on, blushing, “is that Miss Dryden is not a woman at all and that she is, in fact, a man.”
Kitty nearly dropped the spoon she was using to eat her soup. She put it down carefully, swallowing hard and staring at the bowl as if she would never be able to eat again.
“What sort of blasphemous nonsense is that?” Dev’s father grumbled. “Who would dare speak such horrific things at a lady’s salon?”
Across the table, Dev caught James watching him with a particularly astute look. Dev stared right back at him, but it felt as though his brother had pulled at the first loose string that would unravel the entire cloth.
Reports of rumors circulating London did not die down after that first day.
If anything, they grew more intense as the week plodded slowly on toward Saturday.
Kitty stayed mostly to Russell House during those days, assisting Dev’s mother in final arrangements for the wedding breakfast. Dev stayed with his beloved most of the time, but by Friday afternoon, he felt it was necessary to leave the house with James in order to gauge just how far the rumors had gone.
“Deveraux, you know I care deeply about you,” James launched into what Dev suspected was about to turn into a lecture as they made their way to Hyde Park, “but I worry that you have set yourself up for ruin by marrying a woman who has become the subject of such speculation in the last few days.”
Dev glanced sideways at his brother, bristling with the need to tell the truth to someone, anyone. “I love Kitty,” he said, starting at the bit of the story that mattered the most. “I have never loved anyone like this before. I intend to spend the rest of my life with my love.”
He very deliberately failed to attach a specific gender to his statement.
That was perhaps what sealed whatever conclusions James had drawn on his own.
“The rumors are true, aren’t they?” James asked.
Again, Dev glanced sideways at his brother. “To which rumors are you referring?”
James let out a breath and scrubbed a hand over his face. “I will admit, she is incredibly convincing,” he said, putting emphasis on the pronoun. “I did not notice the ribbons she constantly wears as decoration until Ivan pointed it out to me.”
Ivan was one of the senior footmen in the house. Dev wanted to groan. If one servant had figured it out, the entire house would know.
“I have always known that your tastes tend to be eclectic,” James went on, “and I do not judge you for it. I think we all know that the lines that have been drawn for us from the pulpit are not a reflection of all of our experiences, particularly for those of us who attended boarding school.”
Dev’s brow shot up and he looked at his brother more directly. It was not the time to ask whether James had dabbled a bit at school, though. Most gentlemen had, but few ever spoke of it.
“You will not tell, will you?” he asked by way of an admission.
“I will not,” James said. He sent Dev a frank look and added, “Father already suspects. I believe Mother does as well. But if neither of them has said anything to you as of yet, I believe they intend to keep their suspicions to themselves.”
Dev blew out a heavy breath. Once again, he was deeply impressed by how broadminded his family was and how loyal and loving they were to each other, even under extreme circumstances.
It made him even happier to have brought Kitty into their fold.
If anyone would protect her secret without causing a fuss, it was his family.
That hope was put to the test on the morning of the wedding.
“I do not mind helping you prepare, my dear, if you will have me,” Dev’s mother said as she, Dev, and Kitty escorted Miss Jones upstairs to Kitty’s guestroom with the wedding dress early in the morning.
“I am not above playing lady’s maid to someone so precious to me, particularly on your wedding day. ”
“Oh, I thank you, my lady,” Kitty answered her in a soft, shaking voice as they approached her room. “I could not possibly ask you to do such a thing.”
“I promise you, I do not mind,” Dev’s mother said with a particularly curious inflection. She glanced to Dev as she spoke as well.
Dev’s heart was already beating twice as fast as it should have and his mother’s strange manner did not help his nerves at all. He should have sat her down earlier to ascertain whether she suspected the truth, but it seemed far too late for that now.
“I promise you, my lady,” Miss Jones answered, coming to the rescue, “that I will take utmost care of Miss Dryden. As soon as she is dressed, we will call you in for final approval.”
“Very well,” Dev’s mother conceded with a smile as they reached the guestroom. “I cannot wait to see the marvel you have constructed for our Kitty.”