Chapter Nine
Two Weeks Later
Katie smiled and nodded at Lord Brimley, the man seated on her right, even though she had no idea what he had been talking about. Evidently a smile and a nod were good enough because Brimley resumed his tedious monologue.
Keeping her smile firmly fixed, Katie stole a furtive glance at her husband of only a few hours.
Dulverton sat at the foot of the table on Hy’s right.
He was not talking to either Hy or the woman on the other side of him, yet another guest at her wedding breakfast whom Katie could not recall meeting before.
Dulverton was solely focused on the food on his plate, which he was methodically demolishing.
Hy, for all that she was the hostess, mirrored Dulverton’s actions so completely the two might have been bookends.
The woman on Dulverton’s other side laid a hand on Dulverton’s shoulder to get his attention and then flinched when he jerked away at her touch.
Those around them looked over curiously at the abrupt movement.
The duke murmured something to the woman and all conversation ceased as people craned their necks to listen.
He must have apologized because her tense posture relaxed, and she began speaking.
Dulverton cocked his head, attentive to what she said, his face wearing a surprisingly polite expression, certainly not one he’d ever given Katie.
Although they’d been civil to each other whenever they’d met these past two weeks, her betrothed had never been what one would call warm.
Dulverton suddenly looked in her direction, his pale, keen eyes causing her pulse to pound annoyingly fast, just as it always did. Katie hastily jerked her gaze away, looking instead at the massive ormolu clock perched on the white marble mantelpiece.
Dear God. Only five minutes had elapsed since the last time she’d sneaked a peek.
Dulverton’s breakfast companion was not the only stranger at the long banquet table; Katie was hard-pressed to recognize even half the people celebrating her nuptials.
Hy had asked her if she wanted to wait until their siblings were able to attend to have the wedding, but Katie just wanted to get it over with.
Besides, it would be half a year before the Bellamy siblings could all get together.
Doddy was on the Continent visiting their father, Phoebe and Selina were both expecting interesting events within the next six weeks, and Aurelia had gone on a naturalist expedition with her husband and would not return to England until just before Christmas.
Katie could not wait six months to marry. Two weeks spent in the strange netherworld of scandalously betrothed had already been far too long.
Thankfully, the Season had officially ended the week before and the younger set had fled for country house parties or Brighton. Most of the guests today were friends of Chatham’s rather than Katie’s. Not that she had many friends left at this point.
She felt a light touch on her left elbow. “I beg you will excuse me, my lord?” she said, cutting Brimley off in mid-sentence.
He blinked, looking like a stunned carp. “Oh… of course.”
Katie turned to find Andrew wearing his characteristic smirk. “Are you bleeding out your right ear?” he asked in a tone more suited to a military parade ground.
“Hush! Brimley will hear you.”
“No, he won’t,” Andrew said, making no effort to lower his voice. “Look at him.”
Katie turned just enough to look at the other man. Sure enough, Brimley was already engaged in conversation with his other breakfast companion, his voice droning on as if he had never stopped speaking.
“What a windbag,” Andrew said, ignoring her chiding scowl. “Who the devil invited him?” He squinted around at the other guests. “Who invited most of these frights? I don’t—”
“Andrew!”
He stopped talking but looked unabashed.
“It was Aunt Constance who planned everything,” she said in a low voice.
Aunt Constance was a cousin of Chatham’s and not actually related to Katie, but she liked the gentle, soft-spoken woman a great deal.
Constance lived at Chatham Park year-round and took care of the hundreds of details that the Duchess of Chatham would normally manage if that duchess wasn’t Hyacinth.
Although Hy had been married for more than five years, she would never be a great society hostess, or even a mediocre one.
But Hy and Chatham seemed to have worked out an agreement because Hy was left to her own devices most of the time.
Which was just as well, because her sister’s forte was not socializing, as was evidenced by the way she was currently ignoring both her table companions.
“I suppose poor Connie was forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel as everyone has fled town,” Andrew said, nodding at the footman to replenish his champagne. Katie was already working on her third glass and briefly pondered having a fourth before coming to her senses and shaking her head.
“Why did you and Dulln—er, Dulverton wait so long to marry?”
Katie gave him a scathing look. “Do not do that again.”
Andrew did not ask what she meant. “I won’t,” he said, looking serious for a few seconds.
“You call two weeks long?” she asked.
“It is when the marriage is one of exigency.” He grinned. “Just consider poor Fowler. He was caught in parson’s mousetrap a mere three days after the infamous Night of Kissing.”
Katie suffered a well-deserved guilty pang at the mention of the big Scotsman’s hasty marriage. “I think Fowler wanted to get married quickly so that he would have an excuse to leave town and avoid my wedding.”
“That might be true. He is not your greatest admirer right now,” Andrew added with a chuckle.
That was putting it mildly. Fowler had had a special message for Katie when he’d come to hand deliver his wedding invitations to Chatham, Hy, and Katie.
He had waited until the duke and duchess had stepped out of the room before cornering Katie and snarling, “If you have any decency at all then you will find yourself too busy to attend.”
Katie had been stung. “Why did you bring me an invitation if you didn’t want me to come?”
“Mrs. Grayson felt compelled to invite you as Chatham and the Duchess will be there.”
Katie had counted Angus Fowler among her closest friends for more than five years. Indeed, she had grown to think of him as an older brother. And now she had forced him into marriage with one woman when she knew he had already lost his heart to another.
“I am truly sorry, Angus,” she said quietly while he’d paced Chatham’s drawing room, refusing to look at her.
“You can show your contrition by avoiding my wedding.”
“Of course, I will do what you want and send my regrets to Mrs. Grayson.”
He’d spun on his heel and glared at her through eyes that were almost the same color as her own.
She had seen not just fury and thwarted desire in Angus’s gaze, but grief and loss.
“You take pride in doing the unexpected, no matter how much devastation you leave in your wake. I hope to God you have learned something this time after wrecking three lives.”
“Three lives? There are four people getting married, Angus.”
“You don’t expect any sympathy from me?”
Katie bit her lip, but the words had slipped out anyhow.
“I do not think your life is wrecked. I think Letty will make you a wonderful wife. Far better than Elizabeth Jennings. Not that you would have ever come up to scratch and made Lizzy an offer given that you could scarcely speak three words to her—”
“How dare you even say her name?” Angus thundered.
Katie had shut her mouth then and kept it shut while Angus had ranted and raged about the loss of Lizzy.
While Katie mourned the loss of his friendship, she could not feel terrible about saving him from a marriage with Lizzy Jennings, a sweet girl with scarcely two thoughts to rub together.
Angus was a clever man, and he deserved a wife who would be his companion and not just a pretty ornament on his arm.
If he was even half as smart as Katie hoped he was, he would stop dwelling on Lizzy and recognize Letty’s value sooner rather than later.
“Katie?”
She looked up to find Andrew watching her, a notch of concern between his eyes.
“Is something wrong?”
“I am fine,” she said, drinking the rest of her champagne and wishing she had asked for more.
“Angus will forgive you, Katie.” Andrew patted her hand. “He won’t come around quickly, but he’ll come around. I very much liked the little I saw of Fowler’s wife.”
“Letty is a wonderful person, but Angus can’t see beyond Lizzy Jennings.”
Andrew laughed. “Oh, Angus never would have asked Lizzy to marry him. Hell, he could hardly ask her to dance with him.”
“That is what I said to him.”
“I’m sure he enjoyed that observation.”
“He said that he was on the verge of proposing and I believe him. I haven’t seen him that way about a woman before.”
“Ah, but that’s because you’ve not known him very long.
You should have seen how wrecked he was by Selina five years ago.
Trust me, Katie, he never would have come up to scratch with Lizzy Jennings if he’d been left to his own devices.
He was attracted by the idea of her, but his heart was not touched.
I think not so deep-down Fowler knows that and wishes to keep it that way by falling for unattainable women.
In any event, do not fret, my dear. He’ll forgive you. ”
“Letty is both intelligent and kind. He is a fortunate man.”
And you just forced her into a marriage with a man who will never love her.
“I am sure Angus will recognize her value,” Andrew replied absently, his speculative gaze on Dulverton, who was still giving all his attention to his food. “As for you and your new husband…” Andrew’s smile looked a bit forced. “Well, I’m sure it will all work out for the best,” he added lamely.
“More champagne, Your Grace?”
Katie startled at the sound of her new title. “Yes, please,” she said to the waiting footman after a moment. “Pour me another glass.”