Chapter Four
Katherine
Miss Katherine Smith had thought marriage to a man she didn’t respect the worst thing that could happen to her. A prison with a sentence of life.
Now she faced a much worse prison. A real one. Or worse. She rested her palm on the base of her throat, trying not to imagine how a hangman’s noose would feel.
Someone walked past, jostling her arm, but she barely noticed.
It had all happened so quickly. One moment he had been there, grabbing at her, and the next, lying dead at the bottom of the steps.
She hadn’t even pushed him. But Lord Perrin had been in his cups, slurring his words and unsteady. It hadn’t taken much to make him fall.
Katherine’s stomach twisted. She had killed a man. She hadn’t intended to, but the earl was dead just the same.
A porcelain cup was lowered before her gaze. She blinked and looked up. The attorney, Mr. Evans, held the cup out to her.
He gave her a sympathetic smile. “Hot tea will be good for your nerves. And I added a splash of a little something extra. This situation has distressed us all.”
She forced herself to smile back. No one could be as distressed as her, and she, the least deserving of feeling that emotion. But Mr. Taylor had told her how pointless it would be for the accident to destroy two lives. She’d been too shocked to disagree.
“Thank you,” she murmured. The cup rattled in its saucer as she lowered it to her lap.
Mr. Evans squatted at her side. He had the body of someone who worked hard labor, tall and strong, rather than a man who sat at a desk all day writing contracts, but his face was kind, his whiskey brown eyes warm.
It was those eyes that almost undid her, making the backs of her own burn.
He rested his hand on the armrest of her chair. “I promise, you and the other women will be safe. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Safe?” Katherine’s father frowned. He stood across from her on the other side of the low table. “Of course, she’ll be safe. Why wouldn’t she be? No one would want to harm her.”
The room quieted, all eyes turning toward her father. His voice did tend to carry. He shrugged. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There’s no need to lionize the dead. Perrin could be a right sot.”
Katherine’s chest ached. And yet her father had intended to marry her off to such a man.
When he had first approached her about the idea of marriage to Perrin, she had thought her father at least respected the earl.
That he could give his daughter into the care of a man he didn’t like had never occurred to her.
Her sisters had been happily settled. While there might not have been ardent feelings toward their husbands when they’d married, they were now quite content with their stations. She had trusted her father to provide the same situation for herself.
Until Katherine had met Lord Perrin. Then she’d known she would never be content married to him.
But perhaps it had been easier to find suitable matches for her sisters.
Her eldest sister was exceptionally beautiful.
Her likeness had been used by a renowned painter as the face of the goddess Venus.
Her other sister was exceptionally brilliant and kind, a combination that wasn’t often found together.
Katherine wasn’t exceptionally anything, except perhaps exceptionally sharp-tongued.
And that was not a useful commodity in the marriage market.
And now it didn’t matter. None of it mattered. Perhaps she had deserved no better than Lord Perrin.
“How can you speak so?” Miss Walker jumped to her feet. “Lord Perrin was lovely. Just lovely.”
Katherine’s father arched an eyebrow, dipping his chin. “He toyed with people. Made promises he never intended to keep.”
Miss Walker flushed, and suddenly, Katherine could no longer stand it. All the falsehoods. The pretense. The authorities might not be able to reach them now, but eventually a magistrate would come. And she couldn’t let an innocent person be accused.
She scooted to the edge of her seat, pressing a hand to her abdomen. “I—”
Someone squeezed her shoulder. Tightly. Looking up, she saw Mr. Taylor shake his head.
The confession died on her lips. It wasn’t only herself she’d implicate. How could she bring trouble to Perrin’s secretary when all he’d done was try to help her? Katherine dug her nails into her skirts. Though the fact that he could have taken that knife and….
She swallowed. She didn’t know quite what that said about him. She knew that Mr. Taylor fancied her, but she hadn’t realized his regard was strong enough to help her cover up her crime.
“It has been a trying night,” Mr. Taylor said. “I suggest we all retire. Sleep will help us all think more clearly.”
To rethink her confession, he meant. Katherine sighed, her shoulders drooping. If she were able to fall asleep, the oblivion would be welcome.
She looked up, and her gaze caught Mr. Evans’s. He had a curious expression on his face as he looked at her, to the hand on her shoulder, and up to Mr. Taylor’s face. As unobtrusively as possible, Katherine slid out from the secretary’s grip and rose.
“Bed does sound like a good idea,” she said, looking everywhere but at Mr. Evans.
“Are you not afraid to be alone?” the attorney asked, tilting his head.
If a murderer had been on the loose, Katherine supposed she would be. Exhaustion dragged at her limbs, making her too tired to even attempt to feign concern. “It is as my father says. Lord Perrin had an enemy. I don’t believe anyone else is at risk.”
Lord Havenstone took his wife’s hand and tugged her to standing. “We also are retiring. And we will be taking the rear staircase up to the first floor. My wife doesn’t need to see that again.”
Lady Mary clapped her hands together. “Quite right. Everyone should use the servants’ stairs. And I would suggest that Lord Perrin be removed to the ice house until a magistrate can inspect the body. Stevens, can you direct some men to make that happen?”
The butler nodded. “I’ll have some lads clear out space in the ice house now.”
“Good.” Lady Mary patted the lace cap over her ivory hair. She had a decided air of authority, which, as the sister-in-law of the earl, she most likely deserved. “Well, then, since nothing more can be done tonight, I suggest we all go to bed.”