Lady Catherine's Secret: A Secrets and Seduction book

by Sheridan Jeane

  Mary Givvens snickered. “I heard he was trying to find a bride who could fund the renovations on his estate in Scotland. People are saying he’s short on money.” Mary and Lydia trained their gazes on Catherine with almost identical narrow, assessing expressions.

  “Oh, Catherine. I’m so sorry. I assumed you knew.” Lydia’s eyes glittered with false sympathy.

  Elizabeth didn’t appear surprised by Lydia’s accusation. She must have heard the rumor as well. Where on earth had it started?

  Then it hit her. Lydia. The woman scorned.

  Seeing Lydia’s gloating expression, Catherine reached deep within herself and pulled forth the grace and aplomb she had developed over the years. What had Mother always said? Don’t let anyone take the upper hand. Always remain in control. The same advice applied in fencing. Never allow your opponent to take the higher ground or the upper hand.

  She raised her chin, her gaze becoming steely. “Lady Lydia, I’m surprised at you. Although I wouldn’t dream of discussing my fiancé’s financial situation, the marquess,” she said, stressing his title, “has been quite forthcoming with me.” She refused to allow Lydia to believe she had scored a point. “For you to suggest otherwise is appalling.” She narrowed her eyes. “One might question your motive in spreading such rumors, especially when considering how upset you became when you learned of our engagement at the Norfolk ball.”

  The gloating look fled Lydia’s eyes, which narrowed in seething anger. “At least I don’t have the misfortune to be engaged to the scoundrel. Just wait until he hides you away in Scotland in that moldering old castle.” A malicious grin twisted her face. “You’ll never see London again. He’ll leave you isolated and penniless.” Lydia turned with an audible huff, composed her face, and crossed the small room to her mother. Mary scurried after her.

  Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak, but Catherine held her hand up to stop her. “There are things between Daniel and me of which you know nothing. Rest assured he is the man for me. I’m perfectly satisfied with our engagement.”

  “What are you girls whispering about?” Lady Wilmot’s imperious voice interrupted them. She glanced at the departing forms of Lydia and Mary and then narrowed a suspicious gaze at Elizabeth and Catherine.

  Turning her back on Elizabeth, Catherine gave Lady Wilmot a sharp smile. “We were just discussing wedding plans. There is so much to do, and so little time. My wedding is less than a week away.”

  §

  Once Catherine and her mother returned home, they met in the morning room and began sorting through the guest responses for the wedding breakfast. Catherine was surprised when Percy entered at around six o’clock, bearing a gentleman’s calling card.

  “He instructed me to say that Lord Huntley requested he meet with you, Lady Catherine,” said Percy.

  “Really?” She glanced at her mother with surprise. “Then, by all means, show him in.”

  Mother gave her a questioning look, but Catherine merely shrugged.

  Percy ushered the man into the room.

  “Jonathon Newcomb,” he declared, “at your service,” and bowed with a deep flourish, which was exaggerated by the long tube he held. It was about thirty inches long and three inches in diameter.

  Newcomb was a small, slim man. He might have been almost any age. Catherine guessed that he was youngish, but his thinning dark blond hair gave him the look of an older man. His pale gray eyes were set in a mild face. His patterned vest was more elaborate than most men wore, but somehow it suited him.

  “Lord Huntley has engaged my services to perform improvements on a home he purchased outside London,” Newcomb said, speaking to Catherine. “When we met this afternoon, he instructed me to consult with you as soon as possible.”

  “Me? But I haven’t even seen the property.” Catherine glanced at her mother for some guidance in this unusual situation, but she looked as bemused as Catherine felt.

  “It is quite lovely, I assure you. I’m here to learn about your tastes and preferences so I can incorporate them into the overall design.”

  Mr. Newcomb pulled a pocket watch from his vest and consulted it before snapping it closed and replacing it. “If you have a few minutes to spare me now, m’lady, I can stay to discuss some details with you, or if you prefer, we can make arrangements to meet at a time more convenient to you.”

  How intriguing. “I have some time now, Mr. Newcomb. Perhaps you could explain further.”

  “Of course, of course. Lord Huntley has engaged me to assist with the interior of the house. As you’re aware, he’s making extensive renovations to his new estate, both to the manse and to the surrounding environs.” He waved his hands vaguely in the air, the tube making his movements all the more dramatic. “There are many different tradesmen involved in the work. The furnishings were included in the purchase, and although there are many excellent pieces, the overall décor is quite dated.”

  “You said you spoke to him this afternoon?”

  “Yes, m’lady. I came directly here. I would have sent a note first, but there was no time. Lord Huntley wants me to complete my plans quickly, since you will be leaving for Scotland soon.” He chuckled deeply. “I don’t envy you all of the renovations you will face over the upcoming year.”

  She looked at him quizzically. “All of the renovations? But we’ll be in Scotland for months. Won’t the majority of them be complete before we return?”

  “Here, yes. But the ones in Scotland have yet to begin.” At her look of confusion, he asked, “Didn’t Lord Huntley inform you? His home in Scotland has fallen into a terrible state of disrepair. All of his efforts have been focused on the lands surrounding the castle, but now he has decided to fully restore the house as well.” He eyed her more keenly. “I was operating under the assumption that he had discussed it with you, because he commented that you played a large part in his decision to rebuild his ancestral home. I truly hope I haven’t spoken out of turn.”

  “He’ll be renovating two houses, including his entire estate in Scotland, over the next year?” she said, trying to come to terms with the enormity of the tasks. “Are you quite certain?”

  “Well, really just the two houses. He has already put most of his estate plan into place.” He paused, and then confided, “I’ve seen his estate plan, and I must say, your fiancé is a man of vision and forethought. I’m accustomed to working with people who have creative vision, but his goes much beyond my ken. There is a certain brilliance in his thinking that I have seldom encountered.”

  A flash of fierce pride hit Catherine. My fiancé. “Mr. Newcomb, if you could provide me with an overview of the plans today, perhaps we could arrange to meet soon to discuss the details.”

  “Yes, m’lady. I would like to get a sense of your tastes with regard to color and decor so that when I return, I can offer some alternatives for you to consider. Perhaps some sketches would help.”

  Mr. Newcomb pulled an end-cap off the long tube and extracted the architectural drawings of the proposed changes to the house outside London. Or rather, the huge mansion outside London, Catherine mentally corrected herself upon seeing the drawings. Mother stood at her shoulder as they listened to Mr. Newcomb describe all of the changes planned.

  Catherine quickly grasped the details Newcomb recounted. She could easily envision the final product based on his drawings and descriptions. Newcomb recommended altering the main entrance, replacing the current façade with a rounded two-story addition full of windows and light. His exterior drawing made it look like something from a fairy tale. “This is beautiful, Mr. Newcomb. I can see why Lord Huntley chose you.”

  “Thank you, my lady.” He blushed and fumbled as he re-rolled the drawings, stuffing them back into the tube. “Unfortunately, I need to be going. Thank you for sharing your preferences. May I return tomorrow to show you my changes? I hope you’ll be pleased with them.”

  “Of course. I look forward to your call.” Catherine watched as the slim man hurried from the room. He seemed
to already be focused on his next appointment and barely acknowledged her as he left.

  “That seems like quite a lot for Huntley to be doing all at once,” Mother said. “Between running a business, renovating two large homes, and adjusting to marriage, he won’t have much stability in his life. And just imagine all the cost.” She shot Catherine a worried glance.

  “I’m sure everything will be fine.”

  Mother gave her a chastising look. “Really, Catherine. You should know better. People will talk. Especially with an unexpected engagement. Just be careful not to say or do anything to add fuel to the fire.”

  44 - A Promise

  The next evening, Charles and Catherine made their weekly trek to Bernini’s. With the excursion to Oxford upsetting her plans last week, she hadn’t been able to make her trip to the academy, so she was anticipating the evening even more keenly than usual. Rain had passed through town a short time earlier, and now the streets were washed clear of dirt and debris. Spring was coming, and Catherine was convinced she could see small buds developing on the trees in the park near the academy. And those were daffodils popping up from the soil, surely. She was having trouble focusing on what Charles was saying as he told her about some conversation he’d had at the Ambridge Club last night.

  “And of course, someone had to mention their concerns about Huntley being a fortune hunter,” he said.

  That certainly grabbed her attention. “You’ve heard the rumors, too?” Catherine asked.

  “Of course.” He glanced around and lowered his voice. “You’re marrying the man, after all. You didn’t think someone would mention it to me? But there’s no need to worry. Your fiancé is financially secure. I had someone investigate both Huntley and Stansbury immediately following the ball.”

  “You what?” Catherine could only stare at her brother in disbelief.

  Charles gave her a cocky half smile. “You thought I was just a pretty face? All looks and no substance?”

  Catherine reached out to try to poke him in the ribs, but he leaned away in his saddle, which caused his horse to veer away, and he easily avoided her jab.

  “When I did a little investigating, I discovered that whereas Huntley is financially sound, Stansbury’s situation is abysmal.”

  “Really? Stansbury is doing that badly?” She thought a moment and then nodded. “I shouldn’t be surprised. He did try to resort to blackmail. He must have been desperate.” A sprinkling of rain began to fall, and Catherine pulled her hat more firmly over her brow.

  “Another interesting thing. The only people who mentioned Huntley’s insolvency were ones who never had any business dealings with him.” Charles’s hat had a narrow brim, and his cheek gleamed in the streetlights from the droplets of rain. “Unfortunately, that tends to be the majority of the ton. Everyone who ever dealt with him in business spoke of him in the most glowing of terms. They scoffed at the rumors that he was low on cash. He’s amassed quite a bit of wealth over the past few years.” He glanced at Catherine, brushing some of the moisture from his face. “I checked, and I have yet to come across a single one of his investments that failed to turn a profit. He is either extremely lucky or extremely talented, and you know I’m not much of a believer in luck. Most good luck comes from hard work and a positive attitude.”

  “Then why do you think this rumor is circulating?”

  For a moment, all she heard were the soft sounds of rain and the clattering of horse hooves hitting the cobblestones. “I’ve been thinking about that. At first I thought it might be a business rival, but the rumor is so obviously false that anyone with any acumen would never have concocted it. It must either be someone who is jealous of his success or someone who sees him as a rival and wants to diminish him in the eyes of society.”

  Catherine rolled the possibilities around in her head. Lord Larchmont seemed the obvious choice. She immediately dismissed Stansbury. He’d been much too intimidated by Daniel’s threats at the Norfolk Ball. Charles made a good point that it might be someone who saw him as a rival. Unfortunately, she didn’t know enough about his business to hazard a guess as to whom it might be.

  As they entered the main fencing salon a few minutes later, Catherine took a deep breath. She hardly noticed the musty odor of the building after so many years, but she’d know she was in Bernini’s even if she were blindfolded.

  As Catherine took her place opposite Charles to practice, she glanced around the room, surreptitiously searching for Daniel.

  He was nowhere in sight.

  She was disappointed, but she shook off the feeling as she slipped her fencing mask into place.

  “En garde,” Charles reminded her.

  She smiled to herself. He took his role as older brother so seriously. “Drills?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  “Lunge, counterattack?”

  “Actually, I’d like to try something different,” he said. Catherine thought she saw a crafty smile flicker across his face, but she couldn’t be sure. “The last time I came here without you, we were working on ‘disruption beats,’” he explained. “The idea is to establish a pattern of defense in order to lull your opponent into assuming that you will continue to use that same defense in that same pattern. Then you alter the force of the beats, thereby disrupting your opponent’s defense. Understand?”

  “I’m not sure, but I like the sound of it,” Catherine said, intrigued. “Step me through it.”

  “For this drill, one partner needs to perform an advance-attack,” he said, specifying a move in which a fencer would move forward, advancing toward his opponent, while initiating the attack. The move quickly closed the distance between the opponents.

  “The defender then beats back the attack,” Charles continued, referring to a move in which he would hit the side of the opponent’s foil, causing the tip of the foil to be pushed to one side. It could be used in many different situations in fencing, but here, it would cause the tip of the opponent’s thrust to miss the target. “You take the role of the attacker, and perform an advance-attack repeatedly for this drill, and I’ll beat your foil to one side each time.”

  At her nod, he said, “Then, I’ll execute the move we practiced here at Bernini’s last week to score a point against you.” He gave her a wicked grin.

  She cocked her eyebrow at him, and bending her knees, she dropped into the en garde position. Charles followed suit, and Catherine immediately launched into an advance-attack, rapidly closing the distance between them. Charles immediately hit the side of her foil hard, in a beat, throwing the tip of her foil away and causing her to miss her mark as he retreated to keep distance between them. She immediately moved forward in another advance-attack, and Charles repeated the hard beat against her foil, knocking it aside as he retreated. They repeated the same set of moves a third time, with the same result.

  As Catherine moved in for a fourth advance-attack, she tensed her arm, preparing for the hard beat against her foil. Since Charles had explained the technique, she half-anticipated him to use it at any moment, but she was still surprised when, rather than hitting her foil with a hard beat to the side, Charles instead feinted high to the inside. She parried with an overly strong move, since her arm was tensed in preparation for the expected hard beat, and Charles slipped inside, scoring a point.

  They both stepped back, and Charles pulled off his face mask, grinning. “Like it?”

  “That was splendid. You lulled me into a rhythm and then changed it, using my own reactions against me.” She grinned back at him through her mask. “I’ll have to remember that.”

  Charles slid his face mask back on. “Let’s run through it a couple more times, and then we can switch roles.”

  They faced off again, repeating the same drill. This time, as Catherine braced her arm for the anticipated beat against her foil, Charles paused. “There. That’s how I knew to try the feint. Your arm is tensed because you thought I would respond to your attack the same way I did before.”

  She relax
ed her arm. “You’re observant.”

  “I knew what to look for.”

  They switched roles so that Charles performed the advance-attack, and Catherine saw that she could easily see when Charles tensed his muscles. She had been reading every opponent’s body language this way for years, so she quickly scored a point against her brother.

  Just as she had the last time she was at Bernini’s, Catherine kept checking the entrance as other fencers arrived, but Daniel didn’t make an appearance. Tonight felt like a counterpoint to the time when she’d come here alone. On that night, although she’d wanted to see Daniel, she’d hoped he wouldn’t come, but tonight the thought of seeing him sent a thrill through her.

  As the evening progressed, Catherine ran more drills with other partners. Despite the fact that Daniel wasn’t there, she thoroughly enjoyed herself. But even so, she couldn’t stop looking for him. After an hour or so, she noticed Charles was standing alone and made a point to walk past him. She paused next to him long enough to ask, “Are you certain you sent him a message?”

  “Of course,” he replied, knowing exactly what she meant. “I already told you.”

  Finally, her final sparring match of the evening was upon her, and she turned all of her attention toward defeating her opponent. She moved through the match expertly, sliding her foil inside her partner’s defenses with deceptive ease.

  At the end of the match, Bernini slapped her on the back. “Eccellente, il mio ragazzo,” he declared proudly. “You’ll be primed and ready for the tournament. It’s just a little over a week away.”

  And her wedding was just days away. Those two critical events were hurtling toward her. With a murmur of thanks, she turned to leave. She pulled off her fencing mask and slipped it under her arm as she looked around the room for Charles. She caught sight of him at the entrance, deep in conversation.

  She lingered toward the back of the room while she waited for him to finish, being careful not to eavesdrop. As much as she had looked forward to being here this evening, she was exhausted. She hadn’t been sleeping well, and the combination of excitement and physical activity had used up the last of her reserves.