by Lisa Cooke
Katie wanted to trip her, but doing such a thing on the way to the Lord’s house was probably a sin…at least on Sunday. So she controlled her urge as they walked to church, wondering whether a Monday tripping was as sinful.
“Oh,” Caroline said, just when Katie thought she’d finally run out of words, “Ambassador Bashear sent his greetings. You remember the ambassador, don’t you?”
John uttered a response, but Katie didn’t hear what he said because Randy stepped beside her at the church steps. “Mornin’, Katie,” he said, smiling that smile of his and adding his ever-charming wink.
Katie’s return greeting was cut short when Caroline tripped on the porch steps and fell into Randy’s arms. Maybe the Lord had no trouble with a Sunday tripping after all.
“Oh my,” Caroline uttered, pulling herself from Randy’s arms. She blushed brightly, adjusting her hat.
“Are you all right, ma’am?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you.”
“Caroline,” John said, “this is Randy Kopp. One of Katie’s fiancés.”
“Pleased to meet you, Miss…?”
“Humboldt,” John supplied for Randy.
“Miss Humboldt,” Randy said with a wink, and Caroline actually gasped in response. Not that Katie could blame her. Randy’s first winks were always stunners.
Caroline lifted her chin and looked at Randy as though he were something she’d scrape off her shoe and then with a quick nod, she stepped past him into the tiny sanctuary of the church. Randy had definitely rattled her, though. In her flustered state, she’d left John and Katie together as she hurried down the aisle. Within a few feet, she stopped abruptly and spun back to face them.
“Where you would like to sit?” she asked, smiling at John, ignoring Katie.
He gestured toward one of the pews in the front, then guided Katie into the seat and sat beside her, leaving a place for Caroline next to him.
Julia wiggled around to sit on the other side of Katie, making sure to put as much distance as possible between her and her aunt. Caroline sat with her nose in the air and a look of sheer boredom on her perfectly schooled face. An air of total superiority hovered about her.
A quick hymn and a few announcements later, Reverend Stoker took the pulpit.
“Brothers and sisters,” he said with jowls shaking, “we need to begin this service with a prayer.”
After a prayer that lasted far too long and a hymn that was unrecognizable, the minister began his sermon. He went on and on about who shall sit on the throne of heaven, and then he slammed his fist on the pulpit to bring home his point. The consequence of which was beyond shocking.
John chewed on his lip in an effort to maintain his composure. Reverend Stoker should know better than to attempt to put the words “shall” and “sit” together in the same sentence. The first two times he’d gotten away with it, but the entanglement of the words in his third endeavor stunned the congregation into silence. Even Stoker turned red.
Caroline gasped, her pallor indicating she might actually swoon. John covered his grin with his hand, daring a glance at Katie only to see her sitting stoically and unaffected. The woman had an innate class that seemed to carry her through any situation with ease. Caroline could take lessons from Katie, though it wasn’t her fault. She’d been raised in a sheltered cocoon and hadn’t been given the opportunities to develop the strength Katie had.
Luckily for him, Katie had shared her strength. He owed her for that. Suddenly an idea popped into his head. It might not make up for the egregious liberties he’d taken with her, but it could be a start. He waited as patiently as possible for the service to end, and for their walk back home.
“Your birthday is in eleven days,” he said to Katie once Caroline took a pause in her chatting long enough for him to change the subject.
“Yes,” Katie said, clearly wondering what he was going to say.
“I’d like to throw you a party.”
“A party?” Katie stopped walking and looked up at him as though he’d lost his mind. And maybe he had, but the more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him.
“As a thank-you for all you’ve done for me and Julia.”
Slowly, she began walking again. “You don’t owe me anything. You pay me well, remember?”
Why did that remark sound painful? “I could never pay you enough for what you’ve done for us. Wouldn’t you enjoy a party?”
“I suppose,” she muttered, avoiding eye contact.
“Of course you would, Katie dear,” Caroline said. “It’s a delightful idea, and would be a perfect opportunity to announce your engagement to all your friends.”
John’s gut knotted. “I don’t think she’s quite ready for that step. Are you, Katie?”
Katie wasn’t even sure she was ready for the next step down the road. Why did John suddenly sound panicked at the thought of her announcing her engagement? Was he just afraid of losing his housekeeper, or was something else on his mind?
She’d love to ask him, but Caroline dear made it difficult to ask him anything. She was already rambling on about how the parlor could be emptied for dancing, and all the food they could serve, half of which Katie had never heard of, and then she focused on the engagement.
“It would be such a wonderful end to the evening. Just imagine, all your friends would be in attendance to share in your good news and excitement.”
Chatter, chatter, chatter. Ramble, ramble, ramble. By the time they finally reached the house, Katie thought her head might burst. She hurried into the kitchen to fix Sunday dinner and managed to keep herself busy and away from Caroline for the rest of the day, thinking that in so doing, she could avoid the topic of her engagement. She was wrong.
“Katie?” Caroline knocked lightly on Katie’s door, just as she was getting ready for bed. She wrapped a quilt around her nightgown and opened the door.
“May I come in and speak with you?”
Katie would rather have a beating, but Caroline didn’t give her the option. “Of course.”
Caroline sashayed into the room wearing an ivory satin dressing gown, her hair loose and flowing down her back in glossy waves. “I thought we could have a chat.”
Katie pulled her quilt closer around her faded cotton nightgown and motioned to the bed, where Caroline continued her sashay across the room to sit on the edge. “I was wondering which fiancé you’ve selected. I promise I won’t tell.”
Katie chose to sit on her lone wooden chair to face Caroline dear. Her ivory satin didn’t leave much room on the cot for another to sit. “I haven’t really decided yet,” Katie said.
“Haven’t decided? You don’t have much time to waste.”
“I don’t have to announce at the party.”
“Yes, you do.” Caroline’s tone developed a slightly caustic edge before she plastered on a smile and giggled. “Oh, listen to me! I just don’t want you to miss this perfect opportunity for an engagement party.”
“I thought it was a birthday party.”
Caroline chose to ignore that reminder. “Now, I’ve only met two of your fiancés, Mr. Crowley and the young man at church today. What was his name?”
“Randy Kopp.”
“Oh yes,” Caroline said, but the pink tint to her cheeks led Katie to believe she remembered Randy’s name just fine.
“Is your other fiancé as handsome as Mr. Kopp?”
“No.”
“Well then, that’s the answer to your problem.” For some reason Caroline seemed pleased as punch with her solution. She stood and headed to the door as though all Katie’s issues were resolved.
“But there are other things a woman must consider when choosing a husband,” Katie said, wondering why she bothered to tell Caroline anything.
Caroline turned back to face her and smiled. “Wealth is important, but I doubt any of them have much of that to speak of, and what woman wouldn’t want a man as handsome as your Mr. Kopp?”
Caroline left Katie wondering
if Grandma had acquired a new partner, but decided against it. Randy didn’t need help turning a woman’s head, regardless of her station in life, it seemed.
“John?” Caroline said from the other side of his door.
“One moment.” Grabbing his dressing gown, he headed across the room and opened the door. “Is something wrong?”
Stepping into the light from his room, she turned to allow him full view of her dressing gown, complete with an astonishingly low-cut neckline, and then smiled. “Nothing’s wrong. I just have some wonderful news. May I come in?”
His gaze raked across her breasts before he jerked his attention back to her face. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her in something this revealing. “I don’t think that would be proper.”
Laughing lightly, she laid her hand against his arm. “It probably isn’t, but I just can’t wait until tomorrow to tell you. Besides, Katie is just down the hall.”
Without giving him a chance to protest, she slipped past him into his room. Gliding to his bed, she sat on the edge, and if he didn’t know better, he’d swear she posed.
He pulled his dressing gown closed and opened the door to its widest before taking a chair across the room. Caroline had something up her sleeve, and he shuddered to think what.
“What is this news?” he asked.
“Katie has finally selected her husband.”
She beamed as though she actually cared about Katie, then folded her hands in front of her in a manner that caused her arms to shove her breasts up even more.
“Who?” he asked, with a sinking stomach.
“Randy Kopp.”
That hothead? “What makes you think so?”
“She told me, but don’t tell her I said so. I promised to keep her secret, but I knew you were dying to know.” She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and leaned slightly toward him. “She decided to marry the most handsome one. Shocking, I know, but I suppose she felt that was the most important thing.”
How could Katie decide such a thing? Randy? He was handsome, but John doubted he could outthink a pig. He shook his head in disbelief.
“I can’t believe you’re surprised,” Caroline said, and for a moment he’d forgotten she was in the room. “She said she wanted to marry him because he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen, and with all those muscles…” The way her voice trailed off, John wondered if Caroline wasn’t considering the option herself.
She sighed as she walked across the room to kneel by his side. “I’m sorry, John. I know you thought highly of her, but a handsome man can turn even the most levelheaded woman to mush, sometimes. Someone with her breeding can’t be expected to behave otherwise.”
Looking down at her as she sat by his side, he felt his mind whirling. He’d known all along Katie was going to select a husband from her list, but hearing the decision had been made rattled him to his core. Standing, he offered his hand to help Caroline to her feet.
“Thank you for telling me,” he said as he walked her to the door, closing it softly behind her. As much as he hated to admit it, Katie had the right to make this decision, unsettling as it was.
And he had the right to convince her otherwise.
Chapter Twenty-three
Maybe her new dress wasn’t as fancy as Caroline’s, but it was the prettiest Katie had ever owned. The deep green fabric had cost her plenty, and the hours spent working on it had left her tired, but the image staring back at Katie from the mirror made it all worthwhile. A real party dress, complete with lace and a daring neckline, lifted Katie’s spirits higher than they’d been since Caroline arrived.
A quick pinch to her cheeks added color, and the curls around her face gave a soft touch, which pleased her. She smiled and took a calming breath, readying herself to leave her room to attend her party. Her party. She’d never had one of those before and just the thought of it made her giddy.
“Katie?” John called to her from outside her door.
She hurried to answer it, and her breath caught in her throat. He always looked handsome, but tonight he had outdone himself. His suit fit him like a glove, accentuating his strong physique, and the dark fabric of his jacket made his eyes almost glow. A whiff of bay rum tickled her senses and a smile curved the corner of his mouth. Suddenly she had images of his mouth on her body. Merciful heavens.
She swallowed. “Good evening.”
John fought to remember why he had come to Katie’s room. The vision standing before him knocked all thoughts from his head and half the wind from his body. Damn, she was beautiful. Where did she get that gown? The deep emerald color brought out her eyes, and the neckline brought out other things.
His eyes traveled quickly to her breasts, swelling above the neckline, before he forced them back to her face. Damn it if other things weren’t swelling now.
“Did you want something?” she asked.
Of course he did, but what? Then he remembered his gift. “Yes, I wanted to give you your birthday gift before the other guests arrived.”
“Oh.” She smiled, her eyes sparkling even more. And he felt it throughout his entire body. Then she raised a brow, hidden slightly by a curl, and he realized he’d been staring at her like a nitwit.
“Here.” He thrust his package at her, wondering how a man with his education and experience could be flummoxed by a mere brow.
She accepted his gift and walked to her bed to sit and open it. Hesitating for a moment, he followed her into the room, but took the chair across from her. His body was at a borderline mutiny, and he didn’t trust himself to sit beside her just yet.
A tiny gasp brought his mind back from its lecherous thoughts to the beautiful woman who’d caused them. “Do you like them?” he asked.
Katie pulled the new boots from the wrapping paper and looked up at John with tears in her eyes. “I can’t accept these.”
“Why? Are they the wrong size?”
She shook her head. “They’re too expensive.”
“They weren’t expensive at all,” he lied. The boot maker in New York had charged him an arm and a leg to finish and ship the boots before Katie’s party. Luckily, he had an extra arm and leg. “Besides, they’re from Julia.” Another lie, but he knew she wouldn’t refuse a gift from Julia, and he couldn’t bear the thought of her walking through the snow in her old boots.
The look in Katie’s eye told him she didn’t fall for his story, but she was grateful for it just the same. She could keep them if they were from Julia. “I’ll be sure to thank her.”
“Do you need help putting them on?”
She blushed, and he realized what a ridiculous question he’d asked. It wasn’t his fault, though. All his blood had left his brain and pooled somewhere in his groin.
“I think I can manage.”
He smiled. “You probably can.”
Then she returned the smile, and he wished the rest of the world would go away. “I’ll see you downstairs, then,” he said, backing toward the hallway in an attempt to look debonair. It would have been more effective, however, if he hadn’t bumped into the door on his way out.
Katie’s soft laughter followed him into the hallway, but the warm feeling it gave him stopped abruptly when Caroline intercepted him at the top of the stairs.
“How lovely of you to escort me down to the party.”
Was that what he’d done? “My pleasure,” he said, adding to his recent list of lies. Though he probably wasn’t being fair to Caroline. She was guilty of nothing more than not being Katie and that wasn’t her fault, just her misfortune.
“Do you like my gown?”
Oops. John glanced at her obviously expensive, obviously French gown and smiled. “It’s lovely.” And he supposed it was.
By the time they reached the foot of the steps, the voices of several guests mingled in the air. Rebecca Fisher had been the first to arrive and had volunteered to greet guests so John could take Katie her gift. In his brief absence, many had come, all chatting and laughing as they ambled
to the parlor.
Katie’s family was there, all siding with their pick of her fiancés. Frank Davis, Reverend Stoker, Gloria Pennington, to name a few, were already examining the foods on the buffet table fixed by the cooks John had hired from Huntington.
The laughter and friendliness of the guests brought a smile to John’s lips, but Caroline’s grip on his arm tightened.
“Have you ever seen a bigger collection of hoydens in your life?” she whispered, looking up at him as though they shared a common bond. She tipped her head toward Rebecca. “Look at that dress. I wouldn’t be caught dead in it.”
John glanced at Rebecca and thought she looked remarkably well for a woman who’d just given birth to her fourth child a few weeks before. Her dress was plain but clean, and her face glowed with excitement. Actually, in many ways she was more attractive than Caroline.
But he couldn’t tell her that so he said, “These people have no need for fancy gowns.”
“Doc!” One of the men who’d helped at the barn raising smacked John on the shoulder before Caroline had a chance to respond to his comment. “This here’s a real nice thing you done for Katie.”
“She deserves it,” John said, wishing he could remember the man’s name. Luckily, Caroline had wandered off, and he didn’t have to introduce them.
“She does indeed,” he answered. “Ain’t no woman finer than Katie.” Suddenly the man looked past John’s shoulder toward the hall and let out a low whistle. “Speak of the devil.”
John turned to see Katie standing in the doorway. And for the second time that evening, she took his breath away. Unfortunately, she had the same effect on Randy, Harold, and Freddie. All three made a mad dash to her side, each vying for her attention like lovesick fools. He eyed the crowd for a second to determine if there was room for one more fool before Julia’s tug on his sleeve diverted his attention.
“Daddy? Have you seen Harvey?”
“Harvey?”
“My kitten,” she answered, bending over to look under the buffet table.