The Engagement - Regency Brides 02

by Kimberley Comeaux

  Thomas agreed. "Yes, do sit down, darling." He gently moved her aside, ignoring her protest. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you," he told the angry man drolly, determined he was not going to reciprocate his fury.

  "Save your niceties," Cameron growled, taking a menacing step closer. "Let's settle this like gentleman, shall we? Pistols.

  At dawn."

  Thomas almost laughed at the absurdity of the challenge.

  Lord Sherbrooke was a young man, probably a couple of years older than Katherine's twenty, and still had much to learn about how a true gentleman conducted himself But he held on to his bemused mirth and was careful not even to smile, lest he humiliate the brother of his future wife. As it was, he wished he could give the young whelp a good lashing for his impudence.

  "Sherbrooke, may I ask just what offense I have committed against you or any member of your family?"

  Cameron's clenched jaw jerked with annoyance. "I offered you a challenge, Thornton. Will you or will you not accept it?"

  he demanded, ignoring Thomas's question.

  Thomas folded his arms and gave the young man a narrow eyed stare. "Not until you tell me what I need to know."

  "Because your family has caused great harm to my sister's reputation!" he roared, his face a picture of incredulity that he'd have to explain such an obvious reason.

  Thomas shook his head and turned from Cameron, walking across the room to motion for the maid, who was standing with uncertainty at the door, to bring in the tray bearing the pots of tea and coffee.

  Once she'd set it down and exited the room, Thomas picked up a cup and saucer. "Would you like tea, Sherbrooke? Or do you prefer coffee as Katherine does?"

  Cameron appeared as though he would explode any minute.

  "Tea? Have you not heard a word I've been saying or"-he stopped, and a sneer spread across his face--"or are you too much of a coward to face me on the field?"

  This time Thomas did laugh; he couldn't help it.

  "Sherbrooke, let me make a few things straight with you," he said, pouring Katherine a cup of coffee. "First of all, I am not the one who hurt or brought shame upon your sister. And, second of all, I am not about to maim or kill my future wife's only brother." He winked at a worried Katherine. "Bad way to begin a marriage, don't you think?"

  "How dare you laugh at me!" Sherbrooke charged, shaking a finger at Thomas. "I am sincere in my challenge, and though you did nothing directly, I declare you are just as responsible since you did nothing to stop your brother from doing the deed!"

  This time it was Katherine who spoke up. "Cameron, Thomas had just enlisted in the Royal Navy at the time and was preparing for sea." She walked over to him. "Please say no more, Brother. This is none of your concern."

  Cameron suddenly turned his rage on Katherine. "What is wrong with you, Kate? Have you no standards at all? Did you not learn your lesson the first time?"

  Thomas lost his humor when grabbed Katherine's arm. He put down the cup and went to take Katherine's other arm. "I've had enough, Sherbrooke. We'd like your blessing, but we don't need it. Your father has given his consent, and that is all we need to get married. Now let go of her arm," he ordered the man, his voice quiet but deadly.

  Sherbrooke was young but apparently not stupid. Resentfully, he took his hand away and stepped back. "So you will not meet me at dawn?" he persisted.

  Thomas sighed, trying to maintain his patience. "Of course not."

  "Then let it be publicly known to you I protest this union and will never accept it!" he stated emphatically.

  "Cameron!" Katherine cried. "Please, do not say such things!"

  But her brother's expression did not soften as he looked from one to the other, then turned and stalked out of the room.

  "I'm so sorry, Thomas," Katherine told him. "He's usually a mild-mannered gentleman. I can't understand why he won't see reason."

  Thomas put his arms around her shoulders and kissed the side of her head affectionately. "I am not worried, Katherine. I just do not want you upset about it."

  She looked up at him with such feeling that it caused Thomas's chest to constrict with emotion. "I am not going to let anything ruin our wedding day, Thomas. Not even my hotheaded brother."

  Thomas smiled, and though he truly wanted to kiss her, he restrained himself, knowing that in two days she'd be his to kiss and hold whenever they desired. He took her hand instead and led her back to the settee. He handed her the coffee he'd poured earlier, then made himself a cup.

  They chatted about the changes they'd made to the house, then he remembered the visit her father had paid him.

  "Katherine, I had the strangest visit from your father yesterday.

  Did you know he was here?"

  He saw the surprised expression on his fiancéeʼs face. "No, I did not. What was it about?"

  Thomas took a sip of his steaming coffee and leaned forward.

  "He kept asking me if everything was right between you and me and if I had anything to confess to him before we married. Do you know if anyone has said anything to him anything at all to make him doubt my sincerity to marry you?"

  Katherine willed herself not to panic upon hearing of the reason behind her father's visit. Theodora. It had to be Theodora's doing.

  She forced a smile, trying to make him think nothing was wrong. "He is just protective of me, Thomas. You know how fathers are," she equivocated.

  Thomas nodded, and a sad smile curved his lips. "Yes, I do know. I'm just sad to think my father couldn't be here for the wedding. He always liked you, you know."

  Katherine smiled, thankful the subject had been changed.

  "Why don't you tell me about your father?" she urged him, honestly wanting to know more about the man who sired such a wonderful son.

  After that, she didn't stay at Rosehaven much longer.

  A half hour later, she and Lucy were in her carriage going home. Her main mission was to find Theodora and confront her with her suspicions. Had Theodora spoken to her father?

  There could be no other explanation.

  "Of course I'm the one who has been talking with your father," Theodora admitted without the least compunction when Katherine questioned her. "I tried to talk to your mother also, but we both know she hears only what she wants to and blocks out all the rest."

  "Dora, making Papa worried is not going to help-" she tried to reason, but Theodora cut her short.

  "I am doing what we had decided you would do, Cousin dear!" she charged with a sharpness to her tone Katherine did not like. "Putting doubts in your parents' heads about him will help your explanation when you run away from the wedding!

  You know this; yet you are doing nothing about it!"

  Katherine wearily put her hand to her head, trying to decide what to say and what to do. "Dora, I know we agreed to this, but you must know how busy I've been at Rosehaven."

  Theodora made a disbelieving sniffing noise. "That is another one of my concerns, Kate. Either you seem to be playing your part as the loving fiancée so well as to rival any of the actresses on the London stage, or you are beginning to believe the lie. Please, tell me you haven't forgotten our objective!"

  Katherine turned from her cousin so she could not see the truth written on her face and walked over to peer out the window. Pushing the lace sheers aside, she muttered, "I don't know what you mean."

  She waited for a few long, unbearable moments for her cousin to respond and at the same time dreaded her speaking.

  "You have changed your mind, haven't you?" Theodora said softly, her voice filled with disbelief. "Answer me, Kate! Have you changed your mind?"

  Katherine could keep up the charade no longer. Since she'd come to the conclusion she loved Thomas and had made her peace with God, she had gone to great lengths to avoid Theodora; the few times they'd talked, she would say very little.

  It was time for this whole despicable plan of revenge to come to an end.

  She turned slowly and looked the older wom
an directly in her eyes. "Yes, Dora. I have changed my mind. I'm in love with Thomas and want to marry him."

  Theodora began to laugh but not with happiness. It was a crazed sort of laugh that sent chills down Katherine's spine.

  "You have changed your mind, just like that, eh?" she said in a shrill voice and snapped her fingers for emphasis. ' And you thought I would sit back and let you?"

  Katherine froze. Was her cousin a little mad? She'd known Theodora had been emphatic and oddly possessed as they planned the revenge upon the Thornton family, but she had not considered her obsession was unnatural.

  She wondered again why this mattered so much to Theodora.

  Katherine took a breath, then licked her lips nervously.

  "What do you mean by that, Dora? Are you planning to tell Thomas about our plan? I plan to tell him anyway, so your threats won't work!"

  Theodora smirked, her plain face becoming ugly. "I'll do whatever I have to do, Kate. Remember that." She walked closer, and Katherine tried to back up but realized with the window behind her, she had no way to escape her cousin. "I will not let you marry him," she growled no more than an inch from Katherine's face. .

  "You are scaring me, Dora." She tried to keep her voice steady and not show the fear churning inside her.

  Theodora surprised her by backing up a little and smiling pleasantly. "Don't be a ninny, Kate. I was just teasing you," she explained as if nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred.

  But Katherine wasn't fooled by her words or seeming innocence.

  Theodora Vine was not the teasing sort. All Katherine wanted to do was get away from her, so she pretended to accept her explanation. "Of course you were." She carefully walked around her cousin and opened the door. "I've had a tiring day, Dora-if you don't mind leaving so I can wash up and possibly nap before dinner."

  Her cousin smiled at her, but her eyes were hard and cold like ice as she nodded and walked to the door. "Don't worry, Kate. All will be as it should," she said cryptically as she left the room.

  Katherine closed the door and leaned against it, her mind racing as to what to do. Part of her wanted to go to Thomas right away and tell him the truth-the plan of revenge, her change of heart--everything.

  But another part of her was afraid that if she did tell him, he'd call off the wedding and walk out of her life forever.

  Closing her eyes, she prayed, "Please, Lord, guide me in the way I should proceed. I do not want to lose Thomas, not after You have helped me overcome my bitterness and unforgiveness.

  Help me know what to do--"

  A knock sounded at her door, startling her, for she thought it might be Theodora again. "Yes?" she called.

  "It's me," Lucy answered from the other side.

  Katherine sighed, not wanting to deal with her sister at that moment. "Lucy, I was about to take a nap. Can you come back later?"

  "Not unless you want me to tell Mama about the plan," she said in a loud whisper.

  Her eyes wide with shock, Katherine threw open the door and dragged her sister inside. "What do you know about that?" she charged.

  Lucy shrugged off Katherine's hold on her arm and walked to the bed, plopping down upon it. "I was listening at the door," she explained as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

  "You little scamp!" Katherine roared. "Can I not have any privacy?"

  "Not until you move out," Lucy answered. "If you move out, that is," she added, her voice mysteriously low.

  Katherine shook her head, wondering what her sister would do with the information she had. "Lucy, if you overheard, then you must have heard me tell Dora I will not go through with our plan of revenge. I truly want to marry Thomas."

  "It was a stupid plan to begin with," she said critically. "I can't believe you conspired to do anything with Theodora anyway. Can't you tell she doesn't like you?"

  Katherine had begun to realize this but was surprised to hear Lucy state it with such conviction. "How do you know this?"

  "She resents coming to live here with our family and being the equivalent of a servant." Lucy paused. Katherine waited for her to explain how she would know this. "I heard her tell that to Aunt Constance when she visited last Christmas. Of course our aunt chastised her for speaking so forthrightly, but I heard it all the same."

  Katherine sat on the bed next to her sister, her mind trying to think back on all the times she and Theodora had spent together. On hindsight, she could recall times when Theodora's behavior could be interpreted as resentful. "I guess I never realized-"

  "You were too busy feeling sorry for yourself," Lucy supplied.

  "Are you here to make me feel guilty?" Katherine frowned at Lucy.

  The younger girl shook her head. "I'm here to make sure you marry Thomas and not jilt him at the altar."

  “Of course I am marrying Thomas. I love him."

  Lucy smiled brightly and jumped off the bed. "That is all I wanted to know because I thought it would be quite fun to come and stay with you at Rosehaven in the summer and on holidays!"

  Katherine stared at her sister in bemusement. "Behave yourself and keep your mouth shut or you will never get to come!" she threatened with a reprimanding expression.

  Her sister, apparently not bothered by the stern warning in the least, merely grinned at Katherine and skipped out of the room.

  "Brat," Katherine muttered, thinking her sister was out of earshot.

  "I heard that!" came her sister's reply as she poked her head back inside the room with a pouty pucker on her lips.

  "Good!" Katherine said before closing the door firmly in Lucy's face.

  ~

  After the meeting with Katherine's father and the confrontation with her brother, Thomas knew he needed to get away from Rosehaven and go to Malbury, where the Kenswick estate was located, to talk with his brother. It wasn't that he doubted Katherine's feelings for him again. On the contrary, when she left his home earlier, he felt the affection she had for him, although she did seem concerned about her father's visit.

  No, it was that the whole engagement and even before had been riddled with misgivings and reservations-things that shouldn't normally be part of a relationship.

  Every day he prayed he could be the father Tyler needed and the husband Katherine desired and most of all that the little worries and uncertainties would not plague their union as they did now. He knew God had put Katherine in his life.

  Only God could know what kind of woman both he and Ty needed.

  It was just that ... Thomas dropped his head into his hands and groaned, so very weary of trying to reason-it all out.

  Finally he could feel the carriage slowing, so he peered out of the small window to determine where they were. It was now dark, but because of the full moon, he could see the majestic site of Kenswick Hall, high upon the hill. He'd spent the majority of his childhood in the old hall, and it never ceased to bring him comfort whenever he would visit.

  Because of the late hour, Pierce, the family butler who had been there since Thomas was in his teens, seemed quite put out at having to get out of bed to answer the door. Thomas could tell his clothes had been hastily thrown on, for his shirt was buttoned all wrong and half his thinning hair was standing on end.

  "Pierce!" he greeted him. "Sorry to wake you, old man, but I had this need to come to Kenswick, and it just happened to be at a late hour."

  Pierce was in no mood, obviously, to act as though he were thrilled. "Could the 'need' not have waited until morning, sir?" he asked grimly.

  Thomas laughed, feeling better already. "Is my brother in bed yet?"

  Pierce shook his head. "No, sir. I noticed they were still in the library on my way to answer the door."

  Thomas shook his head with mock disapproval. "It wouldn't hurt him to answer his own door once in a while."

  "Beg your pardon, sir," he returned stiffly. "He is the Earl of Kenswick! He will not open his own doors-not on my watch."

  Thomas laughed. "Go back to bed, Pierce. I'll see
myself in." He stepped over the threshold onto the marble floor of the foyer.

  He glanced back and noticed Pierce still held the door open and was looking out into the night.

  "What are you waiting for, Pierce?"

  Pierce turned his way. "I was thinking perhaps you brought Master Tyler with you, sir."

  Thomas shook his head with regret. "I'm sorry, Pierce, but I left him at home with Mrs. Sanborne. It was to be such a quick trip that I didn't want to unsettle him by the hour-long carriage ride." ,

  Pierce had such a disappointed look on his long, thin face that Thomas wished he'd brought his son. Nicholas had told him stories about how the butler, as well as many of the staff, had all pitched in to care for the infant when he had first been brought to Kenswick Hall.