His mind began to toy with the idea that perhaps Percy could be bought. Or rather, that Katherine could be bought from Percy. Sarah, too. Would he actually trade a child and a new wife for money? He wouldn’t trade all of his money, as he would need enough to take Katherine and Sarah away. Over a period of two or three days, he slipped several bags of money out of its hiding place in his room and took them to a secret place. He was fairly sure that he was the only human who ever went there.
He had discovered a small cave just off Loneshire property when he was just a boy. No one owned that area that bordered his father’s estate. A creek ran nearby and an outcropping of rock above the creek bank formed a shallow cave. Bushes grew in front of it, concealing it from the sight of anyone who might wander by.
When he left the house, he used a circuitous route to make his way to the creek. He occasionally looked behind him to be certain no one was following or watching him. When he reached the cave with the first two bags of money, he used a small spade that he had carried there years ago to dig a hole as far back in the cave as he could fit his large frame. He repeated this activity several times, each time traveling a different direction to the cave.
When he felt that he had hidden enough money, he tamped the earth down and then used a small tree branch to erase his footprints down to the creek’s edge; then he waded in the water for about a hundred yards before stepping on dry land again. He stopped to put on his boots that he had taken off before wading. He didn’t want anyone to wonder why he was wearing wet boots back at the house.
Chapter 10
Katherine’s wedding day dawned gray and drizzly. Her heart felt as dreary as the weather looked. All of the interactions she had experienced with Percy that past week had failed to arouse any feelings of love for the man. Indeed, she really didn’t even like him, much less love him. But it was her parents’ wish that she marry a wealthy man who could care for her financially, even if not with love. And, who knew—perhaps they might one day grow to love one another just as her mother and father had.
Emma helped her bathe and dress that morning after she had eaten a meager breakfast. She didn’t have an appetite that morning. The ceremony was to take place at noon. The guests would begin arriving at eleven o’clock, but she would not be playing hostess this morning. Susanna would show the guests into the drawing room where Oliver would entertain them until it was time to assemble in the chapel.
Percy was being similarly pampered in his room by his valet, Reginald. He would meet his guests in the drawing room at five minutes of twelve and lead the small procession to the foot of the grand staircase. Katherine would be ready to descend said staircase at the precise moment that Percy appeared at the bottom. Then she would descend, take Percy’s arm, and they would walk to the end of the East wing to the chapel.
When Oliver first laid eyes on Katherine standing at the top of the staircase, he involuntarily sucked in his breath. She was stunning. Her wedding gown, made of fine white silk, was exquisite, and her fair hair was done up in the latest style—drawn up in a chignon at the nape of her neck, with curls on her forehead. A golden ribbon wrapped around the chignon cascaded down her back to the top of the gown. Other gold ribbons decorated the gown around the neckline and cuffs of the sleeves.
He looked at Percy who stood there, apparently unmoved. He doesn’t deserve this gentle woman, Oliver thought. She will be mine one day, even though Percy will have already sullied her, she will be mine.
As Katherine began her descent, she found herself looking more at Oliver than at Percy. It was fortuitous that Oliver was standing just behind Percy, so no one could tell where her eyes rested. I wish it were Oliver that I was being wed to, she thought longingly. Although not quite as dashingly handsome as his older brother, Oliver nonetheless had his own charm. And Oliver seemed to possess a much more pleasing temperament.
As she drew near, Katherine shifted her focus to Percy who, as she reached the bottom stair, offered her his arm. He bestowed upon her the first smile that she had seen since her arrival and for a moment, she thought maybe everything would turn out all right.
The ceremony was not a long affair and ended with the pair taking Holy Communion. Percy was not a religious man, but he acquiesced to protocol at his weddings. Katherine was grateful for the simple rite.
Following the ceremony, the newlyweds led the guests back down the hallway to the dining room where the servants had laid out the wedding feast. The couple was toasted over and over with wishes for good health, long lives, and many children. Then, after the men had drunk too much wine, Percy’s friends led the couple on a raucous journey from the dining room up the grand staircase to Percy’s suite of rooms. Many crude remarks colored the air as Katherine blushed and wished she were a million miles away. Oliver was the only one who hung back and refrained from participating in the bawdy jesting. Although he had taken part at the weddings of others, somehow, with Katherine as the bride, this local ritual repulsed him.
If I hear but one scream come from that bedroom, I will interfere this time. I will stop him and stop him for good, Oliver promised himself.
After the pair had entered the suite, and Percy had closed the door behind them, the rowdiness subsided and they all followed Oliver downstairs and, one by one, took their leave. After the last one had gone, Oliver went back up to the second floor and sequestered himself in the library. From there, he had been able to hear Marian’s screams. Hopefully, he would be able to hear Katherine from there, if there were screams to hear.
All was quiet that afternoon and evening. He even dared to walk the length of the hall, past Percy’s suite, in his stockinged feet, just to satisfy himself that there were no sounds of distress coming from the room. That evening, Oliver dined alone. He had hoped that Percy and Katherine would come down for dinner so he could perhaps read her face and see whether or not all was well. But Percy had previously instructed Reginald to deliver a tray of food and wine to the door, knock once to signal that it was there, and Percy would open the door and receive the tray.
It was the next morning before Oliver saw the newlyweds. They both came down to breakfast at the same time, an unusually polite gesture on Percy’s part. After breakfast, he announced that he and Katherine would take a carriage ride. The skies had cleared and the day promised to be a pleasant one. Oliver just hoped that Katherine would return with Percy. Much to his relief, just before the evening meal was to be served, they both returned.
Katherine was actually smiling when she and Percy joined Oliver in the dining room. This gave Oliver mixed feelings. On one hand, he was glad that she appeared happy and safe. On the other hand, he really wanted the slightest excuse to take her away from his brother. They passed a pleasant meal together. Percy seemed in the best mood that Oliver had seen him in for months.
Oliver hung around the mansion for a week keeping an eye on Katherine, or an ear out for her screams. But all seemed well, so he relaxed a little. Maybe she had such an effect on his brother that Percy would treat her better than he had Marian. He started leaving the house and spending more time in the stable with his horses again. There was a race coming up in a fortnight, and he wanted to be ready for it.
It took some serious adjusting on Katherine’s part to become used to being a wife. But after a month or so of wedded life, she no longer dreaded the nights that Percy would call for her. She didn’t enjoy his attentions, but she was no longer fearful, either. It was just a duty to perform and endure. Percy treated her with a modicum of cordiality that some days bordered on amiability. She knew he sported with his concubines, but because she felt no real affection for the man, it didn’t bother her as she had at first thought it might.
She was aware, however, of growing feelings for Oliver. Each time they happened to meet, whether at meals, in the library or drawing room, or in the garden, the way his eyes caressed her, gave her a warm longing that increased with time. It was one such chance meeting in the library that gave them a few moments of privacy
to talk freely.
Percy had gone into the village on business. Katherine had dismissed Emma for the morning, saying that she wished to be alone in the library to read for a while. Oliver had been out for an early morning ride on Lightning, his racehorse. He decided to relax in the library for a while, taking advantage of Percy’s absence. He was pleasantly surprised to find Katherine in there alone. He knew that protocol demanded that he leave, rather than be alone with his brother’s wife. But he rebelliously put aside protocol and entered the room, after ascertaining that none of the servants were about.
“Hello, Katherine,” he said quietly, upon entering the room.
Katherine looked up from her book with a bit of a start.
“Oh, hello, Oliver,” she replied. “Are you well?”
“Yes, I am, thank you,” he answered. “And you?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“How are you adapting to being my brother’s wife?” Oliver decided to try to draw out her feelings before laying out his plan to her.
“All right, I suppose,” she said.
“Are you happy?”
“I suppose.” Katherine looked away and out the window for a moment. “It is what Mother and Father wished for me. So it is my duty to obey them.”
“Would you come away with me?” There. He’d said it. The question that had been burning in his heart for weeks.
Katherine looked at him steadily for a long moment, considering his question.
“How?” Her question was just as direct.
“I have some money saved. We couldn’t live as luxuriously as you are accustomed to here, but I promise I would make you happy. I love you, Katherine, and I want you for my wife. We can go to the city and have your marriage to Percy dissolved. Then we will be free to marry.”
“You mustn’t stay in here with me. Someone will discover us, and Percy will be angry,” Katherine said, suddenly fearful of being found alone with her brother-in-law.
“Tell me first, and then I’ll go. Will you go with me, when the time is right?” Oliver pressed her.
Katherine stood and faced the window for just a few seconds, then turned around and said resolutely, “I will go. I love you, Oliver. It’s you I wish to be married to, not Percy. Make the plans and I will go.”
Glancing around to make certain the library door was still closed, Oliver took her hands and drew her close for a kiss. Then he turned abruptly and left the room.
Katherine stood there for a moment, stunned at this turn of events. How she would prepare to leave with Oliver she had no clue. But it would be better to leave with nothing except Oliver, than to stay with a room full of clothes and cosmetics in a loveless marriage to Percy.
She sat down again and picked up her book. She tried to read, but all she could think of was how life would be with Oliver. When Emma came to fetch her for the noon meal, she hoped that she was as composed as when Emma had left her. She didn’t want anything to give away the fact that her mind was in turmoil.
***
It was about three days later that she again unexpectedly met Oliver in the garden. They spoke briefly, as family might speak, as one of the gardeners was close by. But when the gardener moved on to another part of the lawn, Oliver stepped close enough to take Katherine’s hand and press it to his lips and whisper the word, “Soon” to her. But it turned out that it would be sooner than either expected.
That evening as they finished the evening meal, Percy ordered Katherine to follow him to his suite. He had been in a foul mood all through the meal, although neither Katherine nor Oliver had the faintest idea why. Suspicious, Oliver followed them at a discreet distance, waiting until he heard Percy slam the suite door before he tiptoed up the staircase. Turning toward the library, he stopped in the hall and listened. He could hear Percy yelling, but couldn’t make out the words. Then he heard Katherine scream, “No!” Then there was a sharp crack of something, and then she screamed again. The crack sounded again and again with louder screaming.
“Stop! Please! You’re going to kill me,” she pleaded with Percy. She was answered with another hard blow.
“How dare you take up with my brother! In my own house! I told you that you belonged to me and only me. How dare you soil yourself with my brother, my own flesh and blood!”
Katherine screamed again.
That was it. Oliver threw caution to the wind and ran to Percy’s door, hitting it so hard with his body while pulling the handle, that it flew open and slammed against the wall. He caught Percy’s hand on the upswing just before he brought a wide leather belt down on a cowering Katherine again. With his other hand he delivered a punishing blow to Percy’s midsection.
Surprised out of his wits, Percy hadn’t yet recovered from the attack before Oliver was on him beating him as mercilessly as he had been beating Katherine. Katherine saw her chance and escaped, running as quickly as she could to the safety of her own room.
Roger, the butler, was just passing the foot of the stairs when Oliver crashed into Percy’s room. He took the stairs two at a time and arrived at the top as Katherine was fleeing to her own room. By the time he gained entrance to Percy’s door, he saw Oliver giving Percy the beating of his life. Knowing it was his duty to come to his master’s rescue, Roger nonetheless held back a moment. Years of serving this man told him that Percy deserved what he was getting.
But to save Oliver from a murder charge, he finally stepped in and broke up the beating.
“Mister Oliver, take a breath, STOP,” he yelled in a panic. That brought Oliver to his senses, and he realized that had Roger not interfered, he might have killed his brother.
Percy lay on the floor, out cold, his breathing shallow.
Oliver raked his hands through his hair, shaking violently. He had never beaten anyone up in his life but his rage had been unleashed on his pompous, cold-hearted brother. “Please tend to my brother, Roger, when he wakes up.”
Oliver stood for a few more minutes watching Roger slap Percy’s cheeks and throw cold water on him. As he finally began to stir, Oliver left the room.
He went to Katherine’s room and knocked.
“Who’s there?” a shaky voice inquired.
“It’s Oliver. Open the door.”
He heard the door handle being pulled, and then the door swung open to reveal a disheveled, bloody woman. Oliver pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped the blood from Katherine’s mouth.
“I’m so sorry, Katherine,” he said. “I’m taking you into town to see the doctor…”
“No, please”, she begged. “I’m fine.” Tears formed in her eyes and rolled slowly down her cheeks. “Please go, Oliver. This is my fate. I can’t go with you.”
“You can and you will. This is it. You are not staying here with this monster. Pack a bag quickly before I go and do something to Percy I may regret later. Get Sarah ready as well.”
“Oh, Oliver, don’t beat him anymore, please. I’ll do what you say but he won’t let me leave, not alive anyway.” Katherine looked at him with pleading eyes.
“Has he… had…has he hit you before?”
Katherine averted her eyes, not speaking for a while. “Yes,” she said as she heard Oliver suck in a long breath. “But never this bad. He shook me roughly and threw me on the bed. Another time, he slapped me across the face, but he never beat me like this.” Katherine felt ashamed and would not look at Oliver.
“That low son of…” he started, raking his shaking hands through his hair. “I could kill him…”
“Oliver, please…” Katherine begged. “Please just let it go.”
“I just have some things to say to him. And he will listen. Then you, I and Sarah will leave.”
With that, Oliver turned on his heels and strode back to Percy’s room. He was sitting on a chair, his face bloodied and bruised, his left eye swollen shut. Roger was still in there with him, but left when Oliver dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
“How dare you interfere with my wife and me?” Perc
y demanded, his speech slurred from a swollen lip. He rose shakily from the chair he had been sitting in.
“Sit down, Percy,” Oliver commanded. Not accustomed to being spoken to by his younger brother in such a manner, Percy sat back down.
“Sit there and listen to me. And don’t speak unless I tell you to.”
Percy sat in a shocked silence. He had never seen Oliver like this before. Maybe what the servants were whispering about was true. Maybe Oliver was in love with Katherine, and that’s why he had come to her rescue. He was beginning to feel sorry that he had beaten her but dismissed that thought from his mind. Katherine deserved that beating. When he saw her later that evening, he planned to do a repeat of that. He also planned to have Oliver taken away so he could not ever meddle in his and Katherine’s business again.
Percy had been looking out a window when she and Oliver were in the garden earlier and had seen Oliver kiss her hand. He had become enraged that his brother would take such liberties with his wife. As he felt his anger begin to rise, Oliver started to speak but Percy interrupted.
“Roger,” he shouted. “Bring me my finest bottle of whiskey. I must have a glass in order to listen to the nonsensical ramblings of my brother.”
Roger quickly appeared carrying a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.
“Care to join me?” he said with a laugh to Oliver. “It might loosen you up a bit, you senseless idiot. Who do you think you are? Coming here and beating me practically to death…” He started to get up from his chair but winced from the pain and sat back down.
Oliver began to talk again, as Percy downed one, then two shots of whiskey. “I know that you murdered our parents,” he began. Percy started to protest, but Oliver held up his hand for silence.
The Duke’s Deception Page 5