by Stacy Reid
A passing reference of a few notable names would not do. She must become. Kitty believed her aunt Harriet, who had scandalized the family by taking to the stage, would burst with pride.
It was all such a delicate situation that could lead to the worst sort of ruin.
As ladies, they were expected by their families and society to conduct themselves with good sense and temperance, always. Anything else could lead to scandal and ruination. But what must one do when desperate straits for her family loomed?
The deception she would weave on society at times filled her with terrible nerves, and in the dark of her chambers, she had questioned her sanity. Was this the kind of person she wanted to be?
She’d told herself she had no choice, but was that the truth? One always had a choice. And Kitty was willing to do anything to save her family.
“You know Lady Gamble will publish your response using her artful words. What if the duke should see this?”
Oddly, that was the least of her worries. “Oh, Maryann, no one has seen or spoken to him in almost seven years, according to my mamma. She did not share the details of his last appearance in society, and I did not want to arouse her overly inquisitive nature with my probing. As for the duke, I daresay if that man read or cared to read scandal sheets, he would have responded to the ones that speculated last year that he had died, and his cousin Mr. Eugene Collins would be summoned to court and a declaration that he was the new duke would be made. Then, how about that rumor that said he had ruthlessly seduced Lady Wescott’s niece and absconded with her? Last season that furor was rabid, and the duke hasn’t even demanded a retraction or an apology. No one has heard from him. I promise you he will not see this. I would be astonished if he did.”
“And if he does?”
“He won’t,” Kitty stubbornly insisted. “But…even if he did, surely he would think it another baseless speculation of the press to be added to the many over the years. And my ruse won’t be forever, only for the few weeks remaining in the season. After my sisters have secured important matches, I will cry off the engagement.”
Maryann’s face softened with sympathy. “You’ll be ruined after.”
Kitty lifted a shoulder in an indifferent shrug. “Oh, you know I am without expectation of contracting an eligible alliance.”
Her friend considered, and Kitty schooled her expression into what she hoped was a neutral mask. She’d already cried over what the damage to her reputation at the end of it all would mean.
A possibility of no marriage and children of her own.
Even without the damage to her reputation, no gentleman had shown an interest to court a young lady like her. The past two seasons testified to that distressing knowledge. She was three and twenty. It had been remarked more than once how agreeable and sweet-natured she was. No one used epithets such as “pretty” or “sought-after.” A young man had once said she had “interesting eyes.”
Kitty thought that was the most particular compliment she’d ever received.
“I am not worried about my future. I have long seen that a family of my own is not in the cards for me.”
Her family’s lack of wealth and connections had cemented that for the last few seasons. Now her ruse would be the proverbial final nail in the coffin. On the other hand, if she succeeded in taking advantage of the duke’s connections, at the end she would have to pretend the engagement had been called off. Whispers would abound that the duke had jilted her. Either outcome would see her reputation in tatters at the end.
It is a risk I must take…for Mamma and my sisters. And I must not think the worst!
“I worry that you do not think of your own happiness,” Maryann said with a sigh.
A frightening surge of longing and an ache traveled through Kitty’s heart, and she forcibly suppressed the need for something more. “My sisters are so charming and uncomplaining. They deserve some happiness. Our papa is gone, and Mamma is still stricken with grief over our lamentable prospects and dire futures. It is up to me to secure alliances for them. We will become sought-after once it is known we are related to a duke.”
Maryann hugged her, and with a watery laugh, Kitty returned her embrace.
“We are really doing this,” Maryann vowed. “We are going to be sinful wallflowers.”
Yes, we are… And Kitty prayed she wasn’t making the most dangerous mistake of her life.
Chapter Two
Two weeks later…
Cheapside, London
“Have you seen this?” Annabelle demanded, slapping the newssheet onto the old scarred satinwood table in the center of the small and barely furnished parlor. It pained Kitty to see another tear in the side of the blue muslin spring gown her sister wore. It was only a few days past she had repaired the hems and pockets.
“I haven’t had a chance to read the papers,” Kitty murmured, popping a tart into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.
“This outrageous on-dit says you are betrothed to the Duke of Thornton. A duke, Kitty. It reads ‘Lady Gamble has learned from the most unimpeachable source that His Grace, the Duke of Thornton, is betrothed to the Honourable Katherine Danvers of Hertfordshire.’ That is you,” her sister ended on an incredulous gasp.
A shock of pure fear and exhilaration tore through Kitty’s heart.
Finally, a response.
Their younger sister Judith lowered the gothic novel The Devil’s Elixir, which she’d been reading in the dim light of the single lit candle, glancing back and forth between her elder siblings. “Kitty, could this be true?”
Kitty had her sisters’ undivided attention. Even their youngest sibling, Henrietta, who had been practicing her music on a pianoforte in desperate need of a tuning, had faltered. Their mother stirred, shifted from beside the lone window in the room to perch on the arm of the sole, bedraggled armchair present in the parlor to settle her pale blue eyes on her eldest daughter. She indicated for the newssheet and it was pressed into her hands.
Her mother was visibly distressed and struggling not to cry. Lifting her shoulders, she met Kitty’s stare. The vacant, hopeless look disappeared from her eyes to be replaced by a hope so bright and painful, a lump grew in Kitty’s throat.
“Katherine, is there any veracity to Lady Gamble’s claim?”
She had prepared for this, yet there was a moment’s hesitation in her heart. For this decisive step in her deception felt more profound, more frightening than anything else. Now she was offering her family a hope that could be crushed if Kitty was not clever and resourceful. There was also a heavy fear, deep inside, that disappointing her mother would crush the remaining life from her. The very notion was unbearable, and an odd sort of pain clutched at Kitty.
“Yes, Mamma,” she said softly.
A peculiar stillness settled over the parlor, as if they dared not breathe for fear the promise of a different future would burn away like ashes in the wind.
Mamma favored her with a long, probing stare. “I am astonished you never told us you met a duke, let alone one as powerful as Thornton. I met him years ago via your father. A most charming and handsome young man, I recall, though there were whispers of an accident that left him hurt. He has been missing from society for a number of years, and there has been much speculation as to if he would ever return. I cannot fathom how such news was not imparted to me. What is going on, my dear?”
A rather large lump formed in Kitty’s throat. She hated very much to lie to her sisters and mother, but she did not want them to be a part of her mad scheme. If she was ever found out, Kitty wished for all the recriminations to be laid at her feet. Once again, her heart trembled, and her resolve wavered. If her ruse were uncovered, the scandal would be far-reaching, destroying all her sisters’ chances, as little as they were.
“Our correspondence has been through letters. I…I did not wish to give false hope, but we have formed an attachmen
t.” Tears burned in her eyes that she had to deceive them so, and she almost crumbled and confessed all.
Except with a gasp, her mother lifted trembling hands to her lips and said, “We might be saved?”
Yes, I promise it, Mamma.
“I cannot perceive it to be true,” Anna cried. “Why would he choose you, Kitty?”
Her sister’s astonishment hurt Kitty when it shouldn’t have. “I do not pretend to any extraordinary beauty, but why shouldn’t a duke offer for me? I am pretty, my eyes are fine, I am quick in thinking, and I am educated. I am not a spendthrift, and I daresay I can manage a large household. I am also the daughter of a viscount, even if he had been an impoverished one. We do have some connections, Anna.”
“Oh, of course, anyone would appreciate your fine qualities. It is all so extraordinary. What will this mean for us?” Anna intoned.
And for the first time in a very long while, hope shone in their eyes, and the cold knot of doubt in Kitty’s stomach loosened.
“It means our family may be saved,” Mamma said fiercely. “It means we will have coal this winter. It means I will no longer have to swallow my pride and pen letters to your father’s heir, begging for scraps. It means you will not have to return to that dreadful house, Annabelle, and good heavens, it means my girls may have a chance for a better life.”
Judith clasped her hands together. “I may have a season?”
Kitty smiled at her sixteen-year-old sister, who spent most of her days dreaming of balls and courtship. She was already quite decided about her future and possessed too much of a romantic nature. “I daresay in a couple more years it may be possible. A coming-out at eighteen is acceptable. And we may be able to hire a governess for you, Henrietta.”
As it were, Kitty was responsible for her eleven-year-old sister’s education, and she had taken rich pleasure in teaching her varied subjects.
She faced Annabelle. “This season will be yours. As the fiancée of His Grace, I will be better positioned to introduce you to those who wish to be in his good favor. You will not be going back to that house, as you were suggesting.”
Her sister cast a furtive glance at her mother before lifting her chin and nodding firmly. Anna was one and twenty and wasn’t out in society as Kitty was. All their fragile hopes had been hung on Kitty finding a good match. After it had been evident Kitty was to be a failure, Anna had accepted a position as lady’s companion to Lady Shrewsbury, and her son had frightened Anna greatly with his brutish advances. Anna’s arms had been badly bruised, and the imprint of the viscount’s fingers on her sister’s inner thigh would haunt Kitty forever.
How Kitty wished it had been her, and not her sweet, gentle sister. Not that she had wanted to be defiled or frightened, but she was made of sterner stuff and not as fragile as dearest Anna.
Kitty was grateful her sister had confided in her; how she wished she could call out the blackguard to defend her sister’s honor, but instead the knowledge had been the additional spur Kitty needed to conjure up her daring scheme. The weight of her sister’s pain and shame felt like evidence of Kitty’s failure to see them all safe, as she had promised her papa on his deathbed.
Kitty hadn’t hesitated to confront the bounder with her papa’s pistol and warn him to stay away from Anna. Of course, the scoundrel had been more amused than afraid, but she had gotten her sister away from that dreadful place. A life like that wasn’t to be Anna’s, Judith’s, or Henrietta’s future— Kitty would ensure it.
Anna nodded, clearly still dazed. “But when will we meet him?”
I pray, never. She had only this season to get things right.
While the duke was a recluse, Kitty did not believe she could fool society for more than that time. Everyone would wonder where the duke was during this farce. They would wonder at the wedding never taking place, and they would rabidly speculate why he was not by her side. She had to move quickly and smartly to secure her sisters’ futures in one season.
It felt impossible. It felt hopeless. It felt terrifying.
Kitty wetted lips that had gone dry. For several nights she had lain in bed unable to sleep, planning for all eventualities. Taking a bracing breath, she spun tales of hopes for them, of an eventual meeting when he returned from Scotland, and how they would take the last of their money and order three new daring ball gowns for herself, two for Anna, dancing slippers, and assorted fripperies. It was such a gamble to spend the last of Mamma’s portion, but she also had to look the part of a duke’s fiancée, and Anna had to be out in society for the plan to bear fruit.
Now that the news had been announced, the wave of interest and curiosity into their lives would move unchecked.
Her mother stared at her for quite a while, and a lump grew in Kitty’s throat at the emotions she spied in her mother’s eyes.
“Sometimes it steals my breath and crumples something in me when I think of the weight of the responsibility on your shoulders, my dear,” her mother said softly, an odd sort of knowledge in her eyes. “You’ve always been a lively and daring spirit, Katherine, and for so long I’ve worried the onus of taking care of us would dim your charming light. You’ve not flinched from everything required of you and have taken on a burden to see this family well, a responsibility that should belong only to your father and me. My Artie would be so very proud of you, my dear.”
Kitty swallowed and nodded, offering her mother a watery smile.
While they sipped tea and ate sandwiches that had the cheapest fillings, she gave them hope, and in return, her family bestowed on her the brightest smiles she had seen since before her papa had died.
And it was in that moment the last kernel of doubt died.
I’ll not fail you.
…
Two weeks later
Dear God in heaven…. I’ve really done it.
Kitty had remade herself into the fiancée of the reclusive Duke of Thornton, was declared by the scandal sheets as incomparable, and was toasted for snagging the elusive duke. The eager reception in society of the news of her betrothal to a man of rank and fortune had sent her mother into swift recovery, pleasing Kitty, for she had been dreadfully worried she would lose her mamma to melancholia.
Only this morning, her dear friend Maryann had sent a footman to deliver over a dozen invitations to balls, musicales, soirees, and even an invitation to a scandalous house party that had arrived at Maryann’s parents’ elegant town house in Berkeley Square for Kitty. They had thought it wise to drop hints here and there that Kitty resided with the earl and countess of Musgrove for the season. The small house her mother had managed to rent in Cheapside must not be discovered by the ton as her place of dwelling during the season.
Kitty glanced down at the small packet of invitations in her hands. Oh dear.
This one was for the Marchioness of Sanderson’s ball a couple of weeks from now. She had never been invited to that auspicious and most sought-after event before. It was all absurd, of course, as she was the same person who had been among society for the last three seasons. But the almost daily articles published by Lady Gamble had wrought changes Kitty and her family hardly knew what to do with.
The articles had rambled on about the idea of such a match, assessing if it was imprudent or the society pairing of the season. The wave of interest that followed had been more than she had allowed possible. The solicitor who had executed Papa’s will approached her and suggested letting a town house in Mayfair. Kitty had nearly expired from shock and embarrassment, for Mr. Walker had politely suggested he would send the bill to the duke’s lawyers.
At first, she had been confused, and then awareness had dawned. Financial avenues had also been opened to her family because of her fake engagement. She had denied Mr. Walker, of course. That night before bed, she had prayed twice as hard for her eternal soul.
And now one of those startling changes was seated on the sofa by t
he fire, seemingly both nervous and self-assured—Mr. Adolphus Pryce. Kitty was pretending to quickly read the stack of invitations in her hands while they awaited refreshments so that she could take the measure of the man. He was thin and carefully but plainly dressed. Pryce had high coloring on his cheekbones, and his curly hair was trying to escape from his pomade into pretty kiss-curls at his forehead. This was a very curious contradiction, and Kitty wondered how he had found her. The card he had presented said he was a lawyer from a prominent law firm.
The door to the parlor remained ajar to lend the correct air of respectability to their meeting. Anna brought in a tea tray and shot Kitty a questioning look. She lifted her shoulder in an elegant shrug, for she had no idea why a young solicitor from Smith and Fielding’s had called upon her. The painful cramps in her stomach suspected that the duke had seen the article, and perhaps she was being sued for misrepresentation and fraud.
Nevertheless, tea and cakes were served, and her sister departed, leaving her alone with Mr. Pryce.
“How may I be of assistance, Mr. Pryce?”
He hurriedly gulped down his tea and settled the teacup and saucer atop a small scraped walnut tablet. His apparent discomfiture relaxed her.
“Miss Danvers,” he started, tugging at his cravat, which truly seemed as if it were choking the man. “I am a part of the team that handles His Grace the Duke of Thornton’s affairs.” At that pronouncement, his chest puffed with pride, and he sat a bit straighter on the sofa. She dearly hoped it wasn’t the lumpy cushions affecting his posture.
Kitty clasped her cup, the warmth soothing to the chill forming in her heart. She had to cleverly handle him without his awareness. A hysterical laugh bubbled in her throat, and she swallowed it down. How complicated her ruse got day by day. “Yes?”
“Ah…my superior has tasked me to…ah… We recently became aware our client is betrothed to you.”
She pinned him with an unflinching stare. “Yes?”