“Fortunate?” Frannie straightened. “I work all evening and then I have to take lessons, while Luke is off playing. His affections have added to my burdens.”
Her attitude surprised Catherine. She’d never consider Claybourne’s affections as a burden. For an unkind moment she wasn’t certain Frannie deserved him. But it was not her place to judge, to decide whom he should love and who should love him.
“I thought he was here,” Catherine said. She’d never questioned what he was doing while she was showing Frannie various things.
“He is, but he’s in a room farther in the back, playing cards with Jack and the others.”
“The others?”
“Friends. Old acquaintances. Lads we grew up with. If I didn’t have to take my lessons, then I could play with them. I’d much rather be playing than taking lessons.”
“Is it so difficult to design a menu?”
“So many different dishes need to be served. How can one person eat them all?”
“They’re very small portions. I know you’re nervous, but it’s really not as bad as all that.”
“Still, it doesn’t seem fair that we have to work while they play. And it’s also not fair that you have to teach me etiquette, while I’m teaching you nothing.”
She was teaching more than she knew, teaching Catherine about Claybourne. Did he kiss Catherine because he had absolutely no respect for her? Or could it be as Frannie surmised—he was unable to resist because he was attracted to her? No, it had to be the former. He never left any doubt that Frannie held his heart. His reasons for kissing Catherine were either to unsettle or tease her or distract her. They were not the result of passion, although they’d certainly felt as though they were.
“You don’t have to teach me anything,” Catherine said. “My arrangement is with Claybourne, and I’m quite satisfied with it.”
“But wouldn’t it be fun to play a little trick on Luke?”
Catherine hardly thought him the type to enjoy having pranks played on him. Yet she was intrigued by the notion. “What sort of trick?”
Frannie opened a drawer, took out a deck of cards, and placed it on the desk between them. And then she smiled, rather cockily—the first truly confident smile Catherine had received from her—as though she were finally in her element. Catherine realized it transformed her, and for the first time, she thought she could see what it was about the woman that appealed to Claybourne.
“How about I teach you how to beat a man at his own game?”
Luke glanced at his watch, the watch he’d inherited from the old gent, then stuffed it back into his waistcoat pocket. It was coming close to the time for him to take Catherine home. Why hadn’t Frannie brought her in here?
“Are you going to pass?” Jack asked.
Luke looked at his cards, looked at the door. “They should have been in here by now.”
“Based on Lady Catherine’s stubbornness, I expect Frannie is finding it more difficult than she imagined it would be to lure her in here.”
Luke glared at Jack. “What do you know of Catherine’s stubbornness?”
“I’ve met the woman. ’Tis enough.”
“I thought she was most pleasant,” Bill said.
On the journey here, Jim had explained to Bill exactly who Catherine was and Luke’s arrangement with her.
“Boring is what she is,” Jim said.
“She’s not boring. How many times must I tell you that? I swear to God, I’m not convinced you’re following the correct woman,” Luke said.
“She shops.” Jim cast a quick look at his friends. “She shops. She visits. Where is the excitement in that, I ask you? The only thing she does of any note is meeting you at night.”
“And getting her hand sliced to ribbons,” Bill said quietly.
A result about which Luke continued to feel guilty. Once they’d settled into the coach earlier, she’d thanked him for the gloves. Told him they weren’t necessary. Had made him feel rather silly for taking such pleasure in purchasing them for her.
“It’ll heal,” Luke said brusquely.
