“No celebration?” Andrew asked.
“Bridal nerves, perhaps.”
“Everyone has them—grooms, too.”
If Dauntry was quivering, she was the Man in the Moon.
“The best thing is to be busy,” Ruth said. “We’ve still to retrim your bridal bonnet. Yes, you can go away again, Andrew. This is women’s work.”
Kitty surrendered to Ruth’s excitement, but the removal of every obstacle along with Lord Cateril’s possible doubts had made her newly aware that she’d spent less than a half hour in Lord Dauntry’s company.
They’d never even touched.
However, it was too late to back out now. She could only pray she wasn’t making another mistake, because this one could last a lifetime. She was unlikely to be granted an early release a second time.
Chapter 10
Kitty was rescued from bonnet trimming, at which she had little skill, by Sillikin’s wanting a walk. She made it a long one, and they were both ready for a rest by the time she approached the front door of the parsonage. When she heard horses’ hooves, she turned, alarmed that it would be Dauntry, catching her windblown and dusty again. Instead she saw a woman on a black horse, a mounted groom riding a yard or so behind. The woman was dressed entirely in black, and Kitty wondered if it might be the dowager Lady Dauntry, but then she saw that she was young.Isabella?She looked older than sixteen—erect, poised, and eying Kitty with haughty disdain.
The battle had come to her.
Kitty felt a flutter of panic, but despite the gloss, this was a girl and she was a woman of nearly twice her age and vastly more experience. She went forward, attempting bland amiability. “May I help you?”
“Are you Mrs. Cateril?”
“I am.”
The young woman gestured, and the groom dismounted and hurried to lift her down. Once down, she arranged her skirts and walked forward. “I am Isabella Godyson-Braydon.”
Kitty just managed not to express surprise at theextended surname. Why had no one told her about that? And how, exactly, did an Honorable widow greet an aristocratic girl?
She dipped a very slight curtsy. “Good morning.”
Miss Godyson-Braydon merely inclined her head. Such petty battles didn’t bother Kitty, but she was supposed to manage this girl?
Sillikin was staring, which wasn’t at all surprising. If Dauntry was a marble box, his ward was a jet one. She was polished and perfect in every way, and Kitty was aware of being very much the opposite. However, she remembered that jet was a relatively soft stone.
“You’ve come to visit Mrs. Lulworth?” she asked.
“I’ve come to speak to you.”
“Then shall we go into the house, Miss Godyson-Braydon?”
“No. We have heard an odd rumor, Mrs. Cateril. That you are to marry Lord Dauntry.”
Kitty supposed word would have escaped. There was no way to deny it, despite an irrational wish to do so.
“I am, yes. On Wednesday.”
“Impossible. He is betrothed to me.”
Kitty couldn’t help a laugh. “I doubt Lord Dauntry would have forgotten such a fact.”
The girl flushed but said, “You wear no ring. I do.” She pulled the black leather glove off her left hand to reveal a ring with a blue stone, presumably a sapphire.
Kitty was at a loss, stuck in this impossible situation, her heart fluttering with fledgling doubt. Could Dauntry be insane? But with deep certainty she knew that whatever else he was, he wasn’t mad. Therefore, the girl must be lying.
“That is a lovely ring. But I have no reason to believe Lord Dauntry gave it to you. You’re a child,” Kitty said calmly. “Why would he marry you?”
