“Everything that I have done has been on our behalf. Can you not be on my side for even a single moment?! Do you truly believe that I would do something to injure you in any way?” The longer she spoke, the more exhausted she felt. She did not wish to argue with her mother. She did not wish to feel attacked. “This fall from grace happened tobothof us, Mama, not just you.”
She pushed away from the table that they sat at and lifted her hand to stop Elizabeth from following her out of the room. She just needed a moment to collect herself. She only needed a walk to clear her head, and then everything would be all right once more. It would have to be. Somehow or another she would fix this, too…she just needed to come up with a plan that would solve things.
Why did she feel like crying all over again?
As shameful as it was to admit to herself…she had liked being in his arms. She had liked the way it felt to be held by him, to have him whisper comforting words that, for the first time in weeks, had made her feel like she was a little less alone. Then, it had just been ripped away.
Catherine stormed through the entry hall and came up short to see that there was a man standing in the front entrance to her home. He cleared his throat and offered her a soft, almost shy smile. He was absolutely the very last person that she would have expected to come to call on her after the events of last night, and yet…there he stood.
She stood frozen on the spot. A powerful desire to run to him welled in her chest that she leashed quickly. Where had that come from? What right did she have to wish to take comfort from him? It seemed that nothing good happened when he was around, and yet the way that he made her feel….she could not explain it.
“You came…” she whispered. Disbelief pinched her brows into a furrow as she glanced down at the small bouquet of yellow flowers he held in his hands. He fiddled with them as he nodded.
“Of course I did,” he said, as if it ought to have been obvious. “We need to talk…before we were interrupted last night…and everything…”
Whatever else he was about to say was quickly cut off by her mother’s quick footsteps. No doubt, she wished to finish their argument, but the whole grouping was silenced by the sight of Richard standing there. Elizabeth’s eyes widened, and she glanced at Catherine curiously.
Arabella crossed her arms over her chest and looked down her nose at the man. “What do you want?”
Chapter 11
Richard was not a man who shied away from confrontation, but one look at Lady Arabella’s face told him that this might be a mistake. Perhaps he ought to have given the pair of them more time to calm down. The scandal was too fresh in all of their minds, perhaps.
His father had expressly forbidden him from coming here today, but he had chosen to come anyway. The duke had merely laughed and laughed in his face after the scandal had reached his ears. Gloating lectures about how he could not have added more insult to injury if he had tried had circled him throughout the evening.
But what Richard could not get out of his head was the look on Catherine’s face. The one that had been there for a single moment before the crowd had gathered when he had held her petite frame in his arms, and she had looked up at him with an emotion he could not even hope to name.
He had seen something there in the depths of her blue eyes that perhaps they did understand one another after all. His gaze had dropped to her lips, just for a moment. He could have sworn that her chin had lifted…and then it had all gone to hell.
Even if this, too, blew up in his face, Richard was determined to make this right. He was going to solve this issue one way or another.
“I…” He swallowed hard under the intense scrutiny of Lady Arabella and offered out the flowers in his hand to the matron. “I have come to call upon Lady Catherine…officially.”
The woman looked at his modest flowers and scoffed. “With only that as your gift? Is this another cruel joke? Honestly, have you no sense of propriety? No honor? Does your cruelty know no bounds at all?”
He could see that the woman was only gaining speed with her insults. No doubt she was going to unleash all of her frustration on him, and perhaps there was some part of him that deserved the tongue-lashing for the part that he had played in all of this…but he spoke up instead.
“I have come to propose, actually,” Richard blurted artlessly. In official a capacity as he could manage, he wished to take ownership and responsibility for the part that he had played in the scandal and make matters right, if Catherine would have him. “To Lady Catherine, to be clear. I wish to extend a formal offer of marriage.”
He was almost scared to look at her and see whatever answer was written on her face. He doubted that it was the same open shock that her mother wore or the surprised silence of the ruddy-faced woman standing just behind Lady Arabella.
“Though, I had meant to do so in a more subtle manner…perhaps have a conversation about it first. But that is my intention here today. No further mistakes or embarrassment…I wish to ask for Lady Catherine’s hand.” Richard slowly turned his focus to Catherine.
There was a deep pink blush to her face, but she was in the same stunned silence as her mother. Perhaps this offer was just yet another loophole in the command that his father had given him, but Sir Anthony was correct. It was a solution. Furthermore…being so near to her last night…he could not deny the desire that he felt for the raven-haired beauty. “If she will have me, of course.”
Lady Arabella cleared her throat pointedly as all focus shifted to Catherine.
“Why?” Catherine answered at last.
Disappointment surged in his gut stronger than he cared to admit. “Pardon?”
“Why propose? You certainly do not have to. This is not a love match…what is in it for you?” Catherine’s voice was hardly more than a whisper.
“Catherine!” her mother protested. “This is a man of means and title…watch your tongue.”
Catherine did not so much as glance in her mother’s direction. She held Richard’s gaze and silently demanded an explanation.
“Walk with me?” Richard asked. To his surprise, Catherine nodded. She turned and strode out of the door, her friend following not too far behind them as chaperone as his long steps quickly caught up with her.
