“My first time,” she said, laughing and drinking in how his gaze ran over her.
“All right. Go and see Lady Trilling. Come to me once you’re done. I will be in my study. I had never cared for the room before, but now, for some reason, it has a pleasant association.”
She kissed him, savoring the sensation. After dressing hastily, she swept from the room, resolute that she would draw the answers from Lady Trilling that they needed.
*
When she enteredthe drawing room, Lady Trilling was seated in an armchair near the fire.
Catherine curtseyed before her.
“I think we can dispense with the formality, Miss Forster.”
“Please, Lady Trilling. Call me Catherine. You have known me since I was a child.”
“Very well, Catherine. We have much to discuss.”
Catherine sat down across from the matron. “Indeed, I think we do.”
“Last night was quite the commotion.”
“I hope it doesn’t become gossip.”
“It won’t,” Lady Trilling responded quickly. “No one noticed the chaos in the garden, and I commanded Baron Falk to leave discreetly, so no one saw his disorder. Of course, I felt responsible for letting Henrietta out of my sight. For that I apologize to you and His Grace. May I ask how you and John came to be acquainted?”
“He asked me to help him with something,” Catherine said. “Something very important. That concerned us both.”
“Finding your aunt,” Lady Trilling said, with a glimmer in her eye.
Catherine nodded.
“And what is your plan for your little liaison, once you do find her?”
Catherine startled but Lady Trilling gave her a warm smile.
“If you think you can convince me, Catherine, that your association with John is of the chaste and friendly variety, I would spare yourself the effort. Between the waltz and how he looked at you in the garden last night, I could not be convinced of such a circumstance, no matter what you said.”
Catherine saw no reason to lie to the woman. Perhaps, it would even make their quest for her aunt more sympathetic.
“We plan to marry.”
Lady Trilling’s eyes went wide. Instead of expressing shock, however, she said, “I thought that might be the case. And how long-standing is this engagement?”
“It is very recent.”
“So, you were only brought together by this endeavor to find Mary Forster? No engagement stood before then?”
Catherine thought of the night in the Tremberley gardens and willed herself not to blush.
“No. You are exactly correct.”
“Why do you want to find her?”
“I will tell you but you must tell no one. We have conducted ourselves in absolute secrecy because it could jeopardize Henrietta’s prospects.”
“There is nothing I could desire less than to see such a sweet girl as Henrietta harmed in any way.”
“John knows you are a true friend to his family. He has granted me leave to tell you the truth.”
