“I listen all the time. Now, pretend.” Julia bowed over Katherine’s hand. “Markham never told me he had an enchanting sister.”
“My goodness, Julia!”
Julia smiled brightly. “Ian says I would make a wonderful actress.”
“Well, you certainly startled me.” Katherine resolved to have a serious talk with Ian Linton. “Now. Upstairs to your lessons.” She turned Julia’s shoulders and began marching her sister toward the door.
Julia’s enthusiasm had force. A force, experience told, best resisted.
“I’ll go. Quietly. Or, in Latin,cedere,” Julia said. “If you’ll promise to consider my plan.” Julia swiveled and her voice fell to a horrified whisper. “I cannot go live with relatives I hardly know.”
Katherine blinked away a sudden sting. “I won’t let that happen.”
She hadn’t entirely fabricated the threat. She had always worried that she would tarnish Julia by association, but she’d lived quietly enough to avoid any resurrection of scandal…until now.
“So, you will consider my plan?” Julia asked.
She swallowed away a lump in her throat. “There is nothing I wouldn’t consider, to keep you from unhappiness.” Truer words she could not speak.
Julia awarded Katherine with a brilliant smile and then headed back upstairs, book in hand, yelling, “Cedere.”
Katherine noted the irony. She rubbed her forehead and then absently wandered back into the library. Leaning against the window sash, she rested her eyes on the distant folly.
Her mother’s folly.
How she wished for a mother’s guidance. All she had—she scowled—was Markham.
Like Julia, Markham failed to understand the risk. Even if this visitor really was a gentleman and Markham’s friend, she had good reasons—private reasons—she could never marry. The truth, in fact, hadn’t been far from the worst speculations.
If this friend’s attentions became marked, her past failures would become gossip-mill fodder. Just as they had before, people she’d known all her life would sweep aside their skirts when she passed.
Only this time, she would lose Julia as well.
Well, then. She did not really have a choice, did she?
To secure her sister’s happiness and preserve the precious remains of her reputation, she could and would risk indulging her worst inclinations.
And if she failed, she would be stripped of everything she loved.
Chapter Two
Markham’s missive had said to expect him in three days. Knowing her younger brother, Katherine donned her spinster “disguise” in two—a shapeless cloak, an outdated dress, worn shoes and, of course, a large and hideous mobcap.
She could not as easily alter her regular duties, which was why she was following Markham’s tenant, Mrs. Linton, from the Linton Farm’s kitchen to their sow pen, holding back the flopping trim on her cap with a glove-free hand while precisely placing each step.
Just because she had been careless enough to mar her skin with ink did not mean she wished to be mud covered, not to mention slimed, by greater evil.
“I assure you, Mrs. Linton,” she continued, “your Tommy shows uncommon promise.”
Mrs. Linton huffed as she dumped scraps into the pig’s trough. Without a pause, she turned back toward the kitchens. “You must be thinking of another child. My Tommy never keeps his mind on what he’s doing.”
“His concentration must be encouraged, however, with a just a little more study…”
“Books are very dear,” Mrs. Linton said, breathless with exertion.
“I’ve considered the cost.” Katherine reached into her cloak pocket and pulled out a stack of paper carefully tied with string. “I copied these stories from the Royal Primer, so Tommy can practice between lessons.”
Mrs. Linton glanced down at the papers, momentarily stunned. However, her subsequent not-at-all-happy flush sank Katherine’s heart.
