“A strong stance.” Rayne held Giles’s gaze with a dead-eye stare. “And surprising, too, considering your recent break with…tradition.”
“Decay,” Katherine repeated with a frown. “If that is what you believe, I am surprised you approved of your mother’s marriage.”
Slowly, Giles turned away from Rayne. “Yet,” he said after a long time, “she is married, is she not?”
“Well,” she replied. “I am heartily glad you made an exception. Men rarely understand a woman’s position.”
Giles visibly swallowed. “How do you mean?”
Katherine explained, “We care for a home—our father’s, our brother’s, our husband’s—knowing that home is not really ours. Knowing any change in circumstance could force us from our very beds. After all those years of caring for the Bromton estate, I imagine having something of her own is a comfort to your mother.”
“A comfort…” Giles echoed, gaze unreadable.
Farring cleared his throat. “Shall we resume the game? Your turn, I believe, Lady Katherine.”
Lining up her shot proved difficult. Apprehension coursed through her veins. Something was not right.
She aimed and then let her arrow fly. It hit the target, though its tail waved wildly.
“Difficult to judge,” Farring called. “It landed on the cusp.”
“Call it red,” Bromton answered, referring to the center of the target.
“You needn’t give me a handicap,” Katherine said.
“I’m not,” Giles said.
“Has the opposing team any objection?” asked Farring.
“None,” called Julia. “Perhaps having a woman answer for you rankles, Lord Rayne?”
“I have no objection,” Rayne gritted.
“Red it is,” Markham said.
“If I’d have known your elder sister was such a fine shot,” Rayne said to Markham, “I would have chosen her as my partner.”
Katherine sensed, but could not untangle, the conversation’s underlying threads. “I’m quite satisfied to compete with Lord Bromton. He’s very good.”
“I’m not,” Giles replied without looking away. “But knowing I’m not good has never stopped me.”
“My turn.” Julia smiled sweetly at Rayne.
Another quickthudfollowed.
“Right in the center,” Farring recorded. “What a fine markswoman you are, Lady Julia. Isn’t she, Rayne?”
Julia lifted her chin, swept back her skirts, and brushed past Rayne as if she were giving him the cut direct.
“Oh dear,” Katherine said.
“I told you,” Giles whispered. “I will protect Julia.”
Katherine forced a smile.
“Two more days,” he continued, “and you will be my lady wife.” He lowered his voice. “I am counting the hours.”
Birds chirped overhead and wind rustled through the leaves of the trees. The scent of grass filled the air, and Katherine’s skin warmed from the caress of the sun.
