It had been quite the sensation, and Katie, by association, was more popular than she had ever been in her life. Not only did she know the author, but she had spent time with the “Greatest Laird in all the Highlands,” and everyone wanted to talk to her about it.
She still thought the idea of Magnus as the greatest Laird in the Highlands was extremely amusing, but she would never tell Leah that.
“What are you doing, hiding over here?”
Katie sighed as her mother’s waspish expression appeared before her.
“Good evening, Mama,” she said as cheerfully as she could. “I am not hiding, just resting. It is exceedingly hot in this room.”
Her mother looked her up and down and brushed something invisible from her shoulder as Katie emerged from between the plants to stand beside her.
“You look well this evening. You should wear burgundy more often,” her mother said with satisfaction as she flicked open her fan and blew cool air over Katie’s face. “And you are right. It is unseasonably hot today, and there are far too many people.”
Katie rolled her eyes. The mamas around the room appeared scandalized by the number of attendees at the Illingham Ball this year. They loved to gossip and complain, and the overcrowding had become the topic of choice for the evening.
“Come and stand here,” her mother said, pointing to a spot on the edge of the dance floor.
Katie slowly moved forward as her mother pulled her to the required spot, with her fingers painfully tight around Katie’s upper arm.
Lady Theodosia Crawford was not the easiest woman to live with and had been a source of great pain to Katie throughout her life. With two older sisters married to well-bred, wealthy men, Katie had always felt as though she was the disappointment of the family.
Her mother’s comments were usually sharp and unpleasant. Lady Crawford rarely complimented her youngest daughter on anything, and Katie had often avoided spending time with her as a form of self-preservation.
However, since the miracle of Leah’s book, her mother has been far more accommodating, particularly now that Katie had a full dance card at most functions.
A full card meant the possibility of finding a husband, and that was all her mother cared about.
But, in truth, Katie dreaded the notion of marriage.
She looked around her at the ‘talent’ on display this Season and stifled a grimace. Some of the men looked utterly bored, others appeared intrigued, and the worst of the suitors simply looked desperate.
Katie had joked with Daphne that she needed to find a Highland laird of her own to marry, and since she had returned to London, the idea had grown in its appeal. It was not so much that she wanted to emulate her friends, but more because all the men in thetonwere horribly dull.
“Stand up straight,” Lady Crawford hissed as she brushed a hand down Katie’s sleeve for the third time. “You will never find a husband if you slouch. Don’t stand so tall, though. Keep your head at the same level as mine.”
Katie almost groaned aloud as she, once again, had to crouch slightly to be considered at a ‘normal’ height. It was exhausting.
“Who else has marked your card this evening?” her mother asked accusingly.
Katie hid it behind her back. “I have danced a great deal, Mama. I need to rest for a moment. I will join the next set.”
Lady Crawford narrowed her eyes at her. “Oh? And that is what will win you a husband, is it?”
Katie’s patience was wearing thin. “I am quite content to find a husband, Mama. I have danced with more men this Season than any other. I am doing my best.”
“And what if I have chosen to follow in my friends’ footsteps?” Katie asked angrily.
Lady Crawford turned to her in surprise. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Perhaps I have also found a Highland laird to marry. Did you ever think of that?”
Katie was unsure what had come over her, but her desire to make her mother stop criticizing everything she did was so strong that she had utterly forgotten how unwise it was to lie to her.
Lady Crawford stared at her, her mouth hanging open in shock. “A Highland laird? You?” She laughed derisively. “And where is he, pray tell?”
Katie opened her mouth to take back her words when a long shadow fell across her path. She looked up, and then further still, into the face of an extremely handsome man in Highland attire, standing before them.
He had sharp features and wide eyes which skimmed briefly over her figure and back up again before he executed a formal bow.
