Katherine took a deep breath. The first since she’d turned on the drive to find Roseford staring at her. She was trying not to panic about that fact, but now her mind was beginning to turn. She was here ten days. He was so intent on following her around, trying to…well, whatever he thought would fulfill that bet he’d made about her.
Trying to bed her.
She shivered and tried to tell herself it was in disgust, but she couldn’t help but picture all those moments when he’d nearly kissed her. Old and new, merging together. Imagine those hard arms she’d had around her when they danced or when he escorted her up the stairs, that hard body thathadto go with them. Imagine a man so well-versed in sin giving her a taste of it.
No matter what his motives were.
“Stop,” she growled to herself, shaking away the thoughts.
She headed down a long hall and quickly found the open parlor door the butler had described. She stepped inside to find Adelaide sitting by the fire, a book in one hand, teacup in the other. She lifted her gaze as Katherine entered and smiled.
“You’ve arrived, wonderful!” she said, setting all her things aside and coming to briefly embrace Katherine. “How was your trip?”
“Uneventful,” she sighed as she watched Adelaide go to the tea service to pour her a cup. “Until I arrived here and found Roseford on the drive watching me.”
Tea sloshed from the cup Adelaide was preparing and the duchess turned, eyes wide. “What?”
“There was a miscommunication.” Katherine said. “Abernathe invited Roseford in order to separate him from me. Somehow he didn’t know Emma had done the same with me. And so we are both here. For ten days.”
Adelaide set the teapot down, bent and opened a lower cabinet. She set a very expensive looking bottle of scotch on the top, then two glasses. She splashed the alcohol into both and handed one over.
“This calls for something much stronger,” she said with a shake of her head. “Oh, Katherine. What do you think?”
Katherine tipped her glass and took a sip of the burning alcohol. “I thinkyouknow why I was invited here to be away from him. Isabel told you all about his bargain, didn’t she?”
Adelaide hesitated a moment and then nodded. “She did. But it is only because we are all so close. Not a one of us would judge you for it. Though we as a whole do judge him. He will not find many friends amongst the duchesses at present.”
Katherine smiled at the idea of this wall of women rising up before her in sisterly protection. She had not ever had that kind of support in her entire life. It was nice. Yet she didn’t want to depend upon it. She knew from bitter experience that the husbands made the decisions. No matter how loving the dukes seemed to be with their wives, the men would take Roseford’s side. They’d been friends with him for so long.
And eventually it would pull the duchesses away from her.
“I don’t want anyone’s relationships damaged by taking sides over me,” she said. “In the end, I must deal with Roseford and his intentions myself. I know his goals, I do not think he would be the kind of man to force his desires on me.”
“Never!” Adelaide said with a shake of her head. “I do not believe he would ever do such a thing. My husband would kill him, for one, and Robert is too self-preserving.”
Katherine arched a brow at the strength with which Adelaide said the last. She seemed certain, although she couldn’t be right. The Duke of Northfield was Roseford’s friend. There was no way his reaction would be as strong as Adelaide described.
Katherine shrugged. “Then Roseford is not a danger to me physically.”
“No,” Adelaide repeated.
Katherine sighed. “The best thing I can do is ignore him. Do my damnedest to avoid him. It will be no different than it was in London.”
Adelaide worried her lip. “Except that in London you were not under the same roof with him. And there were far more people to create a buffer between you. There will only be a handful of couples here except for when James and Emma have a ball, like they will tonight. Or a garden party, or something like that.”
Katherine wrinkled her brow. “Are you trying to comfort me or make me run screaming from the house?”
Adelaide laughed and stepped closer. “No one wants you to run screaming from the house, I assure you. I was being blunt. Graham will tell you I do it a little too much, I fear. You are right, of course. Ignoring him is best. I doubt he’s ever had a woman do that, especially one he is actively pursuing. It will serve him right.”
Katherine chuckled as the pleasure lit up in her friend’s eyes. “I suppose I hadn’t thought of it that way. He has no idea I know of his intentions, his bargain, so his pursuit of me will go on as planned. And if I utterly ignore him, I will wound him, at least a little. That makes the entire endeavor seems a little more…”
“Wicked?” Adelaide supplied.
Katherine jolted at the word choice. Wicked was something else. Something heated. But she nodded. “I suppose there is a wickedness in teasing him so.” She thought of the consequences of such a thing and shivered. “So perhaps what would be best is to confront him directly. Not about his wager, which I will never discuss with him. But just to tell him that I am not interested. That I don’t want his attentions.”
“That would likely send him away. If you were very blunt like that. And the duchesses will do whatever we can to assist you—don’t hesitate to ask a one of us to be on your side for rescue or to plot against him,” Adelaide said.
“Do you all hate him so much?” Katherine asked.
