“Exchanges,” Katherine said, trying to keep her tone light. “You make it sound like we have had our heads together for the twenty-four hours since our arrival. I have spoken to the duke all of twice.”
Bethany nodded. “Yes, I suppose that is technically true. But I watched you when we arrived and he was on the drive. There was something about the way you two interacted. And at the ball last night, there was an intensity to your body language that I could not pretend didn’t exist.”
Katherine pursed her lips. Blast it all. She was only making things worse if her interactions with Robert felt intense to an observer. His reputation would do nothing to save her own. And if the truth of what they’d done in the parlor came out? Well, she was done for. She doubted that gaggle of duchesses downstairs would want her to be a friend if they knew she had opened her legs to him so willingly. They were too ladylike to accept that.
So was the rest of good Society.
“There is nothing to what you saw, or think you saw,” Katherine said softly. “Roseford is no more than a thorn in my side, I assure you.”
She had somehow expected Bethany to dismiss the topic when it was put in those terms, but instead her aunt’s expression grew quizzical. “A thorn? How is that possible. You hardly know the man, don’t you?”
Katherine froze. There she went again, placing importance on Roseford that could be misconstrued. Or perhaps seen properly, and that was worse. She shook her head. “I only mean he is a cad.”
Bethany seemed to ponder that a while. “Yes,” she said slowly. “He is that. He is known as far worse.” Her aunt blushed deep red and Katherine felt her own cheeks heat as well. “But I don’t know why he should upset you so with his behavior. Unless there is something between you that you might want to share with a most beloved confidante.”
Katherine looked at Bethany, her expression that of deepest sweetness and light. She couldn’t help but laugh a little at the look. And yet, she didn’t want to say too much for fear of losing the only family she truly had left.
“You are looking for more scandal for me, aunt?” she teased. “Gracious, you’ll have me banished before supper.”
“No,” Bethany said, taking her hand. “Of course not.”
Katherine gathered herself with a sigh. “I assure you,dearestconfidante, that I am not going to do anything to endanger myself socially.”
“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I meant,” Bethany said with another strange expression. She pushed to her feet and walked away slowly to stare at Katherine’s orchard.
“Then what?” she asked. “What could you mean except to warn me away from such a man?”
Bethany turned with a shake of her head. “If you were still a blushing eighteen-year-old debutante, of course I would throw up a wall between you and a man such as Roseford. But you aren’t.”
“Thank you?” Katherine said, wondering if she had just been insulted.
Bethany laughed. “I only mean that you have been married. You’ve been through hell thanks to that marriage. Oh, I’m explaining my thoughts all wrong. Let me start over.”
Katherine stared as Bethany seemed to regather herself. Then her aunt said, “Your mother had a free spirit. She was lively and fun. Watching her be destroyed by the weight of your father’s disregard was a nightmare. Especially when I was not allowed near her, or you, to offer comfort or advice.”
Katherine nodded. “And that has to do with my situation…how?”
“I see her in you.” Bethany reached out and touched her cheek. “Sometimes it steals my breath when I catch you from the corner of my eye and feel my sister is back with me. And it isn’t just your lovely face or your eyes. It is your spirit. When you were married to the earl, I was happy to be allowed to reunite with you. But I was also devastated to see you crushed beneath a man’s judgment the same way my sister was. His death was not something I grieved, I will put it that way.”
Katherine gasped. “You never said anything.”
“Because it is a terrible thing to think, let alone say out loud.” Bethany shivered. “I shall surely have a place in hell for it. But that is something for another day. Right now, you arefree, Katherine. Yes, there is a scandal, and I know that troubles you. Embarrasses you.”
“Their whispers make everything seem so hopeless,” Katherine admitted, blinking at the tears she just could not let fall for fear they would flood her entire life.
“But it’snothopeless,” Bethany said. “You are in a unique position as a widow with a bit of money, that you do not have to rush back into the marriage mart. So you do not have to overcome your scandal immediately in order to save yourself from ruin. This gives you options.”
“Options?” Katherine repeated, utterly confused.
Bethany’s cheeks darkened again. “Options when it comes to what you would do with a man like Roseford. His reputation as a libertine does not include any cruelty. Nor abandonment of his obligations. What is whispered about him involves only the most wicked of pleasure.”
“Bethany!” Katherine said, jumping to her feet and backing away.
Her aunt smiled. “I was married, wasn’t I? As were you. Why should we not be a little more blunt about this topic?”
Katherine couldn’t stop blinking. This was just another dream, brought on by the outrageous things she had done the night before with a man she considered an enemy. Her aunt was not truly talking to her about Robert and pleasure and what sounded like permission when it came to those other two things.
“What are you saying?” she asked. “I cannot even fathom what you are saying.”
