“I’ve been informed supper is ready, everyone! Kari, if you would allow George to escort you into the dining room.”
Seth saw it then, Kari’s stunned look when she spied him at the same moment that pompous only son who’d never done a solid day’s work in his life looped his arm through hers.
“Delighted, Miss Walker! I’m so eager to tell you about my travels. Have you ever been to England?”
Seth heard her murmur shakily, “N-no, only Minnesota and Texas,” as she passed by him in a soft swoosh of satin, the scent of her lilac perfume enveloping his senses.
Her lovely face tinged with pink as she glanced at him for the briefest instant and then looked away, but not before he saw a hint of sadness that cut him to the quick.
Hehad made her unhappy, Seth knew it, and by God, somehow he would set things to rights between them before the evening was done—no matter what plans Uncle Caleb might have up his sleeve for Kari!
Chapter 9
“You’re not hungry, Miss Walker?” George inquired, waving to one of the servers for another helping of seared steak and roasted potatoes. Some cream gravy had dribbled down his round chin, but he seemed oblivious to it as he poked his fork toward Kari’s near-untouched plate. “Such delicious food, too! Say, if you’re not going to eat your corn pudding—”
“Please, help yourself,” she murmured, struck that a man so young would already be leaning toward corpulence, but then again, one had only to look at his portly parents.
The buttons nearly popped from George’s waistcoat as he leaned toward her and transferred the corn pudding to his heavily laden plate, licking his lips. Kari had all she could do not to shudder, George’s table manners truly atrocious, but it seemed that no one else had noticed. Most conversation had ceased as soon as the steaming hot food was served, everyone intent upon enjoying their meal.
Everyone, that is, except for herself and Seth, who stared at her with the darkest look upon his face from the opposite end of the table.
He couldn’t have been seated any further away from her, Kari thought with a sinking heart, realizing that must have been at Caleb’s behest. Crisp white place cards were propped at every place setting, so it wasn’t as if there simply weren’t any other chairs available by the time Seth got to the table. Clearly Caleb’s ire hadn’t fully cooled against Seth, but at least she found some solace in that he had been invited to the dinner party.
He looked so handsome, too, no matter his scowl that appeared to have only deepened. Kari couldn’t have been more startled to see him, fearing that he wasn’t in attendance when she’d first descended the stairs. Then he’d come striding toward her as if out of nowhere, not looking at all the cowboy in his dark evening clothes, and making her heart leap in her breast. At once her keen disappointment at his absence had been swept away…until she realized she would have no chance to speak to him before supper.
How could she eat when all she longed to do was ask him to explain his puzzling behavior? Were they still courting? He hadn’t once taken his eyes from her, so surely he hadn’t abandoned the idea altogether.
To her dismay George again leaned toward her, even closer this time. Kari gasped when it appeared that Seth might lunge to his feet, only to be restrained by his mother’s hand on his arm.
Seated with her husband at Seth’s right, Molly had cast more than a few concerned glances in Kari’s direction, but now her anxious expression was focused upon her son.
“My dearest Miss Walker, may I have the distinct honor of calling you Kari?” George asked her, clearly sated enough with food to focus upon her rather than his plate. “Especially now that we’ll be seeing so much more of each other in the days ahead—and you must call me Georgie.”
Georgie? Staring in confusion at his plump face framed by brown curls and his ingratiating smile, Kari had absolutely no idea what he was talking about until she felt a sudden sickening realization.
At once she glanced at Caleb seated at the middle of the table, but he appeared to be deep in conversation with Big Bill Saunders. His wife, Gilda, though, inclined her head at Kari, the same syrupy smile on her face though no warmth reached the woman’s dark eyes.
“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, Mr. Saunders,” Kari said pointedly, refusing to utter his pet name. “We’ve no such understanding at all—”
“Oh, no, my dear, it’s all been arranged,” George interrupted her, sliding his chair closer and resting his pudgy hand upon her forearm. “Ours couldn’t be a finer match, the Saunderses and the Walkers, the most affluent families in the county! Tonight’s dinner is to celebrate our courtship—well, that’s a mere formality, too. By month’s end we’ll be married and on our way to Paris for our honeymoon—or perhaps you’d prefer Venice instead? The food is wonderful there, oh, yes, I’m most partial to Italy—”
“That’s it, enough!”
Seth launched himself from his chair amid shocked gasps from the guests. Kari gaped at him as he strode to her end of the table and yanked George to his feet by his starched white collar.
“She’sMiss Hagento you, Saunders, and there’ll be no understanding becauseI’malready courting her—isn’t that right, Kari?”
She blinked, so relieved, such immense joy flooding her, Kari could but nod even as Caleb pushed his chair from the table and stood up.
“What the devil…?”
“Yes…yes, it’s true,” Kari said as she rose, too, albeit shakily, finding her voice. “We announced our courtship two weeks ago—Seth and I—to his mother. We were going to speak to you first thing the next morning, Caleb, Seth and his parents and myself, but then I was hurt and…and…” She faltered, glancing at Seth, who released George so abruptly that the young man stumbled in his haste to scramble away, and then Seth moved to Kari’s side.
“We postponed everything until she was better,” Seth finished for her, taking her hand and lacing his fingers tightly with hers. “So we’re telling you now, any other arrangements you’ve made are impossible, given the circumstances. I love her—”
“And I love him!” Kari blurted, glancing up to find Seth staring at her so intensely that her cheeks flushed with heat, her heart racing.
“Which calls for a wedding as soon as we can arrange it,” Molly interjected, coming around the table to join the two of them and face her brother squarely. “Kari has the right, Caleb, to make up her own mind as to whom she chooses to marry—”
