“We will dry off, Katherine. Then, we’ll reason and make a plan about what to do. And we need to start praying that the duke survives. Hopefully, we’ll get a response from Anya House before the hour’s up.”
A response? Hour’s up? “You’re asking permission for us to go see the duke?” I swat at another big droplet that’s rolled down my nose. “We practically live there. And Jahleel has instructed his footman always to let me in, no matter the time.”
“Oh.” Her glare burns through my forehead. “You can depend on his actions now?”
“Yes, I was wrong, Georgie. Please say I told you so. Say you warned me to confess all, that I could’ve fixed everything but kept hesitating.”
Shaking her head, my sister holds me tighter. She lends her voice and hums a hymn to me and the kitty: “Right in front of our house, Katherine. It’s only two steps. Then we are inside the house.”
“Say you warned me, Georgie. Gloat. Everything would have been different if I had listened.”
She pushes on my back. Her fingers thread through my shawlto my damp dress, pressing the cold wetness against my skin. “Katherine, you’re scaring me.”
“If I could, I’d turn back time. I would, Georgie. If I could find a way. I’d take back all the ways that I hurt them.” Then I would’ve stayed, stayed in St. Petersburg like Jahleel, tzar commanded.
“Just a little further.” Georgina tosses the emerald-colored silk umbrella over my head and into the house. “Why keep fighting me?”
“Mama didn’t allow animals in the house. Their fur could make her ill.”
“You’re the mistress here. We, the Wilcox sisters, make the rules.” She pushes. “This is our house. You and the kitten go now.”
Then she shoves.
Wham. I’m inside, but Georgina knocked the breath out of me.
My sister shuts the door. “Besides, I asked Scarlett. Mother was the one who didn’t like pets. If that scrawny thing can comfort you, it’s staying.”
The little kitten snuggles against my chest. Her spotted fur looks like a patched blanket next to my bodice. “Where’s your mama, cat? Doesn’t she have rules for you about being out? What about being respectable?”
“Katherine,” Georgina says, “you can’t take leave of your senses, not now.” She shoves me into the living room near the fireplace. In a blink, she runs upstairs, returns with a blanket, and tosses it onto my shoulders.
The kitten mewls loudly. I stroke her little head. “I think this little thing hurt her leg.” I feel her limb. Though it’s solid, the kitty screeches. I pull her deeper under the blanket. “Maybe a sprain?”
Georgina paces and glares at me. “So you’re going to mother a stray and pretend you’re just the kitty’s aunt?”
She covers her mouth and offers that skittish ready-to-run look.
“Well done,” I say. “You spoke your mind. And Georgie, I deservethe slight. Jahleel may die. I want to close my eyes and remember when everything was perfect … and then it wasn’t.”
“When was that, sister?” Georgina rubs her temples. “When you married the duke? Or when you somehowunmarried him? Or are you saying things were perfect when you wed Tavis Palmers?”
Tavis was Jahleel’s best friend. He and his family told me lies. I believed them. “Tavis nearly destroyed our father’s coal company. When news of this scandal hits the papers … the Palmerses will curse at me. I will be an even bigger disgrace in their eyes.”
My sister nods at this, but then says, “Being the Duchess of Torrance wasn’t important enough, but being a mere viscountess with a gambling husband was a triumph?” She shakes her head. “You gave up being a duchess to be impoverished? Why?”
“There’s more to it, Georgie.”
“Then tell me, Katherine. The duke’s kindness saved Wilcox Coal. It savedus. What has prejudiced you against him so badly?”
There’s no way to respond without making things worse.
Chapter 4
JAHLEELCHARLES, DUKE OFTORRANCE—THESICKBED
Anya House
London, England
