Page 59 of Kathryn

“Our talk?” Katie repeated, beginning to sound like a parrot.

“Come, my dear. My chambers are much more comfortable than standing about here in the corridor.” She glanced at the bare walls but did not comment as she led Katie back toward the part of the house referred to as the family wing, one of the four rectangular blocks that extended off the main portion of the building.

The dowager chattered the entire way, flitting from subject to subject like the butterfly she so resembled. Yet again Katie marveled that this woman was related to Dulverton. The dowager was the antithesis of her son. While he skewered a person with his intent, stone-cold gaze, the dowager’s eyes never rested on any single object for more than a few seconds. And while Dulverton rarely spoke more than two or three words together, his mother hardly stopped chattering.

Betje’s chambers were as fluffy and bright as the woman herself. Indeed, the sheer amount of pink—carpets, wall hangings, drapes, silk-covered settees—was a bit hard on the eyes.

The duchess waved a hand to the room. “I had this chamber done when the drapers came to refurbish the master and mistress suites,” Betje said. “Do you like it?”

“Oh, yes. Very much,” she lied. “They must have worked fast,” she added.

“I told them it was an emergency. And it was, it was.” She pulled a face, as if she’d just smelled something foul. “It was all brown, brown, brown, brown, brown!” Betje gestured to the pink-on-pink silk settee. “Please, won’t you sit?”

“You mentioned a dig?” Katie reminded the other woman once they were both seated.

“Er, yes, I did. Were you aware that my son is one of the foremost authorities on fossils in England?” she asked, bristling with pride.

“No, I was not,” Katie admitted. But that would explain all the fossils. So, that was what her husband did all day, every day.

Her brother Doddy had been wild about fossils. And because Katie and Doddy—separated by only two years—had been all but joined at the hip when they’d been younger, Katie had gone on fossil hunts with him. They hadn’t found much, but they’d had great fun digging until their mother had put an end to it, insisting Katie’s time would be better spent learning how to behave like a lady.

What had ever happened to Doddy’s rather pitiful fossil collection? Did he still hunt for fossils? Katie hardly knew her little brother anymore, seeing him only briefly once or twice a year.

“It is a hobby he learned from his father,” Betje went on. “Boon was also well-respected in the field, as was his father.”

“And where does he go to do this digging?”

“He has an encampment right here on the estate.”

“Encampment? Do you mean he has someplace else that he will stay?”

“It is a commodious tent, and I believe it is equipped for overnight stays, but I cannot imagine Gerrit will use it with you here.” Betje’s brow furrowed. “Or at least I hope not,” she added, more to herself. “But that is what I wished to talk to you about.”

“His encampment?”

“No, no, not that, but rather how you might, er, accommodate yourself to my son.”

A spike of irritation stabbed her at the other woman’s words. How much more accommodation could there possibly be? Dulverton already controlled every facet of her life.

“I know the circumstances that spurred your betrothal, my dear.”

“I should think all of Britain is aware your son was forced to marry me.”

“Tsk, tsk.” The dowager scooted closer on the settee and patted Katie’s hands, which were clenched in her lap. “You must not sound so bitter.”

“Trapping one’s husband in a kissing contest is hardly something to take pride in.”

Betje chortled delightedly. “Oh, now you are giving me a severe look. But I must say it warmed my heart to think of my son marrying a woman with such daring.”

“Not to mention such a stupid woman.”

Again, the dowager laughed. “There is no denying your behavior was a bit wild and reckless,” Betje said, squeezing Katie’s hands as if to take any sting out of her words. “But that is not always a bad thing.”

Katie gave the other woman a look of disbelief, earning another laugh.

“You think I am a bit crazy, don’t you?” Thankfully, Betje went on rather than wait for a response. “You will have observed that my son is neither of those things.”

“Yes, I have noticed,” Katie said dryly.