Page 34 of Fortune’s Final Folly

Her hair was shot through with grey, but it did not take much imagination to see it had once been a deep ebony with shining curls. Her swarthy skin had the tone of a thousand desert days but the impact of a thousand frigid nights. Despite all of this, it was her eyes that held him transfixed.

Almond-shaped with a color somewhere between blue and grey as if shortly after birth the color had been held in limbo, refusing to be one or the other yet uniquely both at the same time.

All these years, Joshua had thought the shade one of a kind…something that could not be reproduced in more than one person. The color itself was an impossibility but having another matching set staring at him now was utterly unfathomable.

“Your name, madam?”

The woman’s chin notched up several degrees before she spoke. “The Countess of Holderness.” She paused, swallowed, and with evident reluctance, added, “A’laya De Vere. Or I once was.”

Holderness? Was the name not linked to Shrewbury? And what did she mean, “I once was?” There had never been any word that Pierce De Vere had wed, no mention of another in the lineage archives Joshua had scoured, nor in the file they’d found. Nowhere had Joshua found evidence Pierce was living outside of England with a wife—and perhaps a family. He was a reprobate, a rakehell, and a gambler.

The woman’s name needed verification. Her identity did not.

The resemblance was beyond words and outside of comprehension. It was more than anything Joshua could have imagined was true.

Why had Kate not told him? Out of everything she’d kept private, why would she choose to keep this secret? She’d shared that she’d always felt different—could it be she was unaware of how different she was?

“I am here for my daughter, Lady Katherina De Vere.”

The utterance answered every question he’d had since discovering the unknown link between Shrewbury and the Vicar Elliott and his wife. That connection was Kate.

It had always been Kate.

The Elliotts had moved to London when she was but a babe, coming from places unknown, and had purchased a building with a large sum of money. Even in Cheapside, that was a feat, unless—as Joshua and Kate had discovered—a person had been given a bequest of some sort.

“Your hand, my lord.” The countess removed her thick, woolen gloves from her hands and held her palms out to him. “Give. Now.”

Where had this woman come from, and why was he pleased to see her fierceness?

Joshua was helpless to stop himself from taking the several steps until he stood before the older woman. He should be leery of anyone asserting a claim over Kate. She was his.

No, she wasn’t his.

But he did as asked. Holding out his hands, she took hold of them and closed her eyes. Her head lowered, and she swayed slightly from side to side before stiffening.

“Can I trust you, my lord?” she mumbled. Though her chin lifted, her eyes remained closed.

She seemed to be listening intently, waiting patiently for his reply. The brief few moments he’d shared with her had not led him to believe that she was a woman practiced in patience.

“I am unsure,” he confessed. “It depends on your intentions concerning Miss Kate.”

“Lady Katherina.” Her eyes opened, and her penetrating grey-blue stare turned steely as it held his. “My instinct says you can be trusted. You are a protective man, my lord, and I am grateful to learn this. I feared you were somehow involved in keeping Katherina from me.”

Involved? Joshua could not be further removed from things.

“My man, Henry, I sent him to Shrewbury,” Joshua said, stumbling over his words. He pulled his hands from her grasp and retreated. “Why did you not make yourself known? He brought back word that the duke was not in residence—and hadn’t been in some years.”

The chime above the door jingled, signaling another had arrived.

“Joshua, I saw the lights extinguished and determined you were ready to depart. I hope I did not keep you waiting.” Kate’s light voice filled the room. “I must say I accomplished much today, especially if my terribly soiled gown is any indication. The workers informed me that, with a few more days of hard work, we should be ready for the lumber. I’ve sent word to Sally Ann’s elder brother. He’s thirteen or so, and strong. He can help some—”

Kate stooped to collect the basket Dolly had packed their noonday meal in, her words cutting off when she finally noticed Joshua wasn’t alone.

“Oh, my apologies, my lord.” Kate straightened, the basket forgotten as her words returned to a formal nature. “I wasn’t aware you were still working. I will go ‘round to the stables and wait until you have finished for the day.”

Kate—no, Lady Katherina—turned to depart.

“Wait,” he and the woman spoke in unison.