She studied her husband as he bent over a sheet of parchment and scribbled his name in the requisite places. He tossed the pen down atop the desk. “It is done,” he said quietly.
It is done.
No, that wasn’t quite right—it was merely the beginning of the rest of her life.
He held his arm out to Katherine. She studied it, unblinking and then placed her fingers atop his coat sleeves.
Mother scurried to her feet, a brittle smile on her lips. “Cook has prepared a splendid wedding feast—”
“No,” Jasper said his tone harsh.
Mother blinked. “Your Grace.”
“There will be no breakfast. The air is thick with snow, and if we are to reach my estate, we’ll need to leave posthaste.”
Katherine’s hand fell back to her side. She angled her head and tried to make sense of Jasper’s words. When she’d thought of marriage to him, she’d known they would live together, most assuredly in the country, considering his recent revelation about London. “But it is very nearly Christmas,” she blurted. Five pairs of eyes swiveled in Katherine’s direction, and panic began to build within her chest. “I imagined we would spend the holiday with my family,” she said on a rush. “Aldora and…”
Jasper narrowed his eyes. “Aldora?”
Oh God, he is still a stranger to me, as I am to him. He’s not even met my sister. “And Michael. And then there is Benedict, who will be coming soon.”
The Marquess of Guilford looked at her with such a pitying expression in his warm blue eyes, but the kind gesture only fueled her panic.
“Isn’t that right, Mother?” Katherine swung to face her mother and sister. “Surely Benedict should have arrived already but he will be so disappointed if we do not remain for Christmas.”
“No,” Jasper snapped. “My driver has been instructed to wait. We leave immediately.”
Anne seemed to sense the desperation that bubbled to the surface, and nearly consumed Katherine. She clapped her hands and beamed at Jasper. “I have a splendid idea. What if we join you for the Christmas season and then…”
“No,” Jasper cut in. The vein that ran the length of his neck throbbed. “There will be no company.”
“I don’t understand,” Katherine whispered. She winced as the words tumbled into the quiet of the room, and the interlopers of her private despair stared on.
Jasper dusted his immaculate white gloves together. “We leave now.”
That was it. No gentle answer. No patient explanation.
Her eyes slid closed. Good God, what have I done?
When she opened them, Jasper studied her. For the briefest, slightest moment she detected a warmth in the fathomless green depths of his eyes. Only, it must have been a flicker of the fire within the hearth responsible for the slight glimmer, for she blinked, and firmly back in place was that coolly mocking expression she’d come to expect.
Katherine searched the room but there was no one to make him see reason. He was the all-powerful, truculent Duke of Bainbridge; so very clearly accustomed to having his every wish and desire met.
She grunted as Anne hurled herself into Katherine’s arms. She clasped Katherine tight, and stroked a soothing, reassuring circle over her back. “I’ve known since the moment he sent round a note to cancel your meeting in the park that he was for you, Katherine. I just wasn’t certain you knew it.”
Katherine drew back, startled.
Her sister must have seen the shock written on Katherine’s face, for she squeezed her shoulders. “I didn’t believe a bit of snow should have stopped your outing.”
Anne kissed her cheek. “Remember, he saved you. There is surely good inside him,” she whispered against her ear.
Yes, Katherine knew that, and yet, the idea of going off with him to his country estate, alone, shut away from her family, filled her with a stony resentment. She hugged her sister back, hard, and then made her goodbyes to Mother.
As they made their way through the house, to the foyer, and out the front doors held open by Ollie. The butler inclined his head and opened his mouth…perhaps to offer congratulatory words to the newly wedded couple? Only Jasper settled his heavy palm along the base of her back and steered her forward. She frowned up at him, but he appeared wholly unaffected by her displeasure.
They trudged through the snow-filled ground, over to the carriage. Jasper waved off the servant and handed her inside. He leapt up behind her.
The driver closed the door behind them. As the carriage lurched forward carrying Katherine off to her new home, she felt much the way Andromeda had surely felt chained to that rock in hope of salvation from a powerful avenger.