For Love of the Duke(52)
Katherine snapped her lips closed. “Well,” she said, and shifted on the bench. “Er, well, then. Thank you.”#p#分页标题#e#
Jasper settled back in his seat…
“But that still does not pardon you.”
His lips tugged at the corner. “Pardon me?” Katherine possessed more steely strength and courage than the most hardened battlefield warrior.
She nodded. “It is nearly Christmas.”
He knew that. For three years, three-hundred and sixty-four days, he’d well-known the significance of that date. Only, for him it no longer signified birth and a season of hope, but rather the bleak, emptiness of death. “I know that, Katherine. I do not celebrate Christmas.”
“That is silly.” She pointed her eyes to the ceiling of the coach.
The wind howled as if saddened by the reminder of Lydia. Silence echoed his dark musings, punctuated by the rapid churn of the carriage wheels as it turned up snow and gravel in its wake.
The irony did not escape him either; tomorrow would be the anniversary of Lydia’s death, and he should celebrate it married to his new bride.
Katherine continued, seeming unaware of his dark musings. “Christmas is meant to be a time of joy and peace. You’ve been shut away for so very long. Let us return to London, see my family, and celebrate with them.”
A harsh, ugly laugh burst from his chest. “Is this what this is about, Katherine? Is this truly about me? Or is about you having what you desire? Are you merely trying to twist me about your clever finger in order to have your way?”
She slapped him. His head whipped back under the ferocity of her blow.
He flexed his jaw. Christ, she could lay out most gentlemen he’d known in his miserable life.
The color drained from her cheeks. Her skin went a pale shade of white to match the the fresh, fallen snow of the passing scene. “F-forgive m-me,” she stammered.
He blinked under a staggering realization…
She fears me.
Which infuriated him far more than a deserved blow to his person.
His callous words were inexcusable.
He waved off her apology. “I deserved that.”
She wet her lips. “You did deserve it.”
“I know,” he said. “I stated as much.”
“Right.” Katherine fell silent. She shifted her attention to the window. The wind whipped against the carriage. It battered the black lacquer doors. Her long, delicate fingers pulled back the red velvet curtain and she glanced out the window.
Jasper studied her within the reflection of that ice-frosted glass panel.
“Aldora,” she whispered.
He angled his head. “I beg your pardon.”
She fixed her gaze out the window. “It occurred to me how very little we know of one another, Jasper. Aldora. She is my sister.”
He knew that. Guilford spoke of the eldest sister and the woman’s husband. Jasper would not humble himself by acknowledging he’d discussed her life and family quite freely with his close friend and confidante. “And Michael?” he said, knowing very well the wealthy young lord with a scandal attached to his name.
“Is Aldora’s husband. She intended to wed his brother, the Marquess of St. James because our family…” Her words trailed off.
Jasper told himself not to pry; his marriage to Katherine had been a matter of convenience, nothing more. The details surrounding her life, and that of her family’s should not matter. In delving into those details, her life only became that much more entwined with his. “Because your family…?”
Katherine gripped the fabric of her emerald green muslin cloak. “My father was a wastrel. He spent his days and nights at the gaming tables, and indulging in spirits, and he squandered everything not entailed.”#p#分页标题#e#
Ahh, she’d alluded to as much in her proposal to Jasper. He was filled with the same icy rage as when she’d humbled herself by offering herself to him, a heartless bastard, all to thwart her grasping mother’s intentions for her.
“Nearly four years ago, he died suddenly of an apoplexy.” When his world was coming apart at the proverbial seams, so too had Katherine’s. He tried to imagine her then, a mere girl on the cusp of womanhood watching her every last earthly possession removed and sold to pay for her father’s sins.
Katherine glanced at him. “Then the creditors began coming round.”
His gut churned. He wished he’d known her then; wished he could have silently paid off those creditors and spared her the terror of being turned out, with no monetary security.
“They took Anne’s pianoforte, even her ribbons. They took all the unentailed property. My b…they took everything,” she amended, as though shamed in acknowledging her own material losses.