Katherine leaned back in her seat. Her fingers plucked at the corners of Harry’s kerchief. They struck quite the pair. Her, the Duchess of Bainbridge, whose marriage remained shrouded in mystery to the ton, and Harry the unrepentant rogue who’d earned the censure of every polite, Society matron.
Theirs had been a rather ignominious beginning. While attending a soiree, Katherine had stolen a moment outside for air. Harry had followed her and made her a rather indecent proposal. She’d punched him in the nose.
After that, he’d set himself up as a kind of protector from the steady barrage of gentleman who’d incorrectly assumed her absentee husband made Katherine fair game for an illicit affair.#p#分页标题#e#
She imagined if Society stumbled upon them at this unfashionable hour, they would have raised more than a few brows.
Harry shattered the quiet. “I suppose if I were truly a good friend I would suggest you return to Bainbridge’s cold, dark castle and make amends with the undeserving bounder.”
Katherine folded her hands on her lap and studied the interlocked digits, silently.
“But I’m not a good friend. I’m a rogue and still hold onto hope that you’ll forget your miserable husband and—”
“Harry,” she said firmly, interrupting him with a scowl. It mattered not that he jested, any and all mention of Jasper still rubbed as raw as vinegar being poured upon an open wound.
Harry shoved himself to his feet and stood over her. “You believe I jest, Kat.”
She shook her head, wanting him to stop, needing him to stop. With the exception of her sister, Harry had become the one friend whose company she enjoyed. Never one to take himself or anything at all seriously, he provided the perfect foil to Jasper’s dark forebodingness and, what’s more, helped her forget, even for just those slips of moments in time, how close she’d been to having everything she’d never known she needed in life.
He reached his hand out. “Kat—”
The whinny of a horse cut across whatever Harry’s intended words were.
Katherine glanced down the gravel riding path, and her heart thudded wildly in her chest at the approaching rider.
She rose. Her rose-colored skirts fluttered about her feet as the Marquess of Guilford drew his mare to a stop a short distance away. He dismounted.
Harry frowned at the sudden intrusion. “Guilford,” Harry drawled. He sketched a short bow.
Jasper’s friend, the lone witness to their nuptials ignored the other man. He directed a serious stare at Katherine.
Her heart wrenched, feeling ever closer to Jasper just by the appearance of his friend. A question as to her husband’s well-being sprung to her lips but Guilford spoke before she could formulate words.
“Your Grace,” he said, in short, clipped tones suggesting his disapproval of Katherine’s companion.
“My lord.” Even as she curtsied, a frown turned her lips. She’d not be made to feel guilty for keeping company with Harry. Nothing untoward had or would happen with the roguish earl. Katherine might be lonely and broken-hearted, but only one man could fill the empty hole left by Jasper’s disinterest—and that man happened to be her stubborn, aloof husband.
Harry looked between them. The uncharacteristic hardness in his eyes indicated he’d detected the undercurrents of tension between Katherine and the marquess.
“I hope you are finding your time in London pleasant, Lady Katherine,” Guilford said dismissing Harry outright.
“Most pleasant,” she lied through her white teeth.
Harry snorted, and then covered a hand to his mouth, feigning a cough. She shot him a sideways look, knowing he detected the untruth in her words.
Guilford’s gaze slid back over toward the other man. His lip pulled at the corner in a disapproving sneer. When he returned his hard stare to Katherine, he gave a curt nod. “I bid thee good day, Lady Katherine.” He turned on his heel and strode back toward his horse.
A frenzied sense of panic filled her breast. Lord Guilford represented the last fragile connection to Jasper.
Katherine hurried after him. Harry’s kerchief fluttered to the ground, forgotten.
“My lord,” she called, just as he grasped the reins of his mount.
He stiffened and turned back to face her. “Your Grace?”#p#分页标题#e#
Katherine stumbled to a halt in front of him. She wet her lips and glanced around at the empty park. “My husband,” she whispered.
He furrowed his brow. “Lady Katherine?”
“How is he?” she implored him with her eyes. Jasper occupied every last corner of her thoughts. She yearned for just some word on the man who would forever hold her heart.