with a shrug and a jerk of his thumb.
‘I’ll wait in the tap,’ Durren said, eyeing the man with disfavour. ‘Unless you wish me to accompany you, ma’am.’
‘No, thank you, Durren. I will call if I need you,’ Katherine said and laid her hand on the door to the parlour.
‘Go and find Katherine.’ The Duke laid a hand on his elder son’s shoulder and let it rest for a moment. ‘It is time you ended this farce of a marriage.’
Nick looked at his father and met the dark eyes, so like his own. He could remember feeling this churned up inside, this unsure, only once before. And that was six years ago when he had made the decision to walk away from his home, his family, his inheritance without even the woman he had thought he loved by his side.
He put up his own hand and let it rest on the older man’s for a moment. Whatever else happened he had this now, this warmth and understanding that he had never shared with his father before. And he was all too aware he had Kat to thank for it. ‘I will go and find her now,’ he said.
Heron appeared as if by magic as he came out of the room. ‘My lord, might I speak with you?’
‘Later, Heron, I must find her ladyship.’
‘It is about her ladyship that I wish to speak my lord. She has left.’
‘Left? When?’
‘About thirty minutes ago, my lord. Without her maid.’ He hesitated. ‘A letter arrived for her, hand-delivered from someone staying at the Durham Ox.’
‘From whom?’ Who the devil could be writing to Kat, and who, staying at the Ox, could possibly know her?
‘I could not say, my lord.’ The butler hesitated. ‘It seemed to worry her, my lord, although as she already appeared to be somewhat distressed I cannot be certain it was the letter that had that effect.’
‘Lady Seaton was distressed? Do you know what caused that?’ What could have upset her enough to leave so abruptly?
Heron looked embarrassed, an unusual phenomenon. ‘I was coming to look for her and saw her approaching down the corridor. I do not think she was aware of me, as I had just come around the corner and this end of the corridor is somewhat shadowed. She stopped abruptly at the door of his Grace’s study, hesitated and appeared to listen. She only stood there a moment, but she put up her hand to her mouth, as though in distress, and when she came up to me I saw she had tears in her eyes.’
Nick stared at the butler blindly. The door had been ajar, he had noticed it just now as he left. What had they been saying that she could have overheard? Then he realised just how their conversation about Arabella could have been misunderstood, especially if only partly heard.
What had he said? Something about having realised that Arabella was not the right wife for him, but feeling honour bound—feeling trapped—into asking her to marry him. His father’s words came back clearly. A nice enough girl, Miss Somersham, but in no way fitted for the role of your wife. Such a marriage would have been disastrous, and I think you knew it in your heart from the beginning, but, once committed, your honour would not let you turn away from her, I know that. If the name had been inaudible, as indeed it might, for the Duke had been pacing up and down the room as he spoke, then Kat could well have believed everything he said applied to her.
‘Her ladyship began to say something,’ Heron ventured. ‘I thought it might have been her brother who had written.’
‘Hell,’ Nick said softly. He had always felt confident that Kat would not take it into her head to simply leave him and try to obtain an annulment at a distance because she had no one to go to and no resources. But her brother, however unsatisfactory, was at least a male protector. ‘Thank you, Heron.’ He strode towards the hall, taking the stairs two at a time and burst out of the front door just as Robert rode past on the grey stallion Xerxes. The animal shied violently, then reared, almost unseating Robert, who got it under control with an effort and the use of language most unfitting to a candidate for the church.
Nick grabbed the rein. ‘Off, Robert. I need him.’ ‘What for?’ Robert dismounted. ‘Is something wrong?’ ‘Kat.’ Nick swung up into the saddle and reined in hard while he found the stirrups. ‘She’s run off.’ He was not wearing spurs, but the grey did not need them; with a snort it gathered its haunches under it and set off at the gallop.
‘Phil, you look so thin!’ Katherine put her arms round her brother and hugged him, appalled at how the ill-pressed coat hung off his frame. She released him and stood back to look at him anxiously. ‘Have you been ill? Or not eating properly.’
He shrugged sulkily. ‘No money. France ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, Katy. The inns are the devil of a price, the food’s awful unless you pay through the nose and the gaming’s crooked.’
‘Then why play?’ she asked despairingly.
‘How else was I supposed to live?’ he demanded petulantly. ‘It’s all right for you—you’ve been living in your palace with your marquis, dining off gold plates, no doubt.’
The sheer unfairness of it stung her into retaliation. ‘I had no idea who he was until we got here! You left without even waiting for the execution, without a word to me other than that you had gone to France—and you stole my clock and ear-bobs.’
He looked shiftily ashamed, but continued to whine. ‘I couldn’t stand it, I told you that. You do not know how bad it was for me.’
‘For you? I faced debtors’ prison, marriage to a man I thought was a common felon, the prospect of widowhood—and you could not stand it? There are times, Philip, when I despair.’
He shifted around the room, fidgeting so as not to meet her angry eyes. ‘Well, I’m back now, and you’ve fallen on your feet. Your marquis will have to do something for me.’
‘Oh, no, he will not,’ Katherine said vehemently. ‘I am getting the marriage annulled, so do not think you can sponge off Nicholas.’
‘Annulled?’ Her brother’s face broke into an unpleasant grin. ‘After you spent a night in a cell with him, goodness knows how many on the journey up here and have been living with him ever since? I know all about the Dower House—the goings-on at the big house are the main topic of gossip hereabouts.’
‘I will rely on medical evidence,’ Katherine said stiffly.
Philip sneered. ‘Virginities are restored daily in every brothel in the land, no one is going to believe—’
He did not finish the sentence. The door slammed back on its hinges and a tall figure took one stride into the room and hit him square on the jaw.
‘Do not,’ said Nicholas, Marquis of Seaton, massaging his grazed knuckles, ‘do not ever speak to my wife like that again. Get up and apologise.’
Philip struggled to his feet and backed away. ‘Katy, you know I didn’t mean it … ‘
‘Apologise.’
‘I am sorry, Katy.’
‘Now, listen to what I have to say, and listen to it well.’ Nick pressed Katherine gently down into a chair and smiled reassuringly. The caressing
