Wagered to the Duke (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (30 page)

He smiled to himself. He was making progress.

“Katherine!”

He wasn’t the one who said that, but the sound of her full name seemed to turn him into the proverbial pillar of salt, for he stood frozen.

She, on the other hand, naturally spun around at the sound of her name, and to his astonishment she gasped, “Mother!”

For the life of him Nathan could not force any sound out of his still gaping mouth, nor could he budge his seemingly locked jaw or any other part of himself. All he could do was stand there thunderstruck as Kate lifted her skirts and scurried across the crowded inn yard to an older woman who stood next to a mud-splattered carriage.

Nathan watched as they embraced and spoke rapidly, both at the same time, leaving him to wonder how either could understand a word the other was saying. The two of them finally turned and came toward Nathan, Kate holding her mother by the arm, her expression inscrutable behind her spectacles. As they approached, Nathan could easily discern a resemblance between the two women. Lady Bellingham was like an older, more haggard version of her daughter, just as thin, though without any apparent need for spectacles.

“Your Grace, you remember my mother, the Countess of Bellingham, when you spent that single night with us last summer.” She glanced at her mother. “The duke very kindly agreed to escort me this far from Ellington Hall, whence I might find a seat on the stage to London.”

Nathan was so stunned by this turn of events that he almost forgot to bow or even say something, though he was aware his mouth still hung open like a broken drawbridge. He quickly snapped his head forward and mumbled—taking great care not to grumble—“I’m delighted to meet you again, my lady.”

“How do you do, Your Grace?” Her voice was as cool and crisp as her daughter’s. “We’re much obliged to you. ’Twas most kind of Lord Ellington to lend his carriage, and of Your Grace to escort her this far, but I shall not hear of her boarding a stage at this point. Not when I have my own carriage over here!”

“Thank you, Your Grace, for everything,” Kate said with great emphasis on
everything
,
though under the circumstances it was impossible for Nathan to tell if that was a good or bad thing. Certainly such emphasis had to include the events of last night, and if she was thanking him for that, then surely that was a scrap to the dog, however meager. Still…

She turned and hastened over to the other carriage as if she couldn’t wait to leave with her mother, who remained only long enough to say, “Do give Lord Ellington my regards and thanks for your trouble in looking after my daughter, Your Grace.”

“No trouble at all,” he said, and he meant it with all his heart.

She bobbed a curtsey and turned to follow her daughter.

He’d wanted to apologize to Kate for last night. He thought he’d broken her heart, and he longed to apologize and explain his actions, or lack of them. But did it really matter now? Was her heart truly broken? She’d thanked him for
everything.

Yet she didn’t even say good-bye.

Perhaps he’d misinterpreted her fit of pique as she stormed out of his bedchamber last night. Either way, the fact remained that she didn’t seem at all bereft to be parted from him as he suddenly was from her. If he didn’t know any better, he might have thought she was relieved to be free of him—as if he’d been holding her captive all this time.

But he knew now it was the other way around. And she still held him captive. As her mother’s carriage rumbled out of the inn yard and onto the main road leading south to London, he had the strange sense that Kate wasn’t the only thing it was taking away from him—it was taking away his heart.

That’s when he felt the ominously cold, shivery shudder he’d been dreading at some point on this journey.

Now was not the time to pursue her. The horses needed a rest, as did the coachman, groom, and Bilby, and they, like Nathan, were surely famished. The Ellington carriage was bigger, and unlike Lady Bellingham’s conveyance, it was drawn by four horses to her two. Moreover, he didn’t really need the carriage except for his own baggage. He could always get a fresh mount and gallop after them and let Bilby and the others catch up, or even put Bilby and the baggage on the next stage.

He still had a chance to recover his heart—and most importantly, his heart’s desire.

At that moment, several men on horseback entered the inn yard from the opposite direction. One of them Nathan recognized immediately, yet he did not feel so much as a scintilla of surprise. He’d been halfway expecting this and had even worried Waldrop might do what Nathan himself had just been contemplating.

For that reason alone, he would have to do whatever he could to either keep Waldrop from going any farther—or persuade him to turn back. It was just as well Kate had gone with her mother, however painfully it twisted his heart.

Nathan stepped back as Waldrop practically rode his mount into him, drawing rein at the very last moment. Waldrop remained in the saddle, undoubtedly because it was the only way he could be taller than Nathan, and it allowed him the added advantage of being able to glare down on him with his one good eye. A dark-purplish bruise marred his cheek and shadowed his other eye. His henchmen, meanwhile, circled their horses around Nathan, effectively hemming him in.

Bilby and the Ellington servants had already gone in to eat, so they could be of no aid to him. He had his pistol inside his coat, but he knew Waldrop and his companions had pistols, too, as well as the advantage of being high in their saddles.

“Where is she, Loring?”

Being addressed by the title he’d inherited and still wasn’t accustomed to gave Nathan a moment’s pause, which allowed him to act mystified. “Who?”

“The Baxter chit. Her stepfather owes five thousand pounds, and he put her up as collateral in the event he did not pay his debt within a specified time that has since elapsed. Bellingham never did manage to raise the money—but then, how could he, while rusticating in the wilds of Yorkshire? When he came to Lord Gorham’s shooting party a fortnight ago, he was actually hoping to raise the funds then, in his usual irresponsible manner. He failed.” Waldrop reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a sheaf of paper, which he held out to Nathan for his perusal. “Make the slightest attempt to rip it in half, and you run the risk of spooking our horses and worse, for my men all have pistols at the ready.”

Nathan swiftly scanned the document, complete with Lord Bellingham’s seal. The bastard had indeed offered up his own stepdaughter as collateral if he failed to pay back the five thousand pounds by a certain date, which happened to be just last week.

But it was to whom Lord Bellingham owed the money that caused Nathan’s heart to almost stop cold in his chest.

He speared Waldrop with a sharp glare, and Waldrop only sneered back as he finally dismounted. “Now perhaps Your Grace and I can come to some sort of agreement. Either I collect my five thousand pounds, or I’ll find the Baxter chit and put her to work for my stepmother, who is always in need of a lady’s companion. Frankly, I’d prefer the five thousand pounds. I’ve been rolled up since your half brother’s death last year and can’t afford my stepmother’s debts. She’s on the verge of fleeing to the Continent like Sir Niles Barnett, who’s in the same basket and is already making ready to leave. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bellingham joined him.”

Nathan tsked, unable to muster a mote of sympathy for any of these reprobates, especially Waldrop, who had been one of the rakes who’d laughingly abandoned an eight-year-old boy in the woods twenty years ago before winning his mother from his half brother in another game of cards.

“Either pay me now, or tell me where to find her,” Waldrop said coldly.

Nathan wasn’t about to do the latter. He would have to do whatever was necessary to delay Waldrop and keep him from continuing on the road south, where he was sure to catch up with Kate and her mother.

So he said, “Let’s go into the posting house and discuss it over whisky and cards. I’ll buy.”

Of course he meant he was only buying drinks.

* * * *

“What luck!” Kate’s mother exclaimed. “Would you believe your portmanteau was at that coaching inn? No doubt because it’s such a large coaching inn, being Derby. I told them it was my daughter’s and had them strap it into the boot. However did it get this far without you? Never mind, it was probably loaded onto the wrong stage. How long have you been wearing just the clothes on your back?”

Kate was almost too shocked by what had just transpired to absorb her mother’s words and thus respond to them.

“Katherine? What’s the matter? You don’t seem at all pleased. Did I foil some secret, scandalous plans you had?”

Say something, anything, to placate her.
“Susannah very kindly gave me some of her old frocks to wear until I reached London. And no, I had no secret, scandalous plans at all—unless you think there’s something secret and scandalous about going to London to stay with Anthony and Georgiana.”

“Obviously you were trying to be secretive about it, or you would have notified me as to your intentions.” Her mother sounded not a little aggrieved.

Irritation gripped Kate. “I believe I did, only a thousand and one times. But you wouldn’t hear of it. No, the only journey I could be trusted to make was to York and a governess position.”

“What you stated a thousand and one times wasn’t an intention, but a desire.”

“Very well, but I always
intended
to do it, even if I couldn’t very well say it.”

“Precisely. As I said, you were secretive about your intention.” Now Mother sounded very pleased with herself for having pointed that out, much to Kate’s annoyance. “Besides, you wouldn’t have been governess for long. Mr. Throckmorton was keen to find a new wife, but he couldn’t very well advertise for that. I thought it was the perfect situation for you, since you didn’t seem likely to marry otherwise, especially since you had no dowry.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Her mother sighed ruefully. “My dear, I’m sorrier than you can imagine for that.”

“Your husband is the one who owes the apology, since he’s the one who gambled it away.”

“He didn’t really gamble it away. He only used it to pay off some rather pressing debts.”

“Debts that he never would have had if not for the gambling.” Rage bubbled in her throat. “And he’s
still
gambling!”

“I know. That’s why I left him.”

Kate peered at her mother. “Why do I have the feeling that when you say that, you mean you’re leaving him for good, as opposed to just making a little jaunt to London?”

“Because I
am
leaving him for good. He hadn’t changed, and when I found out what happened when he went to Lord Gorham’s shooting party in Northumberland, I realized then that he would never change. Remember that little speech he made on Anthony and Georgiana’s wedding day, when he said his dearest wish for that Yuletide was that we have a true and happy marriage? Lies, Katherine. All lies.”

“Being trapped at Bellingham Hall for the past year allowed me to ascertain that for myself.” Kate hesitated before adding, “Still, I’m glad you left him, Mother. I know you were never happy with him, especially since you only married him to keep him from exposing his sister’s affair with Papa to me and Anthony. Yet we both knew anyway.”

“I won’t divorce him, of course. Quite aside from the fact I don’t have the grounds, the ensuing scandal would make all of us pariahs from good society, in which case I might as well remain in Yorkshire, and you, too. But I will no longer live under the same roof with him, or appear in public with him. As for his part, he may continue to do as he jolly well pleases.”

Kate reached for her mother’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m proud of you, Mother. You’ve always been loath to assert yourself, so I know it took a great deal of courage for you to leave.”

“Not courage, just outrage. I went first to Mr. Throckmorton’s because I thought you should know. You can imagine my surprise to find you weren’t there. And my surprises were just beginning. Mr. Throckmorton informed me that only a few days after you took your post, a gentleman named Swingle popped up out of nowhere and eloped with you, leaving Mr. Throckmorton without a governess again.”

Kate sighed in relief. So Mr. Swingle did find Miss Hathaway, after all.
Good.
Two such overwrought creatures as they deserved each other.

And it was still only right that
someone
in this tangle should live happily ever after.

“And the surprises don’t stop there,” her mother went on. “Mr. Throckmorton told me that you wished to be called Miss Hathaway, which is what the stranger called you, and that you called your brother Freddy. Well, it just so happens I know of a Squire Hathaway who lives in Leeds, but only because your stepfather has had some sort of business with him in the past year.”

“Business,” Kate sputtered under her breath. “He probably owes him money.” She knew of no other business her stepfather ever had with anyone.

“So I went to call on Squire Hathaway, but he was not home. However, I did meet with his son, a Mr. Frederick Hathaway, who told me that you traded places with his sister so you could go to London. Really, Katherine! What were you thinking, to travel this far without a chaperone?”

“I didn’t really intend to travel without one,” Kate replied, as she recalled the perturbed and perfidious Polly.

“But you did,” her mother said accusingly.

“Well, no harm came to me, as you can see.” She only hoped no one could see, or would ever see, the harm Nathan had done to her heart.

She turned away from her mother for fear she might see the tears that suddenly sprang to her eyes, and she fixed her suddenly blurry vision out the window at the gently sloping hills of emerald green. She awoke this morning realizing she’d behaved like a fool last night, and all because he hadn’t offered to do the honorable thing in the wake of what took place. Only in the cold, gray light of morning did it dawn on her that she didn’t want an offer of marriage that way. Or for that reason.