Blackmoore(30)

Grasping my courage with desperate hands, I turned my steps to him.

I would try once more. Mr. Pritchard had been cruel, and the nervous Mr.

Dyer had clearly agreed with him. But Mr. Brandon was kind. I could see it in his eyes.

He stood as I approached, bowing to me, and offered with an out-stretched arm the chair next to his. I smiled with relief. I had not erred in my judgment here. He was a kind man.

86



“Miss Worthington, you look rather flushed. Perhaps the fire was too warm for you?”

I pressed a hand to my hot cheek, thinking of how my face burned from embarrassment, not heat.

“Perhaps.” I thought bravely of my bargain with Mama and my escape to India and the example of Eleanor. I would try again. I had to try again. I could not give it all up because of one man’s rudeness. Sitting next to him, I smiled in the way Eleanor had smiled, and I leaned toward him, and I asked him to tell me about himself.

L

“I need to speak with you, Kitty.” Sylvia stood before me. Her gloved hands were clenched into fists, and a warning blazed from her cool blue eyes.

I had just left speaking with the elder Mr. Brandon for the past hour.

Acting like Eleanor had exhausted me, and the room was much too warm.

Seeking the coolness of the hall, I had walked toward the doors when Sylvia intercepted me.

“Of course,” I said, a little surprised by her demeanor.

I followed her out of the room, down the hall, and into the dining room, which had been cleaned after dinner and now sat empty. She closed the doors carefully behind us before whirling around to face me.

“How could you, Kitty?”

I fell back a step, startled. “How could I what?”

“How could you do this to me? After everything I have done for you?”

Her face was a splotchy red, and tears made her eyes glisten.

Completely dumbfounded, I shook my head. “What have I done to you?”

She stepped toward me, pointed a finger at my chest, and said with a sob, “You have just spent the past hour trying to steal Mr. Brandon from me! After I told you I liked him! After I showed you the . . . the quote 87



J u l i a n n e D o n a l D s o n

. . . that he gave me.” Her lips trembled. “The quote about me. Maybe you did not think it was significant, because he didn’t write it himself, but I loved it! It was the sweetest thing any man has ever done for me, and I could easily fall in love with him, and you knew that, and you just sat there and—and— flirted with him, in the most obvious and disgusting manner!”

My mouth had dropped open at her first sentence and I stared at her, stunned. “You mean that paper was from the elder Mr. Brandon?”

“Of course it was!” She wiped at her cheeks. “Who else could it have been from?”

“The son, of course!” I was yelling now. I was horrified at what I had done, but I was appalled, too, that Sylvia had not imagined that there could have been some confusion on my part. “The man who is closer to your age! The handsome one!”

Her eyes opened wide with incredulity. “He is a younger son, Kitty.

My children would never have a chance at inheriting anything. The father at least has a title, even if he is only a baron. Besides, I would never be interested in the son. He would drag me all over the countryside, talking about adventures and making me go places that I did not want to go. It would . . . it would be like being married to you! I would hate it!”

I reared back, feeling as if I had been struck. “I . . . I thought it was a compliment to me that you liked the son. I thought we . . .” I took a breath, and let it out with a feeling of great loss. “I thought we were the dearest of friends.”

She was quiet for a long moment. “I think we were good childhood friends, Kitty. But we have been different now for quite some time.”

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, feeling suddenly much too tired for this. “Kate. Please. Please, just once, call me Kate.”

Her expression hardened again, and she looked at me with tightly closed lips.

“You never liked who I grew into, did you?” I asked, suddenly real-izing the truth. “That is why you refuse to call me Kate.”

88



She lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. She did not need to confirm it. I knew it was true. And with the knowledge came a heavy sense of loss.

“Never mind,” I said. “It doesn’t matter what you call me. I am so sorry I flirted with your Mr. Brandon. I had no idea. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think there is any chance of my having stolen him away from you. He kept looking your way.”

“Really?” A small smile appeared.

“Yes. Really. Hopefully no permanent harm has been done.”

I pulled out a chair and sat down heavily, feeling defeated. There went two of my prospects. Mr. Pritchard and Mr. Brandon both had to be crossed off my list. That left only the nervous Mr. Dyer, and I had no hope in him. I rested my chin on my hand. Sylvia pulled out the chair next to me and sat down, turning toward me. I could feel her gaze on my face, but I was too embarrassed to meet it.

“I have never seen you behave like that,” she said in a quiet voice. “I have never seen you flirt with any man, much less two in one night. But watching you reminded me very much of someone else.”