The Bride Goes Rogue (The Fifth Avenue Rebels #3)(25)

A small smidgeon of guilt worked its way under her ribs. She couldn’t help but feel partially responsible for his predicament. “I hope you don’t hold the past against me.”

“You mean how you schemed to break up my betrothal to Maddie?” he finished dryly. “No, I don’t hold it against you. Nor do I begrudge Alice for choosing another instead of me.”

“I apologize. I never meant to hurt anyone. I just wanted my friend to be happy.”

“Understandable. But perhaps you and I could become friends and then you’d be on my side for a change?”

“I’d like that. I—”

“Katherine!”

She spun at the booming voice and found her father approaching. “Hello, Daddy. Were you looking for me?”

“Yes, I’ve been searching everywhere.” He leaned to kiss her cheek, then addressed the duke. “Your Grace.”

“Mr. Delafield.” They shook hands. “I apologize for monopolizing your daughter’s time.”

“Nonsense. I’m pleased to see the two of you getting along.”

Uneasiness settled in Katherine’s belly. She would need to set her father straight on her friendship with Lockwood. There was nothing romantic happening, so Daddy shouldn’t get his hopes up for a duchess in the family. “We’re hiding out in here. The pitying stares in the ballroom were a bit much.”

Her father’s face fell. “Oh, Kat. Forgive me for asking you to attend tonight.”

“It’s all right. I’m tougher than I look.”

“Yes, you most definitely are.” He suddenly snapped his fingers and shifted toward the duke. “Say, Your Grace. I’d like to discuss a business item, if you’re amenable. I wonder if you’d join my daughter and I for dinner tomorrow night. Nine o’clock at Sherry’s?”

“Uh.” Lockwood glanced at Katherine, unsure.

She understood. Her father could be a force of nature when he set his mind to something. He wouldn’t let this drop until they all three dined together. But this could also show her father that she and the duke were merely friends.

She gave Lockwood an encouraging smile. “That sounds like a grand time. Will you come?”

The duke nodded once, all politeness and grace. “It would be my pleasure.”

“Excellent,” her father said. “Tomorrow night, it is. Katherine, are you ready to leave?”

God, yes. She’d reached her limit on polite conversation.

They said goodbye to the duke and Katherine went with her father to the front door. Once they were outside, safely tucked away in a carriage, she said, “You know, the duke and I are merely friends.”

Her father’s expression made it clear he didn’t believe her. “And you know the very best marriages are between friends, correct?”

“Do not try and make a match between us. He nearly married one of my closest friends and courted another. The duke is off-limits, Daddy.”

“We’ll see.”

“I’m serious.”

He tapped his fingers on the silk evening hat in his lap. “It’s important for you to start your own life, Kitty Kat. Have your own family. I won’t always be around, you know.”

“Daddy! Don’t be so morbid.” The words came out strangled due to the emotion lodged in her throat. “It’s bad enough that you’re working and traveling more often these days. I don’t want to think about losing you, too.”

Her father was all she had left. Someday she might marry, but she wasn’t in any hurry—especially after waiting for Preston for a whole year. There were more important things to do first before she settled down with a husband and family.

“You’re not losing me, but we never know what the future holds.”

“Well, I don’t wish to hear it. You’re going to live a long time, and we’ll ramble around in that big house together—you, me and Aunt Dahlia.”

He hummed but didn’t answer, and Katherine was left to worry over what tomorrow night would bring.



The dining room inside Sherry’s was packed with New York’s elite, popular actors and businessmen. Preston had a table along the wall, where he preferred to sit for privacy. This also allowed him to see everyone in the room.

Which was precisely how he spotted Katherine Delafield the instant she walked in—with her father and the Duke of Lockwood.

What in the goddamn hell?

Preston tracked the trio’s progress to a table by the windows. Katherine’s cream silk dress, embellished with tiny crystals that winked in the soft electric lighting, hugged her elegant form while maintaining propriety. The candles on each table brought out the faint golden strands in her brown hair, as well as the cream of her flawless skin. The duke helped Katherine get settled, his hand lingering a touch too long on the back of her chair before he took the seat across from her, with Lloyd between them.

Preston’s own hand curled into an unwitting fist.

“Just don’t tell my wife we ate here,” Kit said from across the table, his attention entirely on the menu. “She’s still angry that Louis Sherry stole one of Franconi’s assistants away and offered him a head chef position.”

Kit and Preston were enjoying a rare night out between the two of them. In the past, they would have been joined by his former mistress, Arabella, and one of her beautiful friends. But times had changed. Kit was married and Preston hadn’t yet secured another mistress.