Authors: Lindsay Kiernan
Pulling away from Winnie's protective hold she straightened her dress, unable to look at either of them as she declared, “I'll ride back with Garrett.” When she did lift her eyes she found Garrett staring at her as if he had not heard her right. She held her hand out to touch Garrett's that still clutched his reins as if he might shatter if he let them go. Catching his hazel green eyes within her own, she smiled up at him as reassuringly as she could. “Is that all right?” she asked him.
Without a word, he nodded and his hand pulled her up as he set her carefully on his lap. When his arms came around to hold her, the touch was gentle as if he worried that he might break her were he to grip her more firmly.
“I won't shatter,” she assured him, although she felt quite the opposite as his breath brushed against her hair and she felt the shivers run through her body. This is not the time, she told herself which eased only slightly the tension within. Winnie looked cautiously up at the two before turning to jump up onto her own horse and start back on the trail, heading towards the estate.
At first Garrett did not motion for his horse to follow his sister's. Slowly Katherine rubbed her fingers along his fists that gripped the reins in front of her. After a few moments he seemed to melt a little as his fingers relaxed and she could hear him release a pent up breath. “It's all right,” she whispered. “I'm fine.”
“Kat.” His lips rested against her hair and his body shuddered behind her.
He began to let his horse follow that of his sister's, walking it very slowly along the path while avoiding anything on the trail that might lead the horse to misstep. They both kept quiet on their trip back to the stables, each lost within their mind and wondering what the other could be thinking.
Once they had reached the stables, Garrett lunged off of the horse, and then turned to help Katherine slide gently off of the side. He held her a little too long in his arms as their eyes caught and Katherine stared into the depths before Garrett released her, letting her feet drop to the ground.
“I have something to do,” he said quietly to her. Taking Katherine's hand he kissed lightly at her knuckles and managed one small smile. “Until tonight,” he whispered, before leaving them.
She watched as he headed down the path to the bachelor's residence, disappearing past one of the hedges. Looking over at Winnie, she found a small frown etched on her brow, “Are you sure that there isn't something more between you and Garrett than you've been letting on?” Winnie asked.
“I want to be his friend,” Katherine told her; though neither one of them seemed to believe it. “It's nothing more than that,” she murmured, touching the spot on her glove where she could still feel the imprint of his warms lips.
The afternoon luncheon was taken to a large outdoor gazebo area and set up around a set of benches. From there, some had gathered blankets on the lawn, others sat in small white painted wooden chairs. Delicate sandwiches were served with fruit, a variety of pastries and tea. Katherine watched as Winnie seemed to dance around the gazebo with renewed happiness, placing a bit of everything onto her plate. She had shaken off the effects of their morning ride and again seemed carefree and happy.
Katherine had not been able to forget this morning and her brow furrowed as she contemplated what she had learned earlier about Garrett. It made him so much more real and human when she had watched him become vulnerable and frightened. She still felt the urge to comfort Garrett and she was happy to see that he was not nearby as she knew that her emotions would show vividly on her face. It had also helped her understand the strong bond between the siblings that despite the accident, they had remained close instead of blaming one another.
Sitting down beside her with a great show of masculine charm, Kent handed her a plate of sandwiches and fruit. “I noticed you hadn't eaten anything yet. You'll need your energy if you are going to win against me at any of the games tonight.”
Picking around the fruit she found a piece of tart green apple and crunched it between her teeth. “I just haven't been feeling very hungry lately,” she admitted, but took another bite to make him happy.
“You women seem to think that we enjoy slight little things that can't eat. Not so, I love a woman with as much of an appetite as I have.” Katherine laughed at his energy as he grasped a sandwich from the plate and bit into it, taking nearly half of it into his mouth. He then had trouble swallowing the bite before setting the rest aside with a dour grimace. “Not cucumber sandwiches though,” he grumbled and started digging through the plate for something more edible.
She did not mind the cucumber sandwiches nor any of the other dishes served. In fact, the food at the Sullivan estate seemed to be exquisitely prepared. Only the most tender meats were served, followed by the creamiest deserts. Some of the dishes were even prepared by his French chef who had only left his home country for the wealth he could receive from working for Victor Sullivan.
However, Katherine noticed that their host was not fond of the foods he served his guests, hardly eating many of the dishes placed before him at dinner that night. "It might be food for polite company but it rarely tastes good," he told Katherine as she sat next to him.
The seating had been shuffled so that guests could mingle with new people. Katherine hated being seated next to Victor who she had so little in common with, except their apparent fondness for her sister. His favorite subject appeared to be discussing Robin and he was interested in everything that she might like or enjoy doing. "I've been sending her roses, is that the type of flower that she prefers?" he asked Katherine who had to admit that she didn't know.
She felt uncomfortable in trying to help the man court her sister. Especially when she knew how indifferent Robin was to him. His money, that was all that Robin wanted and it felt wrong for her sister to use him in such a way. However she had also started to hear some of Victor's misdeeds. Most of which included his poor upbringing and his lack of morals when it came to his business dealings, these types of things were to be expected.
What really worried her was that his previous fiancés kept popping up in whispered conversations. Katherine was becoming quite sure that of the guests he had invited, none of them were really his friends. They all just wanted something from him and so they kept a barely believable smile on their faces when they were in his presence.
Robin was another one of those people. It was apparent that Robin did not trust or like Victor. Yet Victor seemed so intrigued with Robin that Katherine had to wonder if somehow he knew that her sister was not really interested in him except for his money and that was why he was trying so hard to do everything right. Could their marriage thrive on his love of her alone? It seemed very unlikely.
After dinner, she had expected Kent to run off to his brandy again and was surprised to find him beside her, leading her into the drawing room for tea and games. “I promised you at lunch that I would be playing some of the parlor games with you tonight,” he reminded her.
It had gotten cold quickly and most of the couples had stayed inside rather than retreating into the gardens to be alone. They congregated in the large room, somehow making it feel quite small and cramped. Kent led her to one of the small corners in the back that felt more private and secluded. As they discussed the next night’s ball, Katherine noticed Winnie sending her a reproving glance but she smiled sheepishly at her friend and refused to leave Kent's side.
Her back had been facing the door yet somehow she knew the moment that Garrett had entered the room. She turned, ready to defend herself against him for being with Kent, but found him engaged in a conversation with another group across the room. He even laughed at a joke from one of the women around him, a pretty young red head who was newly widowed and who appeared more sultry and sexual than seemed entirely natural. Katherine wondered if he might have already moved on from her and she tried to ignore the queasy feeling in her stomach as she considered the possibility.
After a few moments of openly staring at him, Garrett glanced in her direction. Locking eyes with her, he smiled and nodded slightly before moving on to another set of friends he wanted to greet. The delicate red head pouted at his back as he walked away.
Katherine turned back to what Kent was saying just in time to nod in agreement, though she wasn't quite sure what she was agreeing to. It must have been clear to him that she had not been paying attention as he looked at her oddly before continuing on, but he politely refrained from mentioning anything.
She was softening to him. Garrett could feel it in the way their eyes held when she had looked over at him; the way that she blushed slightly if he looked at her for too long. He wondered again if she could read his thoughts.
Earlier that morning should have been a setback; instead he had felt them take a leap forward. Somehow seeing him shattered by his past memories had seemed to endear her to him. She was drawn to his complications instead of repulsed by them, even trusting in him at a time when she should have run away. He understood none of it, but he was grateful all the same.
He had felt the shift begin the moment that he had pulled her up onto the horse. Rather than shying away from him, she had leaned in closer, as if to give him her strength. It was odd to think of such a delicate creature trying to give comfort to someone twice her size, especially one who had nearly crushed her only moments before.
Watching from across the room, he knew the moments when she sought him out, could feel her gaze. At times he would turn and catch her eye; returning the smile that she offered before pretending to be interested in some random bit of conversation around him.
As she laughed and whispered in the corner with Kent, Garrett tried to calm himself. She would never marry Kent, he knew that. Winnie and Katherine had become very close friends recently and Garrett knew that each time his friend was mentioned around Winnie, she was quick to name all of his faults. That had always bothered him about Winnie, until now. Having his sister there to help persuade Katherine away from Kent could easily work in his favor. But even without the aid of his mother and sister, Garrett knew that she would never be happy with him.
Waiting for Katherine to come to him was his best chance at winning her, he could see that now. She did not like to be crushed with his attention; she enjoyed the freedom of making her own decisions. He would try to wait, but patience was not a virtue that he was known for.
Winnie broke away from the circle of women that she had been talking to so that she could pass by her brother. "I really like her," she said simply as they watched Katherine blush from some crude comment that Kent had made. "Just don't compare her to Amelia again," she advised. "Girls don't like that kind of thing."
"I will try to be more careful," he assured her dryly as his eyes remained on Katherine's form.
"You love her, don't you?" she asked, watching the way he tensed each time that Kent moved closer to her, or touched her hand with his own.
It was never easy to discuss such things with his little sister. Too much of one's youth was spent tormenting siblings which made it harder for either of them to comfortably show their emotions now.
Garrett didn't want to get into a discussion about Katherine with his sister, but he couldn't help confessing, "Yes."
Stepping out with his voice booming loudly, Victor took to the center of the room, quieting the groups around him. “Any single young men and women who would like to join us for some games may adjourn to the library across the hall from here.”
Over a dozen women and two dozen men went racing towards the door as they spilled out of the hall and into the library. Winnie tried to hang back but her brother prodded her on. “That would include you Winnie.”
“Mother would never allow me to join in. She says that I'm still too young.”
“You are only a few months younger than her charges, besides she is too busy snubbing some of the other women in this room for her to care. If she finds out, tell her that I made you do it,” he said and pushed her into the room ahead of him.
The little after dinner games played at parties like these went anywhere from amusing or mundane to shocking. Usually this depended on who the host was that had devised the games. One of the more devilish games that Katherine had heard of was where trays of fruit had been laid out and each of the women was blindfolded. She had to determine what the fruit was dipped in such as pudding, cream or melted chocolate, what type of fruit it was and even who had fed it to her.
As she entered the room she was quite relieved to discover that there was not any fruit laid out on the table before her. However Victor's wicked smile did not entirely calm her fears.
“Many of you may have noticed that there are so few single women at this party, compared to the men. Therefore not every man in the room will be able to dance the first dance with a lady at the opening of tomorrow night's ball. To help settle this problem, a game has been devised to determine each lady's partner for the first dance.”
A series of blindfold
s were taken out and the women’s
eyes were bound so that they couldn't see where they were going. “This doesn't seem fair,” one of the ladies complained as she was being blindfolded, then they were pushed into the center of the room and spun until they were slightly disoriented. The gentlemen were asked to line up in a circle against the book shelves, with large gaps between each one.