After putting out one major fire that was the debacle in the stable, Arthur headed straight for his bedroom. It was time to call it a night. He would need his energy tomorrow to put out residual flames, that he was sure were to come. Everyone will have questions and Katherine and him will be expected to have answers.
Katherine. He paused for a moment. Should he even call her that? She hadn't given him permission to use her christian name. No, It was too intimate. And yet she was to be his fiancé.
What on earth had he taken on? To masquerade a sham engagement with a wilful girl like her. It would be no easy task. But he should be grateful that she had as little interest in marriage as him. And she was clever enough to concoct a plan to save them both from their predicament. However, her overt rejection to the very idea of being his wife dug at him.
You won't make me a suitable husband she had said. As if she had any idea of a what a good husband ought to be. She was just a whisp of a girl who had no idea what men were like. Yet she had the audacity to claim him unsuitable. No, he was arrogant, austere and unromantic in her opinion.
Oh he'll give her romance. Flowers, poetry and such. So much so that she'll come to regret she ever laughed at him. He'll even do it publicly just to needle her. She will have no choice but to act along, to keep up their farce. Such besotted behaviour was almost expected to lend some credibility to their faux engagement and she couldn't object to it without raising suspicions.
Early in the morning he had rung Harlow to fetch a sapphire ring from the family's strong box were most of their jewels were kept. This particular ring belonged to his grandmother. He thought it would make a perfect engagement ring for Katherine, as it matched the fierce blue shade of her eyes and sharp pear cut matched her personality.
"Congratulations, my lord." Said Harlow handing him the ring "I overheard felicitous news of your engagement. I believe this is for Miss Hughes"
"Thank you, Harlow." He said placing the ring in his inner coat pocket "it is indeed for her". He left the room without further comment. He did not want his spy-like butler to know how the engagement had really come about.
When he reached Katherine's door he hoped she would be alone. It was early enough in the morning for anyone to be around. The only problem that might be posed upon him, would be if someone had decided to stay overnight in her chamber, looking after her. Since her cousins barely sought anyone else's company but eligible bachelors and her aunt wasn't of charitable nature, chances of them being around were slim.
The only person he could think of, was Eloise, who might have offered to stay. But even she, as stubborn as she was, could've been persuaded by Katherine not to fuss over her and reside in her own cozy chamber. Whatever lay behind that door, he was ready to face it as he was already upon her doorsteps. There was no good reason to turn back now.
He waited a moment after softly tapping the door. "You may come in" said Katherine in low voice. At this hour, she was probably expecting her maid.
The unexpected guest he discovered in her room was not human, but a furry four-legged creature. Perched on the bed beside Katherine. Once he saw him enter, he was up on his feet and ready to bark.
"Hush, Bon-Bon. Its alright, he means no harm" said his mistress rubbing his back.
"How are you this morning, Miss Hughes?" inquired Arthur stepping in. "I hope I am not imposing. But I have a small matter to discuss with you."
"I am doing much better, Thank you." She said sitting up, with some difficulty, the pain from the horse's hooves must still be fresh. Her nightgown was translucent and barely kept his sinister imagination at bay. He was most grateful for opacity of her sheets that she used to cover herself, in the moment.
"Pardon my alarm, my lord. But I hadn't expected you here at this hour. Are you sure this is wise of you to see me here? In my bedchamber, right now?"
"Forgive the impropriety of the circumstance. But I have actually come here to give you this." He said presenting her the box containing the sapphire ring.
Naturally confused she asked "what is this?"
"Its an engagement ring" he said as she opened the box "Do you approve?"
"It is very beautiful. I have never seen something sparkle so brightly as this gemstone in my life." She was clearly fascinated.
"I have. It is your eyes, If you could look at them just now. They sparkle just as bright as this stone. Which by the way is called a sapphire" His remark made her blush faintly.
"Put it on your ring finger, let me see how it fits."
"You surely do not want me to wear this ring, do you? This is far too precious to be entrusted upon me."
"I do" he walked over to her side and slid the ring onto her left ring finger and held her hand for a moment. It was a bold and slightly Scandalous gesture on his part as both of their hands were ungloved, but given the impropriety of the whole situation, it mattered a little.
"If we are to convince people that we are truly engaged, you must have an engagement ring. And not just any ring but one that is part of family's jewel collection. This ring belonged to the seventh Marchioness, my grandmother. I thought it very fitting for you."
She retracted her hand from his, to examine the ring more closely. "But what if I loose it? I do not want to cost you a family heirloom"
"You won't. I can have it fitted by a local smith."
"No need my lord" she said "I think it fits perfectly as it is. It is a smidge tight, but I prefer it. This way I'll know it will never fall off my finger. Though it might require a lot of soap when I eventually have to take it off."
"We shall cross that bridge when we come to it. But for now, I am going to summon our families in the afternoon, to formerly announce our engagement to them. I suppose your uncle would wish to discuss details of betrothal, your settlement upon marriage and such things." He paced in front of her bed.
"You are in no state to leave your bedroom in your present condition, and I assume you will not be present this afternoon. But when you do resume your daily social activities here, I want you to have this ring on. And if anyone asks, I gave you this ring weeks ago, when we supposedly became secretly engaged. You are just wearing it openly now, as the news of our betrothal is out."
"Do we have an understanding Miss Hughes?" He tried thinking of every little detail that would make their engagement seem more realistic, at this rate he ought to be a spy.
"Yes, we do" she replied. After a long pause she added "was that all you wanted to discuss, my lord?"
"I believe, it was. I shall beg your leave now. I'll come visit again, if the need arises"
"You'll visit me here? In my chamber?" She was astonished, "Wouldn't that raise eyebrows and cause a scandal? Something we were hoping to avoid, by charading this engagement"
"Yes, but I'll be careful. If I visit you early enough in the morning while everyone is still asleep, there wouldn't be a problem. This will have to do until you are fully recovered and we can come up with a better meeting location."
"Pardon me, my lord. But this does not seem like a sound plan. There is a good chance someone might see you entering my chamber" said she concerned.
"Call me, Arthur. Since we will be seeing each other frequently now, it seems useless to waste time on mundane formalities."
She looked as if she could not fathom what he had just said, "Why, Miss Hughes, You look speechless. Have I said something shocking?"
"Forgive my astonishment, my lord.....I..I mean Arthur. Its just that, you always conduct yourself with such decorum and a sense of righteousness, I find it hard to believe that you would want me to address you by your christian name and not with traditional curtsies and titles owed to an English lord."
"Ah! Yes. I forgot, you think me an iron-clad lord, too high and mighty in his in-step." He was a touch offended. "But even us, mighty creatures, have given names. And I would like you to use mine, when we don't have company."
"And what should I call you when we do have company, my lord?" She said curling a finger on her chin, giving an appearance of someone in deep contemplation. "Would 'your greatness' suffice or should I address you as 'your highness'?"
"Quite cheeky, are we Miss Hughes?" He retorted
"Ah! But what else can I call you. You wouldn't want to be called 'darling' or 'sweetheart' , would you?"
"off course not. Those are the names I plan on using for you."
"You wouldn't dare. Besides Katherine would suffice." She said playfully
"Very well, Katherine. I shall take your leave now." And just when she thought he was gone his head peeked in again "And don't think this squabble of ours is over." With that he left without any further delay, knowing full well she would be haunting his dreams again.
How could she not? It was inevitable.With her cascading silky hair, her translucent gown and her moonlike face shining with morning glow, she was a seductress personified.
It was uncharacteristic of him to have lewd thoughts about her, but he could not get image of her sprawled across his bed in nothing but threadbare shift, out of his head. He wanted to do salacious things to her body and for once wanted to conquer and tame that rebellious mouth of hers. This woman was going to be the death of him.
~~~~~~~~
Five days had gone by since Katherine had last left her room. Physician had explicitly instructed her to take bed rest for at least a fortnight, but with each passing day it was becoming more difficult for her to adhere to this advice. She was always used to being up and about, pouring her energy into various tasks. Back in Yorkshire her parents had kept minimal servants to economize, which gave her ample chores to occupy her time. Even at her uncle's she could abide her time gardening or going on hours long walks. But here, amidst the four walls of her bedroom, any entertainment besides reading was scarce.
Eloise was her constant visitor, who kept her company and brought her books from the library to pass her day. But by now, she was done with every interesting book there was to read. All that was left was books on accounting or agriculture, or some such dull topic, which were of little interest to her.
No one from her extended family, except her uncle, had deemed her worthy of a visit yet. She was relieved, that they had chosen not to visit her. She was afraid of what her aunt might have to say about her engagement. She would be clearly upset that it wasn't one of her daughters that had caught the future Marquess. She expected a slew of snide remarks from her and her daughters on how she was so undeserving of such fortunate betrothal.
Unfortunately for her, her aunt had finally decided to break her tradition and pay her a visit. She knocked only for formality, but didn't wait for an answer before admitting herself in. "My dear niece, it so nice to see you doing well" she said in a sing-a-song voice. "How are you doing this afternoon?"
"Very well, aunt," she mentally prepared herself for the barbed remarks that were to follow once the pleasantries were done. "it is good of you to come see me. I wonder where my cousins are, I haven't seen them in days"
"We thought it best to leave you to your rest. After all you have quite a year ahead of you" a blatant lie, if she ever heard one, Katherine thought. "You will be occupied with wedding planning soon and I wanted to congratulate you on your engagement" she said with the broadest smile she had ever seen on her face.
"I thought the Earl was surely interested in Miss Cecil, why, they called on each other quite a few times. But all along he was taken with you. Quite a minx you are to keep it all under wraps." There were no snide remarks, which was odd. And her last sentence almost sounded like a compliment. Something was surely up with her aunt.
"You forbade me from his company, I was worried you would object to our attachment."
"Not at all, had I known you could snag him so easily I would have thrown you two together myself. I was just worried that being a simpleton, you might find etiquettes and mannerisms of aristocrats like him a bit overwhelming." That was another sugar coated lie, and no one did it better than Mrs Briggsby.
"Did you know, there are visitors arrived from London this morning to see you. Lord Bradford has forbidden anyone from disturbing your rest and you were not to be informed of these visitors. But I thought you might like to know anyhow." Who were these visitors and why did her aunt deemed it worthy to inform her, Katherine wondered. It certainly could not be just for her benefit or out of benevolence of her heart. Could this be her good friend Anne and her brother Henry? She had mentioned something about visiting her in her recent letters.
"Who are these visitors?" She had only to ask and her aunt was ready to provide her with detailed report of these visitors.
"It is lady Miranda Beaufort and her brother-in-law, a Mr. Beaufort. I didn't quite catch his name, but I hear he is quite handsome and a bachelor at that. And Miss Miranda is considered a fashion icon of the ton. An intriguing pair of visitors they make."
"But aunt, I am not acquainted with anyone named Beaufort. They are surely mistaken."
"They are not mistaken at all. You do not know them because you haven't been introduced yet. Lady Beaufort is wife of Viscount Beaufort and your intended's sister, or did you not know that?" There was a hint of suspicion in her question.
"His lordship hasn't told me very much about his siblings I am afraid." She replied meekly
"This might be a good opportunity then. If you are up-to it, I can have everyone gathered for tea in an hour, I am certain Marchioness would love the idea. And I know your cousins are eager to see you, and we can all be introduced to Lady Beaufort and her gentleman companion.What do you say? You must be quite bored cooped up here by yourself ."
She wanted to protest against her aunt's obvious scheme of enhancing her own social connections, but she was quite right about her being bored so she decided to go along with it.
"That sounds lovely, will you please send a maid to get me dressed?" It was nerve-wrecking idea to be introduced to lord Bradford's kin, she hoped that they were all kind like his mother.
"Never you worry my dear, I'll have Fanny up here shortly." She replied with glee. Her aunt had never been so receptive to her wishes before. Now that she actually had some use of her, she was more civil than before.
Within an hour she was marching down the hallway to the evening tea room escorted by her aunt, who had personally come to fetch her, and moreover to inspect her appearance before she was presented.
On their way they encountered Arthur, who was about to enter the tea room as well. He did not look pleased with their presence. After a quick curtsy, he briskly walked towards them "what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on bedrest?"
"I am feeling fine, my lord. Besides it would have been rude of me to not meet your sister. I hear she has traveled here from London." Looking at her aunt he easily figured out who her informant was.
"Please let me have some company, I have been deprived of any eventful activities for almost a week now." She begged and he easily conceded to her pleading eyes, he understood how hard it was for her to be bedridden.
"Very well, but I am keeping my eyes on you every hour from now on. I want to make sure you heal properly. I cannot have you go injured on my account." He said offering her his arm and she gladly entwined hers around it. Her aunt followed them like a sheep.
Together they entered the tea room and everyone, stood up on their arrival. She felt like a queen entering her court, which was both thrilling and intimidating. She looked at Arthur sideways who remained composed as always. He gave her a small nod of reassurance before making introductions.
"Ah! You must be Miss Katherine Hughes." said a lady dressed in light blue silk and loftiest feather hat she had ever seen " I am lady Beaufort, Arthur's youngest sister. But you must call me Miranda. After all, we are going to be sisters." She positively squealed with glee. "I could not wait to meet you. As soon as I heard Arthur was engaged I wanted to fly here like a bird to meet the lady who has managed to enrapture my brother. I have even brought my daughter Sophie with me, who is just as eager to meet you, although at present she is asleep in the nursery" Her forthright nature and appearance were much like Eloise, anyone could see the resemblance between the two cousins.
" I am just as pleased to make your acquaintance" she replied with a smile
"This is my younger brother-in-law, Mr. Charles Beaufort." She said introducing the gentleman standing next to her. "Pleased to meet you Miss Hughes" said he, kissing her hand, like a romantic dandy. Her sham fiancé abhorred this gesture as he wrapped his arm behind the small of her back, or maybe he was just playing the part of a jealous lover, for the sake of their masquerade.
Once they had all settled for tea, Miss Beaufort began asking series questions about her and her family, wanting to know her better. When she noticed ring on her finger she asked
Her brother "Is that grandmother Gee's sapphire ring on her finger Arthur?"
"Yes, it is. I could not have proposed to her without offering her a ring that was as unique and beautiful as her. Or she might have rejected me right out." He said playfully.
Everyone in the room, including the Marchioness, her cousins and her aunt, heard his remarks which turned her cheeks crimson. When she dared to chastise him with her stern glance, he simply winked, making her blush even deeper. So this was the game he intended to play. And don't think this squabble of ours is over he had said. She will show him he had a worthy opponent. Masquerading this engagement was going to be interesting, she thought sipping her tea.