The Scandalous Love of a Duke Read Online Free PDF Page B

on her face. She felt more certain of a welcome from the girls, but she did not wish to appear gauche.
    “I cannot believe it!” Mary exclaimed as they neared. “Phillip! Katherine!” Her exclamation drew the attention of the others.
    Mary had been a young girl when Katherine had seen her last, she was grown up now.
    “I have not seen you for an age,” Mary hugged Katherine.
    They had never been friends, Mary had been too young, and yet the younger girl had admired her brother’s playmate, with a desire to join in. Katherine knew Mary had challenged John as a child over why Kate was allowed to play the boys games, when Mary was not. But the young woman’s exuberance was open and honest as Mary gripped Phillip’s offered hand.
    Of course, again, Katherine had forgotten how much better Phillip had known John. She had been welcomed into their circle for an hour here or there in the grounds of Pembroke Place. Phillip had lived with John in the way of a brother, both at school and during the holidays.
    Phillip gallantly kissed the back of Mary’s fingers.
    “John will be beside himself to know you have come. I’m sure he never expected to see you. I shall find him.” Lifting to her toes, she looked across the room. “Oh I cannot see him, I’ll go look.”
    “No,” Katherine stated firmly, as she felt a sudden panic. “Please, do not disturb him. I’m sure he has more important people to speak with than us.”
    Mary’s pale blue eyes, the image of John’s, met Katherine’s. “Well, if he has time later I’m sure he will come over and speak.”
    Katherine gave Mary a grateful smile and then looked at Eleanor and Margaret, who stepped forward. “You are both married. I saw the announcements. Are you happy?” It was probably an impertinent question but she could think of nothing else to say.
    They looked at one another and then their eyes looked beyond Katherine.
    “They are together, across the room, there,” Eleanor said, pointing, a smile in her eyes suddenly.
    Katherine turned.
    “Harry is the blonde-haired gentleman, my dashing heir to an Earl,” Eleanor stated. “Is he not handsome? And Margaret’s husband, George, is the brown-haired man. He is a little older than Harry—”
    “But distinguished, don’t you think?” Margaret interjected. “It is lovely to see you.”
    When Katherine turned to face Margaret, she was hugged again, but this time with restraint.
    Then Eleanor hugged Katherine too, but that was not superficial. “It is
wonderful
to see you. What do you think of them?” Her fingers gripped Katherine’s arm as Katherine looked back at their husbands.
    “They are
both
exceedingly handsome.”
    “We know.” Eleanor laughed. “We’ll introduce you later. Oh I cannot believe you are here. Now tell us what you have been up to?”
    “Nothing exciting.”
    “She is being modest,” Phillip cut in. “She will not sing her own praises. Kate has set up a Sunday School at home, for the local children who can neither read nor write.”
    It was hardly comparable. They would not be interested. These were glamorous women who fitted in here. Katherine did not.
    “I always said she was too virtuous. You are a saint, Kate,” Eleanor stated.
    Katherine felt her colour rise. “Hardly.” What she was, was false and fragile, and hiding it.
    “Phillip is right,” Margaret smiled. “You should not feel embarrassed to admit good deeds.”
    Katherine felt ashamed. She was not what they were portraying her as. “Well, I have good reason to give something back, do I not?” They all, possibly bar Mary, knew of her birth, but perhaps she had raised it a little too bluntly. The conversation dried.
    Phillip’s hand rested on Katherine’s waist and the grip gently pulled her closer for a moment, then he let go. Even he did not usually broach the subject.
    “I do it because I enjoy it,” she said to clear the air.
    “That is true,” Phillip stated. “They adore her, every last one of