Page 60 of Return to Satterthwaite Court

“And love?”

“That as well,” he acknowledged.

A hill rose ahead of them, covered in a blanket of pristine white snow. Hannah, Jack, and Ivo broke into a canter on their ascent.

Kate held her mare back from joining them. “Do you want to know what I believe?”

“I suspect you’re going to tell me.”

“I believe in Plato’s theory, that men and women were originally one being. He writes about it in The Symposium. He says that, fearing their power, Zeus broke humans in two and scattered them about the earth. That’s what a soul mate is—your missing half. Not the same as you, but the parts you’re lacking. The pieces that make you whole.”

Charles thought of the unnamable emptiness he’d felt since leaving home eight years ago. That odd sense of being lost and incomplete. He’d been searching for fulfillment ever since. Looking for a purpose—not a person.

The idea that any one individual could make another whole was romantic nonsense. It bordered on ludicrous. And yet…

What would his father be without his mother? Their relationship had begun as a friendship, it was true, but Arthur had been a broken man when he met Philly, too shattered from the war to find life very much worth living. If not for her, he’d have given up on it entirely.

Charles checked his horse. “You’ve read Plato’s Symposium?”

“Of course,” she said, as though it were the veriest commonplace. “I’ve studied every subject my brothers have. My parents believe in a broad education for ladies.”

“You don’t strike me as a bluestocking.”

“I’m not. I simply enjoy pursuing my interests, wherever they take me.”

He wondered if she included him in that category. He presumed so. “And mythology is one of your interests?”

“Don’t change the subject.” Wind whipped over the hill, causing her horse to start. Kate gave the mare’s neck a reassuring stroke. “You must have observed that my parents aren’t identical. My father runs cold and my mother burns hot. Yet they’re deliriously happy together.”

“Is that what you aspire to? Delirious happiness?”

Her eyes met his as they caught up with the others. “I’ll settle for nothing less.”

Charles supposed he was on his mettle.

Kate rode on over the rise along with Jack and Hannah. Charles didn’t keep pace with them, choosing instead to fall back with Kate’s brother Ivo.

Ivo wasn’t as jolly as Jack, but he was less frosty than James. He’d been in Europe the past several years and had returned possessed of a multitude of progressive ideas for the future of British industry. He’d shared some of them with Charles over a glass of port last evening.

“If my sister suggests a race,” he said, “I’d advise claiming indisposition.”

Charles’s mouth quirked in an amused smile. “Is she likely to suggest one?”

“If she doesn’t, then Jack will. You can beat him. You’re riding Fury. Jack’s horse is no match for him. But Kate can beat anything, regardless of the horse she’s riding.”

“She’s that good?”

“She’s that strategic,” Ivo said. “And she’s determined. She’s been winning wagers since she was in leading strings. There’s no challenge too great that she won’t pick up the gauntlet.”

Charles’s smile dimmed.

Is that what he was to her? A contest? A challenge?

He’d be a fool not to recognize it. Not to see that her pursuit was inspired as much by the thrill of it than by her genuine interest and attraction.

She was young—only twenty. And he was weary. He didn’t need a young lady leading him a merry chase. When he married, he required someone steady and dependable. Someone who could hold the course. He’d had enough adventure for a lifetime.

“Some wagers are impossible to win,” he said.