Page 149 of A Very Bellamy Christmas

Chapter 30

Wych House, earlier that same evening, two floors below…

Kathryn

Katie found herself seated between the Earl of Crewe and the Duke of Chatham at dinner that night. Although she had lived in the duke’s house for months, she could not claim to know him. Nor was she very comfortable in his presence.

Especially not since she’d locked his cousin in the priest hole.

Lord Crewe, who was also scarred, handsome, and extremely intimidating, caused the same fluttering in her belly that all her sisters’ husbands seemed to do. Not because of anything inappropriate they said or did, but because Katie now knew what these men did with her sisters in their respective bedchambers.

Had what her mother shouted at her several mornings earlier really been true? Was sexual intercourse all these men had wanted from any of them? Were they only married because her sisters had denied them pre-marital favors? Could that really be the only difference between Katie and—

“You are not eating your dessert, Lady Kathryn. Are you not hungry?”

She looked up at the sound of the Duke of Chatham’s quiet voice, his cool gaze causing the same disorganization of thoughts it usually did. “Er, no. I think I ate too many cakes earlier when we were decorating.”

Katie couldn’t help noticing that his own baked custard had barely been touched. “You d-didn’t care for yours?”

He ignored her question. “Her Grace went to check on Piquet just before dinner.”

Katie’s mind spun at the sudden change in subject. “Er, is he injured?” Piquet was the name her sister had given to the massive dun gelding the duke had given her several months earlier. The animal was, in Katie’s opinion, brutishly ugly and ill-tempered—he’d snapped at Katie on more than one occasion—but Hy loved the beast.

Again, the duke ignored her question. “Can you guess what the duchess saw in the stables?”

“Um, horses?” Katie gave him a cheeky grin, but it died a quick death at the frosty look in his eyes.

Footmen appeared behind their chairs and the duke nodded, as did Katie.

Chatham continued to stare at her through narrowed eyes as the servants collected their mostly untouched desserts. “Your sister and I wish to speak to you after dinner.”

She swallowed. “Er—”

Lord Crewe’s voice came from her other side, sparing her from the duke’s icy gaze. “Aurelia tells me that you are an exceptional chess player, Lady Kathryn.”

Katie latched onto Lord Crewe’s question like the lifeline it was, wrenching her gaze away from Chatham and turning to her newest brother-in-law.

“I have been told I am,” she said with a forced smile. “Do you like to play?”

“I do. Perhaps you will honor me with a game?”

She forced a bright smile. “Of course.”

He leaned closer, the action bringing his scarred but handsome face and single, magnificent eye close enough for her to see the shards of blue that comprised his iris. He dropped his voice and said, “I never again want to play cards against Chatham and Her Grace. The last time I was mauled that badly I lost an eye.”

His words startled a laugh out of her. “Yes, they are…savagely skilled.”

He grinned, suddenly looking boyish. “I could not have worded it better myself.”

Phoebe, seated at the foot of the table, stood. “Ladies, shall we retire to the drawing room? I believe there is still a great deal of decorating left to do.”

Katie breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of escaping Chatham’s brooding presence and began to stand when Lord Needham’s voice cut across the murmur of voices.

“We gentlemen will forgo our nightly ritual of port and cigars to assist you, my dear.”

So much for Katie’s chances of escape.

Beside her, Chatham opened his mouth.