‘Yes,’ Katherine agreed hollowly, ‘it would be much safer … for all concerned … if I did not return there.’
Chapter Sixteen
This is utterly insupportable!’ Daniel declared, after examining the several letters McGann had collected that morning from the receiving office, and discovering no word yet again from either Katherine or Sir Giles. ‘I would far rather face a French column on the field of battle than endure this intolerable waiting a moment longer!’
‘Oh, dear. The Major’s blood’s up,’ McGann whispered, joining Janet at the table. ‘Very bad sign, that. You mark my words, there’ll be trouble afore long.’
‘Shush,’ she hissed, before turning her attention back to her master, who had begun to pace up and down, which he was inclined to do whenever angry or upset. ‘But, sir, you know what Sir Giles said, when he came here on the morning after the party to collect Miss Kath-erine’s belongings,’ she reminded him in an attempt to soothe his evidently mounting ire.
Although she had never perfectly understood the precise nature of the work in which Katherine and her master had been engaged, Janet did know that they had been involved in something very secret on behalf of the government. ‘The good gentleman did say that Miss Kath-erine was in safe hands and would remain so until the business be cleared up completely.’
‘But it’s been over a month, Janet,’ Daniel pointed out, not in the least mollified. ‘I should have heard something by now.’ He resumed his restless pacing. ‘That old fox is hiding something. I sense it. And if I discover one hair of my darling girl’s beautiful head has been harmed, I’ll take the greatest pleasure in breaking every bone in Osborne’s body!’
‘Oh, dear. He means it an’ all,’ McGann confirmed, sotto voce.
‘It’s all my fault, of course,’ Daniel continued, ignoring the interruption. ‘I should never have agreed to Os-borne taking her away from here.’ He paused yet again in his perambulations to run impatient fingers through his hair. ‘Furthermore I should have declared myself when we were in France. But no, I foolishly decided to do the gentlemanly thing and not put more pressure on her by making her feel uncomfortable.’
Janet cast McGann a secretive little smile. ‘We know well enough how fond you are of her, sir.’
‘Fond …? Ha! A most inappropriate word, Janet! I’m damnably sure I cannot live without her … At least I’ll never be wholly content unless she’s by my side.’
Daniel joined them at the table, his expression softening marginally. ‘She’s a brave little soul. She saved my life, you know?’
It was plain that they did not know. McGann recovered from the shock first. ‘Well, to be sure, ‘tis no more than you’d expect. The girl’s got good Irish blood flowing through her veins, so she has.’
‘She’s Anglo-Irish, McGann,’ Daniel reminded him softly. ‘And what’s more, she’s mine.’
He rose again abruptly, resolve etched in each rugged contour of his face. ‘And by God, she’s coming home, back here where she belongs!’
Although Katherine clearly heard the click of the door and then the familiar footfall on the carpet, she continued to stare through the bedchamber window at the view upon which she had absently gazed too often during these past few weeks, and one which she would have had the utmost difficulty in describing if asked to do so.
Daily she was becoming increasingly uninterested in the sights and sounds about her, and although she remained powerless to fight off the debilitating lethargy that continued to hold her firmly in its grasp, at least she retained innate good manners enough to accept the fact that she could not remain as a guest in Sir Giles Os-borne’s house for very much longer.
‘Bridie, I believe it’s time we were thinking of returning to Bath,’ she announced, in a voice which distinctly lacked any vestige of enthusiasm. ‘Perhaps Sir Giles will be kind enough to put his travelling carriage at our disposal. If not, we must make arrangements to hire a post-chaise.’
Bridie regarded her young mistress in silence, at a complete loss to know what to do for the best. She had helped Katherine through many heartbreaking periods, but she had never seen her young mistress more desolate than this.
Contracting influenza from Sir Giles’s sister had naturally not helped the situation. Nevertheless, Bridie had known the instant she had set foot inside the house that Katherine was not herself. Her young mistress might have succeeded in concealing her bouts of weeping from Sir Giles and Miss Mary Osborne, but she herself had easily detected the telltale signs and had guessed the truth even before she had heard Katherine call out that certain someone’s name in her sleep.
She knew, perhaps better than anyone else, just how steadfastly determined Katherine had been during the past years not to become too attached to another living soul in an attempt to protect herself from further searing hurt. She also knew that a very special gentleman had succeeded in breaking down those defences, and that at some point during their six-week separation her young mistress had fallen deeply in love.
She regarded the slender figure staring resolutely out of the window in some concern. If this show of total apathy was the result of her young mistress’s love not being returned, then Bridie did not doubt that Katherine would eventually begin to mend. She very much feared, though, that the opposite was true, and that Major Daniel Ross was every bit as much in love with Katherine as she was with him.
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