Page 13 of Whiskers and Wiles

“Get behind him,” Kat ordered Waldorf. “Do not let him run farther down the path.”

“Why don’t you shoo him toward me and I’ll catch him,” Waldorf suggested. “Or get that blasted basket and trap him that way.”

“He’s smarter than that. He’ll run,” Kat insisted.

Waldorf doubted it…but he was proved wrong in short order when he was certain he had the beast trapped. He reached down for the cat, only to have Napoleon scramble away at the last minute and run like the wind across the grass of Hyde Park.

In the end, it took the help of a band of four, bedraggled urchins, three ladies with parasols to block and frighten Napoleon from running farther, and Lady Beata crouching down and holding the basket so that once Napoleon was caught, he could be wrestled into the conveyance. Both Waldorf and Kat were left scratched, bruised, muddied, and defeated.

“I’ve never seen such a thing in my life,” Lady Thistlewhite laughed, as if Waldorf and Kat had arranged an entertainment especially for her. “How invigorating.”

Waldorf huffed an ironic laugh. “That is not the word I would use for it, madam.”

“You were very heroic,” Lady Beata said, looking at him with new, appreciative eyes.

“Oh, good Lord,” Kat muttered under her breath as she attempted to straighten her disheveled hair and to tuck it back under her bonnet.

Waldorf would have done the same smoothing and straightening routine with his own hair, but he’d lost his hat somewhere across Hyde Park during the chase. He suspected one of the urchins had swiped it. Well, he hoped the wicked young boy would get a good meal and a warm bed for the night out of the proceeds from the hat.

“As loath as I am to part from you, Lady Thistlewhite,” Waldorf said, brushing at his trousers, “I must return home to bathe and change clothes.” Or rather, he should proceed on to the club to inform the other Badgers of the business of the day. And take his father, who had enjoyed the theatrics of the cat chase a little too much, home to Godwin House.

Waldorf was about to consider the afternoon a complete loss when Lady Thistlewhite said, “Your valiant efforts this afternoon should be rewarded, Lord Waldorf. I would be honored if you, and Lady Katherine, of course, would join my family for supper tomorrow night.”

Waldorf stood straighter. It was exactly the invitation he’d hoped to win, and it had come far sooner than he’d expected it to. But Kat was also invited in the invitation, blast it.

“My son would be honored,” Lord Gerald said, stepping forward to make himself part of the conversation. “As would Lady Katherine.” He grinned at Kat.

“I…that is…I could not…er….” Kat seemed at as much of a loss as Waldorf felt in the face of the invitation, and his father’s interference.

“I insist,” Lady Thistlewhite said. “For I have not been so entertained in many a year. I am quite certain Beata would enjoy your company as well, Lord Waldorf.”

Waldorf sent his chuckling father a scathing look. The old bastard was enjoying the whole thing entirely too much. He sent Kat a look as well.

Kat seemed exhausted and defeated. “I suppose I would be delighted to accept your invitation,” she said, shrugging as though she’d been worn down to the point where she was too tired to refuse. “Though I shall not be bringing Napoleon with me.” She frowned at the closed basket looped over her arm.

“That would be wise,” Lady Thistlewhite said, unable to hide her amusement.

Arrangements were made, and all parties took their leave of each other. Waldorf exchanged one last, narrow-eyed look with Kat, as if each of them were blaming the other for everything that had happened.

“Did I not tell you that you and Lady Katherine are perfectly suited for each other and always were?” Lord Gerald said as he and Waldorf continued on their way, heading out of the park.

“Father, I love you, but I do not have the mental faculties to engage in this conversation at present time,” Waldorf said.

Lord Gerald merely laughed. Waldorf had the sinking feeling that his father would get his way in the end, one way or another. But at least he himself was now one step closer to fulfilling his mission to turn ministers toward the Mercian Plan.

Four

In hindsight,as humiliating as the episode in Hyde Park had turned out to be, Kat was forced to admit it had been a success. Whether she made headway in convincing Lady Thistlewhite to attend Lady Ryman’s ball in the moment or not, she had secured an invitation to supper at the woman’s house. She had made progress in achieving her objective, and now she had an entire evening to continue to fight for the cause.

“If only Waldorf had not been invited as well,” she complained to Napoleon on the evening of the event, as she donned a warm pair of stockings and secured them around her thighs.

Napoleon sat on the bed of Kat’s room at the Oxford Society Club, licking his paws and giving his ears a bath, as if he, too had been invited to supper. Kat had no qualms about bringing Napoleon with her to nearly all social events, particularly as he was often useful as a distraction so that she could observe or even purloin something without being seen, but there were limits.

“That odious man,” she huffed, standing and crossing to her wardrobe, where the gown she planned to wear that evening waswaiting for her. “I still maintain that he embarrassed me in front of Lady Thistlewhite and her daughter on purpose.”

Napoleon lifted his head and held still for a moment, either as if he agreed with her, or had seen a fly that needed chasing. He then yawned and returned to his ablutions.

“He always was callous and selfish,” Kat continued as she gathered up her gown so she could shimmy into it.

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