Page 26 of Whiskers and Wiles

Waldorf’s eyes widened a bit. “Has it?”

Pollock nodded. “I’ve been told by Biddeford that nearly every operative from more than one organization has put their efforts into making this ball a success for the Mercian cause. Nearly everyone who needs to be swayed is in attendance. Whether we coerce them through erudite argument or through outright bribery, tonight is the night that we gain the votes weneed to have the Mercian Plan debated in this session of Joint Parliament.”

Waldorf nodded, feeling as though a great many things that he had been working years for could come to fruition that night. If they played their cards right, both literally and figuratively, Britannia could be united by springtime.

“I shall do my best to assist you and the rest of those working for our cause in any way I can,” Waldorf said with a deep bow.

“Good,” Pollock said with a nod. “You can begin by locating Lord Terrence Fawley and convincing him to join us for whist.”

“I will,” Waldorf said.

Pollock thumped him on the shoulder, and Waldorf turned to head back to the ballroom in order to locate Lord Terrence. He knew the man from Wessex, which meant he knew how difficult it would be to change the old bastard’s mind.

But as soon as he turned, before he could take more than a few steps back down the corridor, he found Kat standing at the end of the hall, just inside the ballroom, watching him with narrowed eyes. Every bit of the vulnerability and fire that had enveloped her during their time in the carriage had vanished, and the prickly, suspicious Kat was back.

Eight

The wolf wasat the door.

Kat could think of nothing else as she arrived at Ryman House. So much depended on the outcome of that evening, and she was absolutely certain from the cryptic missive she’d received that someone was actively attempting to thwart not only her mission, but the entire Mercian cause.

“Lady Katherine, you look lovely this evening,” Lady Ryman greeted her just inside the doorway to the ballroom, as she greeted every one of her guests. Curiously, she glanced past Kat, searching as if she expected to see someone with her. Indeed, she asked, “Are you alone?”

“Of course I am,” Kat replied, blinking in surprise. “Who would attend with me?”

Lady Ryman blushed and appeared flustered. “I beg your pardon, Lady Katherine. Only, I heard whispers that you may not be a spinster for long and that a particular gentleman was seen in your company with whom you have a previous understanding.”

Waldorf. Kat would skin him alive for whatever rumors he’d been spreading. Even if he had not been the one to spread them,after the spectacle he’d made of himself at Lady Thistlewhite’s supper the other night, it was no wonder members of thetonhad grasped onto the wrong idea.

“I can assure you, I am and shall remain quite independent, my lady,” Kat nodded regally to the hostess. “Now, if you will excuse me, I see some friends of mine whom I should greet. But I would very much like to introduce you to others of my acquaintance with whom you have much in common, once they arrive.”

“I should like to know them,” Lady Ryman said, the light of intrigue in her eyes instead of curiosity about Kat’s intimate life.

Kat had, indeed, spotted her dearest friends gathered off to one side of the ballroom, but as she marched toward them, she muttered under her breath about Waldorf’s madness if he thought he could pursue her now, and his boldness for telling others his aims to the point where it becametongossip.

“I am aware that balls are not your favored means of enjoying company,” Minerva commented as Kat reached the cluster of her friends, “but you look positively dragonish.”

“You do,” Bernadette added. “And now that I have married Alden and reside at Lyndhurst Grove, not only do I know precisely what dragons look like, I could give you a detailed account of their mating habits.”

Bernadette smiled and dropped a hand absentmindedly to her stomach as she spoke. She was only just able to conceal her delicate condition with the cut of her gown. Lady Ryman’s was probably the only ball she would be able to attend that season, since she was expanding daily. Muriel was too far along to be seen in public already.

“If I am dragonish, it is because of a wolf,” Kat growled in greeting, glad, at least, to have her friends to support her.

Minerva and Bernadette exchanged a confused look.

“A wolf,” Minerva repeated, as if Kat had gone mad.

Kat huffed, then leaned in closer to them. “When I returned home from a supper party at Lady Thistlewhite’s house the other night, there was a note waiting for me. It read simply ‘The wolf is at the door’.”

“That is worrying,” Bernadette said, her expression matching her words.

Kat shook her head, more angry than worried. “And just now, as I entered the ballroom, Lady Ryman intimated that there are rumors about that I will soon wed.”

“That is absurd,” Minerva said, making a deeply unladylike sound.

“It is,” Kat agreed, tilting her head up a bit. “And it can only mean one thing.”

Minnie and Bernadette stared at her, as if they were eager to know what that thing was.

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