Page 21 of Bride of the Midnight Prince

“You look gaunt and pale,” says Edith.

“Is that any way to greet someone who has been ill?” says Bridget.

“Ladies.” Agatha massages the space between her eyes. Then she smiles up at me. “Katherine. I’m glad to see that you are feeling better. Come, eat with us.”

Since Mary sewed me that chest binding, I haven’t been starving myself as much, but I still force myself to eat little tonight. And because I don’t trust my tongue, I occupy it with food instead of conversation.

“I’ve news to share of your horse,” says Agatha.

I sit up straighter. “Have you found Bartholomew? Are we buying her back?”

She doesn’t look up as she cuts into her meat with a sharp knife. “No.”

My composure fractures. I sink lower into my chair.

“I truly thought you’d want one that was more reliable. But have no fear. I’ve spoken to Lord Boreham, and he’s promised to locate the horse for you and buy it back once you are wed. The two of you made such a handsome pair at the ball. You were exquisite in that gown.”

Once you are wed.It’s another part of herdeal.

I force a smile and a bland, “Thank you,” out of my mouth.

Bridget leans forward, a bright grin overtaking her features like I haven’t seen in days. “Kat, you should have seen Malcolm’s face when Mother asked him about the horse!” She bursts into a fit of laughter. “He was so confused!”

“Malcolm?” I repeat, brows lifting with my curiosity. “You and Lord Boreham are on intimate terms, I see.”

Agatha shoots such a look of venom at her oldest daughter, I startle and instinctively brace for her wrath. But it’s not directed at me.

“Bridget Duxbury, what have I said about calling young men by their first names? It wouldn’t matter if Katherine gave you half her dowry—you’d be scandalizing yourself out of husbands!”

Bridget’s face turns scarlet. She’s shockingly penitent. She bows her head, her golden curls shaking from the movement. “Forgive me, Mother. I am far too presumptuous. It shall never happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.”

I move a small bite very slowly to my mouth, glancing between the two of them. Edith catches my eye, and when I expect her to make a silly face mocking the exchange, she immediately looks away.

The three of them know something. Something I don’t know.

“Did Lord Boreham call earlier today, while I was indisposed?” I ask, concerned the answer might be yes even though I didn’t hear a peep of it from Mary.

Bridget shakes her head. “Oh no, we ran into him when we were calling on the Cromptons.” She looks at me and offers a wiggly-eyebrowed smile. “He looked so handsome today.”

Do Bridget and Lord Boreham have a secret understanding between them? Why would Agatha have me marry the man if her daughter loved him? Unless she has some objection to the man and is using my fortune to lure him away from Bridget.

“If you think he’s so handsome, why don’t you just marry him?” I say, before I can think better of it.

All three of them blurt a stunned, “What?”

Edith covers her mouth with a napkin, trying to smother a burst of laughter. “Bridget? AndLord Boreham?” She fails, and her chortle rings out against the paneled walls and their intricate trim.

“Oh, please, Kat! I could never try to steal your intended!” Bridget rushes to insist. “Lord Boreham and I are not suitedat all.”

She’s still talking as Agatha says, “Bridget is not going to marry Lord Boreham.”

“Why are you all acting like this is a preposterous idea?” I demand. And why, if he is so vastly unsuited to Bridget and Edith, am I the one required to marry him? “There are three of us. He could have married any of us. Why is this so strange a concept?”

Agatha’s face freezes for a split second, so fast I almost think I imagined it, but then she smiles. “My dear, it is because you are the one he is interested in.”

“He’s never seemed allthatinterested in me,” I retort.

---