Page 30 of The Marriage Debt
‘Because they will be very shocked to learn of it if they have begun by accepting me as your wife. And will they not expect us to…to share a bedchamber? I mean…’ The colour was rising in her cheeks again, she realised, furious with herself.
‘That is another thing you need not worry about.’ Theo’s smile was obviously intended to reassure, all it did was infuriate her.
‘How can I not worry?’ she demanded. ‘I would be an idiot not to worry about things.’
Her temper appeared to amuse Theo. ‘Now you are a married lady you should surrender all your worries to your husband,’ he remarked, obviously intent on provoking her.
Katherine directed a smouldering look at him. The temptation to retort was strong but she could sense his enjoyment at sparring with her. Self-preservation told her thatthe less pleasure he found in her company, the safer her feelings for him would be.
‘Very well, Theo,’ she said meekly, folding her hands demurely in her lap.
Unfortunately this uncharacteristic behaviour produced the opposite effect to the one she wanted. Theo roared with laughter and leaned forward to pinch her chin affectionately. ‘Do you know what you look like now?’ he demanded. ‘The kitchen cat with her eyes on a chump chop, just waiting until Cook is out of the kitchen.’ The shift in position brought him closer to the window. ‘It has started to rain, I had better let Jenny back inside and take a turn with the reins. Will you pull the check-string?’
‘Did you enjoy the fresh air?’ she asked as Jenny shook the first raindrops off her cloak and draped it over the seat beside her to dry. ‘I wish I could ride outside, but it is not worth even suggesting that to Theo.’
‘It is good to be outside,’ Jenny commented, ‘but my goodness that box seat is hard, I declare that my backside is quite benumbed.’
‘Jenny, what a thing to say. You should have asked John to stop and come inside much earlier.’
‘I wanted to give you a good chance to talk to Mr Lydgate,’ Jenny said, shrugging off the reproof. ‘Did it help? Has he confided in you?’
‘Not a great deal. He told me a little about his father – who is somewhat elderly – and his younger brother. His father is a farmer.’
‘A prosperous one, surely? The Master didn’t get that way of speaking or those manners at the plough’s tail or the village dame school.’
Katherine blinked, then decided to ignore Jenny’s turn of phrase. She had never once in Katherine’s hearing referred to Philip as “The Master”, only as “Mr Philip”.
‘No,’ she agreed. ‘He is probably a prosperous squire, well able to give his sons a tutor and send them to university.’
‘So you’ve come to an understanding? There won’t be any more talk of ending the marriage?’ Jenny asked brightly.
‘No of course not. Whatever are you thinking of? Naturally we must have the marriage annulled.’
‘Despite the way you feel about him?’
Katherine met Jenny’s shrewd eyes and struggled to keep the truth out of her own. ‘Whatdoyou mean?’ she demanded. ‘Naturally I admire Mr Lydgate’s courage and his sense of honour in helping me. And naturally I cannot impose upon his good will a moment longer than is necessary.’
‘I mean you are in love with him,’ Jenny retorted, presuming ruthlessly on years of intimacy. She watched Katherine struggle wordlessly for a crushing phrase to contradict her. ‘I knew it, the way you look at him – or half the timedon’tlook. What does he feel about it?’
‘Nothing at all. You quite mistake the matter. Mr Lydgate’s feelings are simply those of a chivalrous gentleman attempting to help a lady in a difficult situation. Stop trying to put me to the blush.’
So Jenny had already seen something, seen it before she herself had acknowledged how she felt about Theo. She could only trust that no-one else was as perceptive.
They made good time, despite the rain. The next night, as Theo helped her down from the carriage, his news released both a sigh of relief from her lips and a cold sinking in her stomach at the thought of what was to come.
‘We have only a short drive tomorrow, an hour at most. I thought you would prefer to arrive rested and in daylight.’
He appeared to have taken her worries about the extravagance of the York inn to heart and since then theirstopping places had been humble, although clean and well kept. This last inn sat sturdy and ancient in a fold of the hill beyond the small town of Marlowe Beck. They had pressed on past the fine Duke’s Arms in the main square and, despite her earlier protestations about money, Katherine had watched it go with some regret. Although she would not say so, her anatomy was suffering as much as Jenny’s from the long hours sitting, and the thought of a fine goose feather bed and a hot bath was deeply tempting.
But thoughts of the smart inn vanished as John helped her down from the coach. The evening sun was setting behind the hills, sending long shadows over the rolling green of the fields and making dark mysteries of the endless stone walls and the occasional copse of twisted trees.
Theo vanished into the inn and emerged again with the landlord who had a beaming smile on his face. Katherine caught a snatch of the man’s words, but what with the breeze blowing them away and his unfamiliar accent she could not catch the whole sentence.
‘…back parlour, Mr Theo, and no fear…anyone will…big house. It’s a great day, that’s for sure.’
Theo ushered them all through into the room the innkeeper indicated and opened a door in the panelling at the rear. Katherine glimpsed the foot of a narrow flight of stairs. ‘Up there are the rooms, choose which ever you wish for yourself and Jenny.’
‘You sound as though you know this place,’ she observed only to interrupted by a hearty chuckle from the inn keeper.
