Page 12 of In Search of a Husband
“Should I ring for tea?” Charlotte stood and fussed with the bodice of her dress. The yellow silk gown was bright sun, complementing her honey locks and curvy body perfectly. “I should probably try to sleep for a little…”
Kate bolted upright, pushing down her nerves. “I have something I must ask you, actually.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I haven’t heard from the duke, dear. And no, I am not hurt by the recent news that he?—”
“It has nothing to do with your duke. Though if the blackguard ever decides to show up at any of the palaces he owns in England, I promise to give him a piece of my mind.”
“I rather thought Lily would handle that.”
True, Lily did have a way with words.
Women had been burned at the stake for less, but Kate couldn’t stomach the fact that after her unfortunate affair with the marquess, she was left wrangling a nasty amount of bitterness toward the male sex. A woman scorned…
And yet, somehow, Charlotte floated around London attending and hosting balls, opening a school for girls, redecorating the duke’s family seat in Cumbria, as if no one in London called her Honey Duchess behind her back. According to the on-dits, she had tempted the duke nearly five years ago and ensnared him into marriage.
However, Kate knew the truth.
Charlotte was no better than a beautiful creature trapped in a gilded cage. And just like Kate, she wore a smile that was more habitual than natural at this point. The duke needed an heir after five years of marriage, but the man refused to spend time with his Honey Duchess, never mind tolerating living in the same country as her.
“I received a letter from my father’s cousin.”
“Whom?”
“Miss Alice Bancroft.”
“Kate, she is… well, I do not know how to describe her exactly except that she has a fondness for cats that exceeds reasonable.”
“I like cats plenty!”
“My point exactly.”
Kate shrugged off Charlotte’s teasing and continued, her tone now serious. “I have been considering what it asked.”
“What’s that?”
Kate jumped to her feet, pacing back and forth, before stopping and wringing her hands in front of her. “I am leaving for Scotland in a week’s time to become a governess.”
Charlotte pinched her brow and leaned forward. “I didn’t drink so much last evening as to suffer any consequences, yet I believe I just heard you will be leaving me to teach children.”
“It’s only...” She sighed. “It’s only Lily is married now and running the school, and you’re busy avoiding the duke?—”
“He’s avoiding me.”
“And I am sostuck.” Kate tossed her arms to her side. “I am so trapped, and I feel as if I remain here in London or return with you to Stonehurst, I will lose my mind.”
“Have you not been busy enough? We could travel the continent if you’d like or find something…”
“Lottie, I am bored! I don’t wish to live my life for anyone else anymore. If I am ruined, then I want to live for myself. As all women should. But society wishes to punish me because Hugh is a damned scoundrel. My life will belong to him as long as I am chained to the narrative that I was ever his to begin with. I will choose a life that is my own.”
“How are you going to do that?”
She wished more than anything there was another way. “I need to leave.”
Charlotte threw her head back and laughed. Gooseflesh broke out over Kate’s forearms.
“Darling, you can’t stand children. And now you wish to teach… wait, how many children?”
“Two girls, ages four and six.”
