Page 99 of Noble Scoundrel

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UPON WAKING THE NEXT morning, Katherine immediately went in search of Frederick. She didn’t want to wait another moment to tell him the man behind the abductions was gone for good. She found her brother in the schoolroom with Claire.

The little girl saw her first and scrambled quickly to her feet to run across the room and lift her arms toward Katherine. With a smile, she scooped the toddler into her arms and held her close, breathing deep of the child’s sweet scent.

“My lady.” The nurse rose from her chair in the corner to curtsy.

“Good morning.” She glanced to Frederick, who’d been sitting at a small writing desk but now crossed the room to her.

“Morning, Kit,” he said with a smile. “How was your evening?”

“Eventful,” Katherine replied, “and exactly what I came to talk with you about.” Her brother arched a brow. “Breakfast will be ready soon. Shall we walk down together?”

“Certainly.”

“I’ll take Claire,” the nurse offered, hurrying forward.

Katherine looked at the girl in her arms who’d started twirling a tendril that had fallen from Katherine’s coiffure around her little finger. “Has she eaten yet?”

“Uh, no. We were planning to ring for something shortly.”

“Do you mind if she joins my brother and me downstairs?”

The woman looked at her in shocked silence. After a long moment, she sputtered, “I don’t think that’d be proper, my lady.”

Katherine laughed. “You may’ve noticed we don’t worry a great deal about what is proper. I think she’d enjoy a little time away from the schoolroom.” Smiling at the flustered nurse, she assured, “I’m sure we can handle a little egg and sausage. I’ll bring her back immediately after, I promise.”

“Of course, my lady,” she finally said with another curtsy.

Lowering the girl back to her feet, Katherine took her hand. “To the breakfast room, then?”

“Fweddie come, too?”

“I’ll lead the way,” her brother replied.

Not much later, they were all settled at the small dining table in the sunny yellow room with plates filled from the generous breakfast buffet. A footman had found a large, firm cushion to boost Claire higher in her seat, and Katherine sat close beside her, with Frederick taking a place across from them.

Assisting the little girl triggered a swift rush of memories to when Frederick had been the same age. Though they’d eaten in the schoolroom together, Katherine had always insisted on helping her brother with his utensils and, later, with his table manners. Looking up now, she grinned at the capable young man he’d become. She hadn’t done too bad a job in her devoted mothering of the boy.

“So, what occurred last night?” he asked. “You said the party was eventful.”

“It was, indeed,” she replied.

As her brother commenced to cleaning his plate and Katherine paused here and there to re-tuck Claire’s napkin or assist in capturing a particularly resistant piece of sausage, she related the events of the evening with a reasonable amount of detail.

By the end, her brother was surprisingly stoic.

“I’m sorry you were forced to go through that, Kit.”

She reached across the table with a shake of her head. “I’m not. Because now we know the face of our enemy. And he’s no longer a threat.”

“But Father’s journals are still missing.”

“True,” she said with a sigh as she straightened in her chair and looked at her brother with steady eyes. She couldn’t forget how Shelbourne had consistently used the word we when going on about his plot to force Frederick into recreating Father’s formula. “There is very clearly a broader picture to this story, which we’re not currently privy to. However, I think our cousin Warfield will soon be enlightening us.” She smiled tightly. “In fact, I’ve invited him to dinner tonight. I’ll leave it entirely up to you if you’d like to join us.”

Frederick’s expression was thoughtful, but he replied without hesitation, “I’d very much like to meet the new marquess. He’s the heir to Northmoor, after all. It’s important we get to know the man.”

Katherine couldn’t agree more.

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