“Oh, the gown, it’s nothing. Of a truth, Harry, I would much prefer my breeches and my old hat.”
“Now, old girl, stop squeezing me like an orange, you’ll ruin my new waistcoat.”
Kate laughed and stepped back to look her brother. “Well, I say, Harry, it is you who are looking terribly smart. Those yellow stripes quite dazzle the eye.”
Harry beamed at her. “I always knew you had good taste, my dear. Now, don’t sidetrack me. You certainly know why I’m here, you sly puss. My congratulations to you, little sister. I must say, though, I was surprised to hear from Father that you had attached the earl of March. Quite a feat, yes, indeed. How proud I am of you.” In truth, Harry had been very nearly speechless at the news. His Kate getting married, his little sister. But now as he looked down at her, he realized that she was quite beautiful, certainly lovely enough for an earl. Dressed in the height of fashion, she already looked grand enough to be a countess.
“Father wrote you?”
“Don’t look so surprised. Of course he did. Quite right of him to do so, you know. Come, let’s sit down. You can’t leave a guest standing in the middle of the room. I will tell you all about it, and then you must tell me how you managed to attach the earl.”
She gritted her teeth. She gazed at her brother’s open, smiling face for a moment, bit her lower lip, and held her tongue. Neither of them talked of anything of consequence until she’d served Harry a glass of sherry and sat herself down beside him.
“Now, Harry, tell me what our father wrote and why you are here.” Her voice was a trifle hard, but she couldn’t help it.
“I got a letter from Father just last week. Told me in great detail how the earl wanted you to gain some town polish before your wedding.”
Town polish. The lying, perfidious sod. She made a choking sound into her sherry.
“There, there, Kate. I know you must have difficulty believing your good fortune.”
“Yes, yes, Harry, certainly, please continue. Tell me all that Father told you.”
“I must say, Kate, the settlement the earl made to Father made my head spin. Father wrote that the earl is not only settling his debts but that he also wished to buy my colors. Lord, I never hoped for this.” She could easily picture what was in her brother’s mind. Harry astride a magnificent black charger, dressed in a dashing hussar’s uniform.
Indeed, she was very nearly right, and Harry pulled himself away unwillingly from his delightful vision. He continued in happy ignorance, “Father also sent me some money. So I got myself rigged up and came to London. I got here just this morning.”
“Morning? But it’s now afternoon, Harry. Why didn’t you come to see me when you arrived?” Harry as an ally, as a rescuer, was fast fading as a possibility. Damnation, did the earl think of everything? He had bought her father, and now he had made Harry’s fondest wish come true. It seemed that she was quite alone, but that was, in truth, something she was used to.
Harry leaned over and patted her hand with brotherly affection. “Now, old girl, don’t be miffed. You must know that it was only proper that I pay my respects first to my future brother-in-law.”
“You what?”
“I went to see the earl,” Harry repeated with great patience. “Lord, what a mansion he has in Grosvenor Square. But of course you’ve been there, probably more times now than you can count.”
As Kate didn’t deny this, being quite unable to fit two words together at the moment, Harry continued serenely, “You know, Kate, I was certainly wrong about his lordship. Dashed nice fellow, not at all cold or conceited or patronizing. Why, we spent quite two hours together discussing the regiment I wanted to be in and, of course, other things.”
Harry paused and looked at his sister. She was no longer the wild hoyden, dressed in boy’s breeches, ready for any lark. She looked positively regal. He wondered at her quietness, for it was quite unlike her. But having spent the entire morning with the elegant and very charming earl of March, he decided that her silence was properly due to her modesty.
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