“They won’t?” Lady Cecily asked.
“No,” Catriona agreed. “Taran may leave our reputations in tatters, but we will be returned every bit as alive and virginal as when we were taken.”
And then, with an aching gasp, she realized what she’d said. But if Fiona took offense, she did not show it. In fact, Fiona’s voice was completely unaffected as she explained, “It is well known that while Taran’s sense of honor is unique, it does exist. He would never allow us to be harmed in any way.”
Catriona wanted to say that she had never believed the gossip about Fiona, but she could hardly bring up the subject in front of Lady Cecily. Now she felt a little knot of shame in the pit of her stomach. Why hadn’t she gone out of her way to offer Fiona her support? It was true that their paths hadn’t often crossed; Catriona had always been much more likely to come across Marilla at local gatherings.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to have a dress altered for you before supper this evening,” Fiona said to Lady Cecily, expertly steering the conversation back to mundane waters. She frowned down at the ice blue brocade in her hands. “I promised Marilla I’d finish this one first. Then I’ll do yours.”
“Surely Marilla can wait,” Catriona said. “Didn’t you already see to that red dress she was wearing today?”
Fiona snorted. “If I had seen to that red dress, you can be sure I’d have yanked the bodice up a few inches.”
“But what about you?” Lady Cecily asked. “I insist that you see to your own gown before mine.”
“Nonsense,” Fiona replied. “I can—”
“I will not take no for an answer,” Lady Cecily said forcefully, “and even if you alter a frock for me, I won’t wear it until yours is done.”
Fiona looked up at her and blinked behind her spectacles. “That is very generous of you,” she finally said.
Lady Cecily shrugged, as if walking around in ill-fitting gowns was nothing to the daughter of an earl. “There is nothing to be gained by complaining about our situation,” she said.
“Try telling that to my sister,” Fiona muttered.
Catriona and Lady Cecily looked at her with identical expressions of sympathy.
Fiona just rolled her eyes and went back to her sewing. A few moments later, Lady Cecily turned to Catriona and asked, “Have Mr. Ferguson’s nephews visited Finovair before?”
Catriona shook her head. “First of all, no one calls him Mr. Ferguson. It’s always Taran. I don’t know why; it’s not as if we’re so shockingly familiar with anyone else. And secondly, I’m not sure.” She glanced over at Fiona. “We were talking about that earlier. Certainly, I’ve never met them.”
“Nor I,” Fiona agreed.
“Do you know them?” Catriona asked Cecily. “I would think you would have been much more likely to cross their paths in London.”
“I know of them, of course,” Lady Cecily said, “and I’ve been introduced to Lord Oakley. But not the Comte de Rocheforte.”
“Why not?” Fiona asked.
Lady Cecily appeared to hesitate, and a faint blush stole across her cheeks. “I suppose our paths did not cross.”
That was a clanker if ever Catriona had heard one. But she certainly wasn’t going to say anything about it.
Fiona, however, must not have shared her reticence, because she murmured, “He strikes me as a bit of a rake.”
“Yes,” Lady Cecily admitted. “I imagine that’s why our paths did not cross.”
“It seems to me that he ought not to be a rake,” Catriona said.
Lady Cecily turned to face her with wide, interested eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Just that his is such a ready smile. I haven’t shared more than two words with him, but he strikes me as being altogether too nice to be a rake.”
“He is very handsome, of course,” Fiona observed.
“Well, perhaps,” Catriona murmured.
Fiona grinned. “You’re just saying that because you have fallen in love with the duke.”
“I haven’t!” Catriona insisted.
Fiona replied with an arch look, then said, “You may thank me later for securing you time alone in the drawing room.”
Lady Cecily pressed her lips together—presumably so as not to laugh—then said, “I have been introduced to the Duke of Bretton.”
“Really?” Fiona asked with great interest, saving Catriona the trouble of pretending that she wasn’t dying for more information.
“Oh yes. Not that I would pretend any great friendship, but our fathers were at Cambridge together. The duke generally pencils his name on my dance card whenever our paths cross at a ball.”
Catriona wondered what it would be like to dance in John’s arms, to feel his hand pressing gently at the small of her back. He would hold her close, maybe even a little too close for propriety, and she would feel the heat of him rippling through the air until it landed on her like a kiss.
She felt herself growing warm, which was ludicrous. It was the dead of winter, barely a week before Christmas, and she was trapped in Taran Ferguson’s underheated, crumbledown castle. She should be freezing. But apparently, the mere thought of the Duke of Bretton sent her into an overheated tizzy.
“Would you like some tea?” Fiona asked.
“Yes!” Catriona responded, with perhaps more eagerness than the question called for.
“It only just arrived before you got here,” Fiona told her, “but it wasn’t hot even then.”
“It’s quite all right,” Catriona said quickly, thinking she could almost do with an iced lemonade right now, she felt so flushed. She set to work preparing her cup, moving slowly and methodically, needing the time to compose herself.
“Do either of you know what our plans for supper are?” Lady Cecily asked.
“Mrs. McVittie’s already laid the table,” Catriona said. She’d seen it after she’d left the duke—John, she reminded herself—in the sitting room. She’d been discombobulated, but not so much that she hadn’t stopped to inspect the seating arrangements. Taran had been at the head, with Marilla on his right, followed by Mr. Rocheforte, Fiona, the duke, Lady Cecily, Lord Oakley, Catriona, and then back to Taran.
Catriona had switched with Lady Cecily, certain no one (except possibly Taran) would be the wiser.
“Please tell me I’m not seated next to Taran,” Fiona said.
“Marilla has that honor,” Catriona replied. She gave a sympathetic look to Lady Cecily (but not so sympathetic that she regretted having switched their spots). “And you, I’m afraid.”
“That’s all right, I suppose.” Lady Cecily took a sip of her tea. “Did you by any chance see who was on my other side?”
“I think it was Lord Oakley, but I’m not entirely positive,” Catriona fibbed. There was no need for anyone to know she’d memorized the seating arrangements.
“Oh.” Lady Cecily brought her cup to her lips again. “How perfectly pleasant.”
The conversation stalled at that, and then, after Fiona had put her attention back to her needlework, Lady Cecily blurted, “Are either of you chilled? I’m chilled.”
“The tea isn’t very hot,” Catriona said, since the sudden statement seemed to call for some sort of reply.