dowry, then gave Meri most of our family fortune to invest. Meri stayed for a week. My brother should have been the one to exchange vows with our husband.”
“Oh, you poor dear,” Constance whispered. “Your brother is a viscount?”
Beth stood tall and straightened her dress. “Yes. St. John Howell. For the last three years, he’s been trying to marry me off. He thinks he’s being a good brother, but his judgment is questionable. He’s made bad matches for me before, but thank heavens, they didn’t come to fruition. I’m afraid he’ll be desperate for me to marry once this gets out. I don’t want to go home nor be recognized here. I just want to live in peace. But I’ll do whatever I can to help you all.”
Katherine offered each woman a smile. “We’re friends now. And friends help friends.” She reached and took Constance’s hand with her right and Beth’s hand with her left. “There’s only one thing to do.”
“What’s that?” Beth asked.
“I’m going to the theatre this evening,” she announced.
Both women’s eyes widened.
“It’s a little unorthodox, but at my shop, I heard the Duke of Randford is attending tonight at the behest of the Prince Regent. He should be the one to help us fix this mess. I plan to find him and have a nice long discussion with him. Would either of you like to join me?”
“No,” they both said in unison.
Constance giggled slightly. “You’re braver than I am.”
Beth examined Katherine critically. “You have the keen instinct of a rebel even though you’re such a little thing.”
“A veritable warrioress,” Constance added.
“Some of the best surprises come in small packages,” Katherine said. “Please make yourself comfortable. I need to get ready.”
With a wave, she left the room, and with each step, the more confident she became. After an enlightening afternoon with her two new friends, Katherine knew the path before her. She’d not allow them to suffer. Nor would she allow the baby to be born in an unmitigated scandal if she could help it. A certain duke would soon discover that Katherine would not stop until he helped Constance and Beth.
As important, she had to protect her business, which meant she had to keep her own secrets safe. The scandal swirling around her and the other two wives was a recipe for disaster. If anyone found out she’d married a trigamist, she might lose the chance to outfit the Prince Regent’s bedchambers. The Prince Regent would be loath to entangle his pride and joy, the Royal Pavilion, with her problems, no matter how superior her linens were to the competition’s.
She would protect her chance to win that contract. With a royal warrant for appointment, Katherine would turn her business into an indisputable success. She had worked hard, but more importantly, she put her heart and soul into her products. Winning the contract would ensure her future security. The money earned would be her own, and nothing could damage her or her reputation ever again.
Of course, she couldn’t allow anyone to discover where she came from or why she had married Meriwether.
All of it led to a logical conclusion. This untenable situation she and the other women found themselves in would not stand. If the brilliant Duke of Randford could outwit and outmaneuver Napoleon’s forces, then he could certainly find out what had happened to all their dowries and fix the mess Meri had created.
Unlucky for the duke, but lucky for Katherine, she planned to meet him at the theatre.
The duke might soon fancy that walk in hell’s park he had spoken about in Mr. Hanes’s office rather than tangle with her.
Chapter Four
Christian could feel his valet’s anxiety clear across the carriage. As the seconds ticked by, the poor man’s face turned paler. The situation turned dire when he pulled his cravat away from his neck. Under no circumstances would a self-composed Jacob Morgan allow a perfectly tied neckcloth to be ruined.
“Jacob,” Christian said slowly. “We’re in the theatre line, waiting for our carriage door to be opened.”
His valet nodded once, then turned his head. As he pulled the window curtain aside, the streetlamps outside lit the inside of the carriage. Sweat glistened across his brow. He grimaced once, then dropped the curtain.
He cleared his throat and leaned back against the rear-facing velvet squab in Christian’s carriage. “At times, this carriage feels like a box. If someone would attack us at this instant … we would be defenseless.”
“I have a pistol in the storage compartment below me.” Since