A Duke in Time (The Widow Rules #1) - Janna MacGregor Page 0,6
was he afraid of? Failure perhaps?
He’d failed before with Meri and would probably do so again if he got involved with his half brother’s last escapade.
But he’d try, even if it meant he’d have to go through hell again.
By now, the carriage had traveled for several blocks. Christian knocked on the roof, then leaned out the window.
The driver expertly controlled the reins as he peered over his shoulder. “Your Grace?”
“Let’s return to Hanes’s office.”
* * *
What a pretentious lout.
Katherine refused to give him another glance after their introduction had finished. To think she’d even entertained putting that man in the same category as a beloved family member.
She’d prefer to claim a rat as kin rather than the Duke of Randford. Rat and Randford fit perfectly together. The Duke of Ratface. The Rat of Randford.
As Katherine approached Mr. Hanes’s office, debating whom she was insulting worse—the rat or Randford—Willa waited outside the door with a scowl on her face.
“Shall we depart? I’d like to stop by the workshop before we return home.” Katherine pulled her gloves tight and extended her hand to take the cloak draped over Willa’s arms.
“Kat.” Willa shook her head vigorously. “Those poor women.”
“The two still here?” Katherine dropped her hand.
Willa nodded, then turned her head from side to side to see if anyone else could hear the conversation. “They have no place to go. We can’t leave them here.”
“I’m well aware you have a tender heart for those who are vulnerable—”
“As do you,” Willa interrupted. “Remember all those kittens you brought home?”
“Those women are not strays,” Kat pointed out.
Willa leaned close. “You’re right. But they can’t fight this on their own. Neither expected this news today. Same as you. They both told me that by coming here, they thought they’d be welcomed into the duke’s home. Seeing how the duke acted today? They’d have better luck staying at Carlton House.”
Katherine sighed.
“Kat, they’re alone,” Willa implored.
“Those women married my husband. You truly can’t expect me to offer them lodging in my home?” she asked while peeking around the door into the solicitor’s office to glance at the other two wives. What had Meriwether seen in them that made him forgot his vows to her? What did they have that she didn’t?
Both women had their heads together. One was holding the other’s hand in an attempt to give comfort. They were trying to help each other through this crisis.
Her momentary jealousy melted at the sight. She should be bristling with resentment, but instead, her heart pounded a beat in sympathy. But for the grace of the heavens above, she could be either of those two. The husband they shared had turned all their lives upside down. It was his fault. As much as she hated to admit it, the duke was correct. The fault lay with the “trigamist” she and the other two had in common, not one another.
“Do they understand what has happened?” Katherine pulled her cloak around her shoulders.
Willa nodded once decisively. “By the time I entered the room, they were peppering questions at the young clerks who had explained the situation.”
She shook her head. “It’s madness to try and help. I can’t do it.”
“Kat,” Willa soothed as she placed her hand on Katherine’s arm. “The one with child has an aunt she’s responsible for. Her name is Mrs. Venetia Hopkins. I met her in the entry while we were waiting.” Willa edged Katherine toward the door. “The dark-haired woman who is dressed impeccably has nowhere to go either. She’s by herself and seems ready to bolt for the door. We must help them.”
“Why?” Katherine answered, acting uninterested in Willa’s answer.
“Because they’re no different from the others you take under your wing, except they married your husband.”
Katherine searched her resolute eyes. Willa had her pegged correctly. Katherine’s boutique, a business she’d been building over the years, offered luxury bedding and pillows to the elite of society. After her mother had died, she’d started the business as a way to keep a roof over their heads. Neither she nor Willa had accrued any savings, so they had to fend for themselves. Slowly, Kat’s business had blossomed into a successful endeavor that currently employed ten unmarried women who were on their own. It was Kat’s way of paying her good fortune forward by hiring single women. Within the next six months, if things continued in the same fashion, Katherine would employ twice that number.
The women sitting in Mr. Hanes’s office were the same—on their own without husbands.