Two Lady Scoundrels and a Duke - Tessa Candle Page 0,31
all planned.” He cast a dark glance at Katherine, who gasped and shook her head as if emerging from a fugue state. “I see I have only barely arrived in time to prevent a catastrophe.”
“You are too good, Rutherford. But I have just had the whole story from Sumner, myself. I did not know that he had told you about it, however.”
Rutherford looked puzzled, and his eyes flicked from Katherine to Foxleigh. “Sumner enlisted my assistance with apprehending her. As you know I often act as a local magistrate and Blackwood has its own dungeon. But if you know all the facts, how on earth can you still be considering marrying this criminal?”
Foxleigh squinted at his friend “I am not marrying Marie Dubois, you great simpleton! I am marrying this gorgeous angel. He reached to take Katherine’s arm as she swayed slightly. “Katherine, won’t you sit down. True you look unwell.” He settled her into the pew. “I assure you she cannot harm us, my darling. I have taken precautions.” He gestured toward his two men who stood watching at a respectful distance.
Foxleigh turned back to Rutherford, whose face looked stricken and had turned so beet red that it matched his hideous pantaloons.
“Good Lord, are you unwell, too?” A quiver of apprehension washed over Foxleigh. “Wait! You two have not been poisoned, have you?”
He was about to run off to fetch a doctor, but Rutherford held up his hand. “Stay. It is no poisoning. But I fear I may have made an unpardonable error. Did I hear you call this young lady Katherine?”
“Yes.” Foxleigh looked at both of them. “I am a great blockhead for not introducing you. Forgive the informality, but may I present Katherine Blake, my fiancée. Katherine, this is my good friend Rutherford, the Duke of Bartholmer.”
Rutherford pressed a hand to his temple and swallowed. “Oh my Lord. Miss Blake, I beg your forgiveness for how I spoke to you before. I was unpardonably rude and unjust, for I mistook you for Marie Dubois, whom I know only by reputation, and by the recent report that she was behind the robbery of your future husband. I am such an oaf. You must despise me.”
“Wait. What the blazes did you say to my fiancée?” Foxleigh suddenly realized he had been utterly in the dark.
Katherine’s face was regaining its colour. “He did say some horrid, shocking things, and forbid me to marry you—indeed he offered me five hundred pounds to leave before the wedding, and threatened me with arrest if I did not accept it.” Then she burst out laughing.
Foxleigh shook his head. “What is wrong with everyone? Rutherford, is this true?”
“It is.” He held up his hands. “But before you plant me the facer I deserve, please believe that it was entirely a case of mistaken identity. You could have avoided this fiasco if, in your hastily scrawled invitation to the wedding, you had not sounded like a man whose mind was in utter disarray, and if you had bothered to mention the name of the woman you were planning to wed. You told me you were going to marry the lady who had rescued you, and when I learned a short time later that rescuing you after the assault had been precisely the Dubois woman’s plan, what else was I to surmise? I thought the scheming snake was taking advantage of your blow to the head to make herself a duchess. Naturally I was going to stop the wedding at all costs.”
Foxleigh rolled his eyes to the heavens. How could his wedding day become any greater of a debacle? Katherine’s laughter dissolved into several inelegant snorts.
She grasped her sides. “Oh, Rutherford—I hope I may call you Rutherford. I admit, I feel quite at liberty now that you have called me a profligate and manipulative trollop. You gave me quite a shock, but I must thank you for making me laugh better than I have in years.”
“I am glad my bride can see the humour in your crass insults.” Foxleigh frowned at his friend. “If she can forgive you, I might be persuaded not to un-invite you from the wedding and have you expelled from the sanctuary.”
Rutherford looked truly repentant. “I would be honoured if you would call me Rutherford, Miss Blake, and treat me like a friend, though I deserve no such kindness after my behavior. Can you ever forgive me?”
Katherine was full of complacent smiles. “With all my heart. Indeed you are more than forgiven. What