God. Was he fifteen? Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure if he’d done such a thing as a teenager.
“She must be mortified,” he said. Katherine was so poised and proud. She would hate to be visibly marked in such a way so that others could see.
“I don’t think she realized it,” Val assured him. “And I feel sure Caro would have alerted her by now. She might be difficult, but she is a good friend, and I know she wouldn’t allow Kate to be exposed to talk.”
That was a relief at least.
“So, do I need to ask your intentions?” Val looked at him with a deceptively casual gaze. He might not be poised to fight now, but there was no less threat of force in him. Eversham knew that if he did anything to hurt Katherine, he’d have this man to answer to.
Still, he wasn’t going to be rushed into anything. No matter how ferocious Katherine’s honorary brother might be.
“It’s a bit early for that, don’t you think?”
Val sighed. “I suppose so. But just so you know, I have a great number of friends in the sporting world, and I need only say the word for you to be thrashed within an inch of your life.”
“It’s not a good idea to threaten a policeman, old fellow,” said Eversham companionably. “But because we’re friends, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“Are we friends?” Valentine sounded surprised. “I suppose we are, come to think of it.”
“You’ve got to have some respectable ones in your merry band. If only to come to your aid when your disreputable friends get you into trouble with the law.”
“You would do that?”
Eversham was amused at the other man’s gratitude. “Well, I have it on good authority that you are Lady Katherine’s oldest friend. And I don’t think she’d be very happy with me if I left her oldest friend to rot away in jail without assistance. Especially me being with the Yard and all.”
“That’s true, isn’t it? I’m almost sorry I punched you now.”
“You’re not bad with your fists.” Eversham tested his jaw for soreness again.
“I’ve spent the better part of my life since age fifteen at boxing matches,” Valentine said. “One’s bound to pick up a few things about form after all that time. Also I’m working on Jim’s life story right now, and we just finished the part where he gives his own philosophy of fighting.”
The clock on the mantel chimed the hour, and Eversham set down his glass with a curse.
“What is it?” Valentine asked, not bothering to get up.
“I was supposed to go to Katherine once I got back, but I went up to change and then—”
“And then I punched you and forced you to drink my whiskey,” Valentine finished for him.
He didn’t bother saying goodbye.
Eversham figured his new friend Val would understand.
* * *
After her conversation with Miss Green, Kate had spent the better part of the day immersed in the diary of Miss Delia Hale, a young lady of eighteen who had lived with her parents in the village of Crossmere some thirty miles from Lewiston.
The journal, it appeared, had been a gift from Sebastian Philbrick, who had met her on a visit to Crossmere, and, according to Delia at least, had fallen head over ears in love with her. She appeared to return the sentiment, but it was also clear from comments Delia made about her home life that she had a very good incentive to remove herself from her vicar father’s household as soon as possible. So, Kate thought it was strongly possible that Delia would have fallen in love with the devil himself if he’d offered a way to remove her from Crossmere.
Over the course of a month, she chronicled secret meetings and, in nonspecific terms, a sexual relationship that had led to her becoming pregnant. Though Kate had some not very kind thoughts about the honor of a man who engaged a girl some twenty years his junior in a clandestine affair, Philbrick, in this instance, did the right thing and demanded they marry at once. Of course, Delia was happy to do so. Her father, however, refused to honor Philbrick’s suit because he wasn’t, to the vicar’s mind, a suitable match owing to his licentious history. There was also the matter of a very well-publicized betrothal between Philbrick and Miss Jane Hubbard, a young lady of good family in Lewiston. Presumably, Philbrick had made the situation plain to the vicar in a private meeting,