Katrina, however, could not keep her gaze from Lady Tesh. Her employer had remained off to the side, silently observing, her small white dog, Freya, equally watchful on her lap. It was a disturbing break from the woman’s normal brash forcefulness. Katrina knew that if anyone was going to tell her the truth of the matter, it would be her employer.
Lady Tesh did not disappoint.
“Katrina is right, of course,” she said, silencing the Oddments with one stern look. “This will no doubt cause a huge scandal. If it was just some random man, we might have been able to quiet the rumors. But Lord Landon was a peer of the realm. He perished attempting to climb into Katrina’s bedroom window in the dead of night. Not only that, but this was not the first time he had done so. We will not be able to sweep this under the rug.”
“There, you see?” Katrina said, though she did not feel one ounce of triumph from having Lady Tesh agree with her. No, the only thing she felt just then was the overwhelming desire to curl up in a ball and cry.
“There is only one thing to be done now,” she continued with much more bravado than she felt. Taking hold of Mouse’s collar, she dragged him out of the group of women and, straightening her shoulders, turned to face her employer. “I’m certain my brother will welcome me back,” she said bracingly—much more bravely than she felt. Francis had practically disowned her after Lord Landon’s first attempt at climbing into her room, laying the fault for the whole debacle, including the duel and the loss of his arm, on her shoulders. And she could not blame him one bit for it, though she still didn’t have a clue how she had encouraged the baron. But she must have done something to make the man think she would be at all receptive to such a thing.
That, however, was the past. And Francis’s recent letters, after so long ignoring her attempts to contact him, had given her hope that he would accept her back. She swallowed hard. After this horrible turn of events, she feared that she may have lost whatever ground she had gained with her estranged sibling. Even so, it was painfully obvious she could not stay. “I’ll pack up my things and be out of here as soon as I can manage. Will tomorrow morning suffice?”
The Oddments gasped, cries of dismay and outrage filling the room. Katrina, however, had eyes only for Lady Tesh. The woman was her employer, after all, and the entire reason she was on the Isle of Synne. The dowager had taken her in and offered her a position when Katrina had been quite without hope.
Her time on the Isle and in Lady Tesh’s employ had not been without its difficulties, of course. The woman was not the easiest person to work for. She was demanding and blunt and difficult on her best days.
But she had given Katrina a home, had introduced her to the women who would become her dearest friends. And in the process had saved Katrina when she had believed everything must surely be lost.
She fully expected the woman to nod in agreement. She should have guessed, however, that Lady Tesh must have her say.
“No,” the dowager viscountess murmured, “I don’t think that will suffice, not at all.”
Katrina’s stomach dropped. “You wish me to leave earlier than that? Very well, I’m certain I can manage to depart by this afternoon.” She turned to go, dragging Mouse along with her. Lady Tesh’s voice, however, stopped her in her tracks.
“No, you misunderstand me. Though,” the woman muttered, “that is no surprise. Everyone seems to willfully misunderstand me.” She speared Katrina with a stern glare. “You above all. Why you cannot follow simple instructions is beyond me.”
Katrina, as lost as ever where the woman was concerned, could only stare open-mouthed at her. Seraphina, blessedly, was not so reticent when it came to speaking up.
“What are you saying, Lady Tesh? Surely you cannot mean to let Katrina go.”
“Of course I shall not let her go,” Lady Tesh snapped. “Do you think me a monster? Just because some idiot man decided it would be wise to climb up the side of a building and invite himself inside a woman’s room without her consent, only to conveniently fall and break his damned neck? No, I shall not punish Katrina for that.”
There was a collective sigh of relief from the inhabitants of the room. None more so than from Katrina, who was so overwhelmed she became light-headed. It was only because her hand was on Mouse’s collar that she was able to keep her feet under her at all. As it was, she had to stumble to the nearest seat, dropping down into it with an inelegant grunt.
Despite her relief, though, common sense would insist on shining through.
“But, Lady Tesh,” she said, her head continuing to fight against her best interest, “you cannot want a companion with such a stain on her name.”
“I took you on with a stain on your name, didn’t I?” the woman demanded.
“Well… yes, I suppose you did—”
“And did it bother me one bit that you had a scandal attached to you?”
“I suppose not—” Katrina replied. Or, rather, tried replying, as Lady Tesh continued as if she had never spoken.
“I am well aware that men can be utter idiots when their cocks are involved.”
“Lady Tesh!” Adelaide gasped, her face as red as a strawberry. “There are unmarried women present.”
But Lady Tesh waved one heavily beringed hand in the air impatiently. “As if Miss Athwart here wasn’t providing you with the books and pamphlets to educate yourselves on the human body and all the intimate things it’s capable of,” she scoffed. “And I know she is doing so because I am the one who has funded such an endeavor. One of the greatest sins men have committed against females is keeping them blithely unaware of the sexual acts. No doubt,” she continued in a dark tone, “because if we were aware of just how horrible the vast majority of them are in bed, no woman would wish to lie with them. Your own husband, of course, is the exception,” she said to Bronwyn with a sly sideways glance. “That Ash looks as if he knows what he’s about.”
Katrina was vaguely aware of the strangled laughter around her. But she had no time to react herself before Lady Tesh’s piercing eyes were once more settled on her.
“You are not at fault for what that man has done. And I will not allow anyone to disparage you. As my companion, you are under my protection, and I do not take that duty lightly. And so I will hear no more talk about you leaving.”
Warmth filled Katrina until she thought she would weep with it. Lady Tesh was not an affectionate woman. More often than not she was rude and outspoken and gave no care to what others thought.
Such a speech coming from her, as aggressive as it had been, was as good as a shout to the heavens that she cared.
Even so, it would not be right to let the woman take on the full burden of this. It could not have been easy for her to hire such a person—Katrina recalled all too well the chilly reception she had received from much of Synne before Lady Tesh had stepped in and set everyone straight. But it would be doubly difficult now, with the old scandal resurrected in such a violent manner, and not only resurrected but also compounded upon. “If my brother insists I return home,” she managed around the lump in her throat, “I will return to him, and save you from whatever repercussions might arise from this.”
For the barest of moments, Katrina thought she saw pity darken the woman’s heavily lined face. But in a second it was gone, replaced with a gentleness that Katrina had never seen from her employer.