Kate: A Universal Truth (A Wish for Love Series Book 1) Read Free Page B

more feminine and graceful than if she had she worn a suit.  Emma looked beautiful in a blue dress.  Her hair was brushed high on her head and her sweet features were highlighted by pink lipstick.  They took their raincoats and started on their way.
    The weather was cool but the rain stopped and they decided to walk the streets separating their flat from the college.  They agreed that later they would forget their penny-pinching and take a taxi to the party at Hastingham, an extravagant, rococo palace about thirty miles from Oxford.  The taxi ride would be expensive but Kate knew she was the only one among the younger staff to receive an invitation and she was reluctant to trouble Sir Bruton with her transportation problems.
    Despite their brisk pace the two women arrived at the Sheldonian Theatre just minutes before the start of the exercises and the large imposing hall was packed with people.  Hundreds of students accompanied by parents, sat in a setting designed like a semi-circular Roman amphitheater awaiting the start of the ceremonies.  The front rows, directly opposite the stage, were reserved for distinguished guests invited for the occasion.  Kate returned a friendly look at the greetings of several of her students and led Emma to the section set aside for the faculty.  Kate looked about.  Although she had been in the theatre many times she could never get her fill of the beauty and grandeur of Oxford's first classical building, designed in the seventeenth century to accommodate formal university ceremonies.
    The teeming hall fell silent as the dean of the college ascended the podium accompanied by several senior professors.  The president gave a long speech and Kate listened with half an ear.  For the last time she reviewed in her mind the short address she had prepared at Sir Bruton's request.  He had been her father's friend and colleague for many years and had a special affection for Kate from her days as a prize-winning student.  The smooth voice of Sir Bruton rolled through the hall and Kate concentrated her attention on him as he announced, “And now I would like to invite to the stage a man who was one of our outstanding students, a preeminent and illustrious guest whose unstinting support and efforts on behalf of the college are in the tradition established by his great-great-grandfather and continued by his family over the generations.  I'd like to introduce the Marquis Camedon.”
    Kate felt Emma's hand squeeze hers.  Good heavens, he was a Marquis.  She almost burst into laughter.  The cold and conceited Matthew Camedon was a Marquis!
    “What do you say to that?” Emma whispered, but Kate didn't answer, her eyes rooted to the imposing figure of Matthew Camedon getting up from his chair in the front row and making his way to the stage. His elevated titles did not entitle him to treat ordinary mortals with the lack of manners and politeness he had exhibited that morning but she could not help but be impressed by them.  She began to feel that the invitation extended, even if reluctantly on the part of the Marquis, for the weekend at Bellewoodplain was a unique opportunity.  And she had no intention of passing it up.
    The Marquis ascended the stage.  Dressed in a dark suit, Kate had to admit he looked as handsome in his conservative clothes as he had that morning in corduroy pants and leather jacket.  She wondered if he would be present at the grand party later that evening.  Yes, she decided, of course he would be there. After all, he was no doubt the reason for the party and its main attraction.  I wonder if he's married, she thought and was immediately ashamed of herself.  What difference did it make?  She stole a glance at her sister, wondering what thoughts were passing through her mind but Emma was looking attentively at the stage and Kate fixed her gaze on Matthew.
    He spoke courteously and graciously although Kate still discerned a certain dryness and coldness in his tone