Scandal's Child Read Free Page A

going to grow out of this childish habit of misplacing your belongings? Mark my words, it will place you in the suds one of these days. Go fetch it. And keep an eye out for your dreadful twin. He may be lurking about somewhere, the
wretch
!”
    Poor Jacko was in for it, but he would talk Willy around, Kat knew. Their godmother was no more proof against Jacko’s charm than any other woman, except his long-suffering sisters, of course.
    Escaping Lady Tutwilliger’s wrath, Kat slowly made her way through each salon, even going so far as to peek into the card room. Several gentlemen had already found their way there and settled in for a fine evening of cards, far away from the Italian soprano Lady Sefton had engaged to entertain the
ton
. Unfortunately, Jacko was not among them.
    A little further down the hall Kat pushed open an antechamber door and stopped, swallowing down a gasp.
    “I am so very sorry,” she stammered, shocked to find a couple sitting too closely together upon a low couch.
    The gentleman’s pallid eyes flickered briefly before he stood. “This room is occupied,” he announced in an oily voice.
    Kat hastily backed up but refused to shut the door completely. The girl had not turned her face away quickly enough; Kat recognized her—Caroline Strange, a young and, word had it, wealthy heiress. Kat also recognized the girl’s companion—Sir Edmund Trigge, an out-and-out fortune hunter. Where was Miss Strange’s chaperon? Who would allow her to keep company with an older man who possessed such an unsavory reputation?
    Kat’s nearly overwhelming desire to linger in the hallway and give young Miss Strange some well-meaning advice was squelched by remembering Lady Tutwilliger’s warning that above all she must be circumspect this Season. Best not to get involved, Kat decided. It was difficult to walk away because obviously Caroline Strange was as guileless as dear Jacko.
    She wrinkled her nose in distaste as the soprano tried, unsuccessfully, to reach a particularly high note. Kat sighed deeply, the sacrifices she had to make for Society!
    A footman suddenly appeared at her side, “Lady Kathryn, I believe?” He presented a letter upon a small silver tray.
    Her smile quickly vanished as she recognized Jacko’s untidy scrawl. Retiring to a bench half-hidden by a large potted plant, Kat opened her brother’s note and read.
    “Oh, no!” she breathed, hardly able to comprehend her twin’s misguided reasoning. Fed up with Lady Tutwilliger’s matchmaking he was off to the Continent. But, happily, he had met up with his bosom friends, Mr. Gladstone Pennington and Sir Percy Allendale, and they were all first attending a mill on Berkshire Road. He was putting up at the Blue Boar Inn with the quaintest old lady, a gypsy princess. Kat was not to worry. It was all quite a lark. He wished she could join him.
    She folded the note over in her hand. Lady Tutwilliger would never forgive this! What could she do? Dear, sweet, gorgeous Jacko was sure to fall into a scrape without her guidance!
    Kat had always been the leader; the consequence of arriving in the world five minutes ahead of John Charles, Lord Thistlewait, heir to Thistlewait Hall, Thistlewait Manor, and the Grange.
    What to do about this coil? Kat rapidly rejected the idea of confronting her godmother or Mariah with Jacko’s latest wild flight. Somehow she would have to prevent this.
    The tall clock in the hallway chimed the hour, and Kat looked up, surprised to realize it was really still quite early. Early enough for her to save the day.
    Rising slowly to her feet, Kat brushed a hand across her brow and theatrically tottered toward Lady Sefton’s major domo, who stood at rigid attention in the entryway.
    “Please call my carriage and relay the message to Lady Tutwilliger that I have developed a headache and returned home,” Kat said breathlessly.
    He was solicitation itself; it was all Kat could do to keep him from fetching her godmother immediately to