An Unsuitable Duchess by Laurie Benson

Author:Laurie Benson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

The late morning sun warmed Katrina’s garden as she sat on a wooden bench with her box of watercolours. Peering closely at a teacup filled with violets, she concentrated on trying to recreate this small reminder of home. As she swirled her sable-haired brush through the purple and blue paint Julian’s comment about the colour of her eyes when they’d sat together with his grandmother drifted into her thoughts. It made her smile.

Glancing down, she realised she’d muddled the colours together into an unusable mess. There had to be a way to shove him out of her mind. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath of the floral-scented air, and listened to the birds chirp around her. If she tried hard enough she could imagine she was sitting in her garden back home in Tarrytown, overlooking the sparkling Hudson River.

It was peaceful there.

It was quiet.

‘Have you managed to fall asleep like that?’

Katrina opened one eye and met Sarah’s quizzical gaze. And just like that her peaceful bubble burst.

‘What were you doing?’ Sarah asked, taking a seat on the bench across from her.

Katrina cleaned her paintbrush in a glass of water. ‘I was resting my eyes.’

‘It is lovely here in the shade,’ Sarah said as she untied the cinnamon silk ribbon of her straw bonnet and casually tossed it beside her. ‘And what a charming bunch of violets. I have little skill with a paintbrush, much to my mother’s displeasure.’

‘Skill or patience?’

‘Both, I suppose. How long will that take you to complete?’

Katrina shrugged and continued to add petals to the paper. ‘I find the process soothing.’

Or at least it had been until Sarah began rhythmically tapping her foot on the gravel.

‘Is there something you wanted, Sarah?’

‘I was hoping you would accompany me to Bond Street.’

‘We were shopping only yesterday.’

‘I’ve reconsidered those slippers. You remember? The ones with the fine needlework?’

‘I have no wish to move along with the crowds today. Could it possibly wait for another day?’

‘I suppose it could, but— What is that?’

Katrina looked up to find Wilkins, walking towards them on the garden path, carrying a large vase of purple and yellow flowers. As he drew closer, she realised they weren’t exactly flowers.

‘Pardon me, miss. These came for you, and I was wondering what you would like me to do with this unusual arrangement?’

‘Aren’t those weeds?’ Sarah asked, as she narrowed her eyes at the objects in question.

‘I believe so, Miss Forrester,’ he replied. ‘Thistle and ragwort, if I am not mistaken. Would you prefer I place the stems in the garden for you, miss?’

Although they were indeed weeds, the arrangement had been created with obvious care. Katrina thought the contrast of purple and yellow to be rather striking. But why would someone send them to her?

‘Did they arrive with a note, Wilkins?’

He handed her a folded piece of paper sealed with a blob of red wax.

True beauty resides in the most unexpected places.

When she read the message she knew they could only have come from one man—the only man who had ever told her she was ‘most unexpected’.

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