Page 17 of A Misguided Devotion

The reality of her circumstances chilled her. If her situation deteriorated, there would be no one to rescue her. No one to notice if she disappeared into Mr Barrington’s house never to return.

“Is this where you sleep?”

Kitty jerked around. She’d been followed upstairs. Laura’s presence brought her back to her senses. She was to be a companion to this young woman. Hopefully, a friend. There was nothing sinister about that.

With a shake of her head, she tossed out her irrational fears and answered the question. “Yes.”

“It doesn’t look very comfortable.” She prodded the straw mattress of Kitty’s cot. “You’ll find your room at our house much more pleasant.”

Kitty smiled to herself. It would be hard for anywhere to be less agreeable than her current accommodation.

The girl picked up the books that lay on top of the closed trunk and glanced at the titles before tossing them on the bed. “You don’t have many things, do you?”

“No, but it means I won’t take long to pack.”

Kitty retrieved her precious possessions from where Laura had thrown them and lifted the lid of the trunk. The Bible her grandfather had bequeathed to Edward lay alone at the bottom, reminding her of the two people she loved the most. One was gone, and the other…

“What’s your given name?”

Laura’s voice brought Kitty back to the present with a jolt. Blinking hard, she stowed her books inside the trunk, burying her grandfather’s Bible along with her memories.

“Catherine—but that always makes me think I’m in trouble, as that was the only time my grandfather ever used it. My friends address me as Kitty.”

“Then that’s what I’ll call you, and you must call me Laura, for I desperately want us to be friends. It will be pleasant to have another lady in the house.”

She kept chattering while Kitty gathered her wash things, folded her other clothes and retrieved her half-boots from under the bed. “Someone Papa approves of. There aren’t many of those. Especially men. He doesn’t think anyone is good enough for me and scares off all my suitors. That’s why he’s so eager to have you live with us. To keep a close eye on me. To prevent me from forming an undesirable attachment and to protect me from unwanted attentions. I seem to be adept at attracting those. I suppose it’s because I’m so pretty.”

How matter-of-fact Laura sounded! Was she as ambivalent about her beauty as she appeared, or had she grown so used to praise that she saw it as her due? Either way, her words came across as vain, but as they had only just met, Kitty suppressed the urge to correct her new companion. The girl might not appreciate having her vanity challenged, if her father had never done so.

“I’ve always believed it pleasant to be on the receiving end of compliments.” Not that Kitty had much personal experience. She’d received little praise on her appearance—except from her grandfather, and that didn’t count. Those words had been spoken out of love, with a cheerful disregard for the truth.

“I suppose so, but it is rather tiresome to be always on my guard. There’s one man in particular who is most persistent.”

How curious. If Mr Barrington was so protective, why had his daughter been left in a position where she could be bothered by a man’s unwanted attentions?

“Have you ever had a suitor?” Laura asked.

The sudden enquiry took Kitty by surprise. The tone of the girl’s voice hinted that such a thing was nigh on impossible. It wasn’t far from the truth.

“I have—but I did not believe we suited as much as he did.”

“You received an offer, and you rejected him?”

She would not sound so incredulous if she’d seen the man Kitty had turned down. “I did and I don’t regret it. I would have been little better than a servant in his house—and I would have had to share a bed with him. Ugh!”

Laura fumbled with the worn cover on the cot. “Have you ever been in love?”

What a personal question to ask someone you’ve known for less than an hour! Kitty was not ready to admit to this stranger that she’d never fallen in love, though she knew it was just as well she hadn’t. It would only cause heartache, because she could not imagine a gentleman returning her affection. Instead, she turned it back on Laura.

“Have you?”

Colour rushed into Laura’s cheeks as she bombarded Kitty with another barrage of words.

“What possible opportunity would I have to fall in love? There are very few gentlemen where we live—on the Isle of Portland. It’s not really an island, but it may as well be. It’s so remote. Can you believe it? There are people who have never left the island. Those who have never seen the world outside. They still view us as newcomers, though we’ve lived there for fifteen years. Fifteen years too long, if you ask me. I wish we could move to Weymouth, but Papa won’t hear of it. The shops are so much better, and there are balls in the assembly rooms and several libraries…”

By the time Kitty had finished packing her trunk, she had learned a great deal about Laura, and it gave her pause for thought. The girl claimed she wanted to be friends, but true friendship was based on trust. That was not something you could conjure in an instant, but you could not even start building it without openness.

And she suspected her companion wasn’t being honest with her. The tell-tale blush that had coloured Laura’s cheeks when they talked of love had said what her words had not. Unless Kitty was much mistaken, the young woman was already in love—but something prevented her from confessing it.