Page 44 of A Misguided Devotion

No, she would continue with her original plan and confront Laura. Save her friend from her father’s wrath.

Kitty’s candle burned low, but she reckoned it would last another hour, provided she didn’t let it blow out. The light shone before her like a beacon as she held it up to Laura’s door.

She knocked. No answer. She tried again, a little louder. Still no reply. Either Laura was a heavy sleeper, or, as Kitty feared, she wasn’t there.

With a frustrated sigh, she realised she would have to go in. She grasped the knob and braced herself, her heart pounding in her chest. What if she were making a mistake? How would she explain herself to Laura?

Kitty knew she had to be brave. If her suspicions were right, her friend’s reputation was at risk. She would count to three and then turn the handle and take the consequences if she were wrong.

One. Two. Thr—

She swallowed a scream as something touched her shoulder.

Kitty jerked around, holding her candle up defensively in front of her. Hugh’s face was illuminated in the eerie glow.

“Miss Lacey, what are you doing out of your room at this time of night?”

Heat rushed to her cheeks as she registered that she would have to explain herself. How providential that it was too dark for Hugh to observe her heightened colour. It was even more fortunate that she had not changed for bed. To have encountered him in her nightdress in the middle of the night would have been too embarrassing for words.

So much for confronting Laura without telling her father. She would have to share her suspicions. “I saw someone in the garden. Smoking.”

“Are you certain?”

“I am—and it’s not the first time.”

“That is why you are knocking on Laura’s door? To tell her what you’d seen?”

“Yes.” Kitty did not feel the need to explain that she feared Laura was outside as well.

Hugh put an arm around her shoulders, making her want to squirm. Though he was only being fatherly, his touch seemed too intimate in the darkness.

“My dear Catherine, why did you not come to me? I could have laid your fears to rest at once. Do you trust me so little that you would take your concerns to my daughter rather than bring them to me?”

Kitty felt like a small child being chastised. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to trouble you in case I was wrong.”

“About what?”

“I feared Laura was meeting someone in secret. At night. A person who smokes.”

“Catherine, you are worrying needlessly. I don’t know who you imagine my daughter might have an assignation with, but I can assure you she would not venture alone into the garden after dark under any circumstances.”

He sounded so certain that Kitty was inclined to believe him. But if not Mr Jenkin, who was the nighttime visitor? The story about the insane soldier could not be true…could it?

“When I spoke to Laura before about what I’d seen, she said it must be Cousin Silas.”

Hugh heaved a sigh. “Ah. She has told you about our poor relative.”

It was true? The cool admission raised all her hackles. “Why didn’t you tell me? Did you think I would refuse to live here if I knew?”

“I feared you might. For obvious reasons, it is not something we care to talk about. Laura prefers to pretend Silas doesn’t exist, and I urge you to do the same. You are part of our family now, as you hold our darkest secret. Can I rely on you to protect our reputation in the area by not bandying the truth abroad?”

“Of course.”

Why would she be tempted to share such a strange tale? Despite Hugh supporting Laura’s wild story, Kitty could not rid herself of the feeling that he was doing so for some reason of his own.

“I think it is high time you returned to your bedchamber, Catherine.” With his arm still draped over her shoulders, he guided her to the end of the corridor and around the corner to her own room.

“Sleep well, my dear.”