Not everyone approved. Her mother’s mouth was set in a firm line. Tears threatened in Lady Eliza’s eyes, her cheeks flushed an unbecoming shade of begonia. Channing looked like a wounded martyr. The countess was looking at Finn with an icy smile that matched her decorations, her manners too refined to show the slightest crack over this latest development.
‘Chin up, my dear,’ Finn said quietly beside her. ‘On the bright side, the other one hundred and ninety-six people in the ballroom thoroughly enjoyed it.’
‘Of course they did, the same way people enjoy a scandal not their own,’ Catherine retorted under her breath.
Finn chuckled, escorting her back to the perimeter to her mother’s side as if nothing were wrong. ‘You’re exaggerating,’ he whispered. ‘All those people don’t see anything wrong. They only see something beautiful, a moment’s magic on a winter’s night in the middle of a magical season. Christmas brings out the best in people. Good evening, Mrs Emerson.’ He bowed to her mother and relinquished her hand.
‘Good evening, Lord Swale.’ Her mother was frosty.
Finn turned in her direction. ‘Goodnight, Catherine. I trust I will see you at the Yule log cutting tomorrow?’
‘Yes,’ Catherine said quickly, overriding any temptation her mother might have to refuse the invitation.
* * *
Her mother barely waited until they reached her room. Her entire life, Catherine had never heard her mother raise her voice when giving vent to her disapproval. But the lack of volume only made it worse.
‘Catherine, what were you thinking?’ her mother asked calmly. ‘To dance like that with Lord Swale in front of anyone who matters? There will be a scandal. Did you see Lady Eliza’s face? She felt positively betrayed after all the attention Swale has paid to her.’ Well, that made two. She and Channing both.
Catherine sat on the bed, pleating her skirt between her fingers, unable to meet her mother’s grey eyes. She had to tell her. She couldn’t have her mother finding out from the countess. ‘That’s not the real scandal,’ Catherine whispered. ‘I’ve refused Channing.’
The change in her mother was instantaneous. Empathy filled her grey eyes as she sank down on the bed beside Catherine. ‘Oh, my dear girl, what have you done?’
It all came out then, stolen kisses and all. When she was finished, her mother kissed the top of her head as if she were a little girl again, smoothing her hair. ‘We can leave in the afternoon.’
Catherine shook her head. ‘No, I don’t want to go. It will only make things worse.’ If Finn was right and no one else suspected anything, leaving would only call attention to the fact that something was wrong. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. She had to go to the Yule log cutting and Christmas mass. She had to laugh and smile and pretend everything was fine.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll talk to Millicent tomorrow and sort things out,’ her mother said softly. But it didn’t escape Catherine’s notice that this was one of the few times her mother had called the countess by her first name. ‘Mothers are good at this type of thing.’
* * *
‘You were romancing Catherine right under Lady Eliza’s nose,’ Millicent Deverill all but shouted at Finn. Admittedly, his mother was not good at this type of encounter, Finn thought, watching his mother struggle to address the situation at hand with some sense of decorum. Conflict was not her strong suit. She was a staunch believer in the idea that if one had manners to begin with, conflict would never occur in the first place.
‘It was just a dance,’ Finn reminded her calmly, aware that everyone in the room was staring at him, all three of them. His mother had called the whole family together in her private office. Channing was glaring daggers at him from his chair and his father paced the far side of the room.
‘You didn’t dance with Lady Eliza like that,’ his mother accused. ‘I invited her here for the express purpose of—’
‘Yes, you invited her,’ Finn broke in.
‘That does not give you leave to romance a neighbour’s daughter. You are showing Lady Eliza a flagrant disregard.’
Finn sighed wearily. ‘I am not. I’ve spent time with her, I’ve sat with her at dinners.’ He couldn’t recall either he or Channing being in this much trouble since Channing had locked the tutor in the wine cellar so he could go fishing.
‘You’ve been kissing Catherine.’ Channing broke his glowering silence. Dear Lord, were they boys all over again? He couldn’t believe Channing had said that. Channing turned his gaze towards Finn. ‘You knew I liked her and now you’ve stolen her.’