Cate woke to the sound of Luke crying in the distance. She lay with her eyes shut wondering why he was so far away, stretched out to find the edge of the mattress, and found instead a warm, naked body. David.

She opened her eyes. He was sleeping. But then, they had only fallen asleep as dawn had started to lighten the room. When they had not been talking, they had been making love, and when they had not been making love, they had been talking. There were a lot of things they hadn't known about each other. More things to discover still no doubt.

She kissed his shoulder and slipped out of bed, slowly so as not to disturb him. Their clothes were scattered about the floor of his room, but she could not see where her shift had ended up, so she padded naked to the door that separated their suites and tried to turn the key in the lock. It would not budge. She stared at the door, perplexed, and tried again. Nothing.

"Cate?"

She had woken David after all. "I have to go to Luke."

"Mph." He was clearly still half-asleep.

"The key won't turn," she added, jiggling it.

"Door's not locked," David grunted.

Cate tried the handle. Sure enough, it turned and the door swung open.

"When did you stop locking it?" she asked.

David grunted and rolled over to plant his face in a pillow. That was clearly the only answer she would get right now, and Luke was still crying distantly. Cate shrugged and went through. In her bedroom, she paused long enough to find a dressing gown and slip it around her. When she came into Luke's room, he was starting to quiet himself. She picked him up and soothed him.

"Sorry, darling. Mama's late this morning."

"Hungy," he sobbed. "M'hungy."

He tugged at the front of her dressing gown. She was meant to be weaning him, but she loosened her collar and sat down to let him nurse, feeling guilty for staying away all night. Not entirely away, but further than the next room, which in Luke's small world might as well have been miles.

After Luke's hunger was soothed, Cate changed and dressed him and called a maid to prepare a boiled egg for Luke and tea for herself so that they both could face the day properly. Then she took Luke into her bedroom to play with his toys on the floor while she washed and tidied herself. While she was brushing her hair, there came a knock at the door and David entered, dressed in plain riding clothes. There were shadows under his eyes from lack of sleep, but he was smiling.

"I haven't locked that door in weeks," he said. "It stopped being necessary a long time ago."

Weeks. The idea of it sent flickers of joy throughout her body. She wondered for how long she might have just walked through at night and crept into his bed. Though if she had, they might not have said all the things they had last night. "I'm going to be using it a lot more from now on."

"I certainly hope so." He kissed her gently on the lips. "I'm going to see Sarah off in a moment. See her to the coach. Make sure she leaves."

The reminder of Sarah's existence dulled Cate's joy. "David, I hope you understand that I can't possibly host her here again. She said those things last night deliberately, to humiliate me."

"I know, and I'm sorry." He rubbed her hand. "I promise you, she will never spend another night under our roof. I think she already knows that, but I'm going to make sure she understands."

The seriousness of his tone gave Cate an unexpected shiver of anticipation. Or perhaps it was the fact that he was still holding her hand.

"I'm also going to take your parents out to the quarry today," David added. "I think it would be best if you and they spent a little time apart, after last night's argument."

Cate shook her head. "You're a darling and you're not wrong, but I need to speak with them first. We left our argument unfinished last night. By now, they might have decided they want to leave immediately."

"And what do you want, Cate?"

She hesitated; she had invited them down here to offer them an olive branch after all, and before their argument yesterday her father had been obnoxious but not unamenable. "I don't want to throw them out. Not if they want to stay."

"And what if they make life painful for you?"

"They will." She squeezed his hand. "That's what they do. But if they respect my wishes and don't ask about Luke's parentage, then I can tolerate the little hurts."

"For my sake or yours?"

"For theirs, David."

"Kind woman." He kissed her, deeper and more lingeringly this time. "I will do what I can to help."

"I know." She kissed him back.

A pleasant interlude followed, broken only by the sound of Luke's disgusted yell.

"Papa! Papa! Wook! Wook!"

He had crawled out from under the bed carrying a dusty rattle and wanted David's attention.

"Oh dear." Cate sighed. "I've neglected him, last night and this morning. Even just now."

"I didn't even know he was in the room." David picked Luke up and tossed him lightly up and down. "Hello, young man. Yes, hello. I am looking at you. I can see you."

Luke, appeased by the attention, allowed himself to be tucked against one arm and banged his rattle against David's chest. David looked at Cate's bed, then turned back to Cate.

"Do you usually get up in the night for him?" he asked.

"Sometimes, not always, now. But I felt very far away from him this morning."

"Hmm." David pinched Luke's nose. "The door, of course, works both ways."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that as well as you coming into my room, I might come into yours. Then neither me nor the boy would be far away from you."

The shyness of his voice was at odds with the acquisitive gleam in his eyes. Heat rose over Cate's body and radiated from her cheeks. "Tonight?"

"And tomorrow. And the night after that. And after that. We have many lost hours to make up for, my dear."

Cate's cheeks were on fire now. "I'd like that."

With Luke in one arm, he couldn't properly embrace her, but he pulled her closer and gave her a promising sort of kiss. "Good. Then I'll go and deal with Sarah now."

He passed Luke back into her arms, squeezed her shoulder one more time, and left the room. Smiling to herself, Cate finished doing her hair and getting dressed. In the middle of this, the tea and boiled egg she had ordered came, so she fed Luke and drank her tea. Then she left Luke with the maid and went to see her parents. They had never been late risers, and were already up and dressed in their room with a tray of tea and toast when she came in.

"To what do we owe this pleasure?" her mother said acidly.

"Good morning, Mother," Cate said. "I thought we needed to talk after what happened last night."

Her father looked at her from over the rim of his tea cup. "Indeed."

His tone was cool, but not hostile. Despite that, Cate felt the old, familiar frisson of fear down her spine. She steeled herself against it; he could not hurt her in her own house.

"We had an argument that was unpleasant for both of us," she said. "I would like to resolve things peacefully so that we can all enjoy the rest of your visit."

"It would give me peace to know the truth," Sir William said.

She shook her head. "I will answer no questions about Luke's father. That is my secret to keep. If you ask, we will only argue again, and then I will have to ask you to leave. If you do not ask, I will be privileged to host you here as long as you wish and I will make every effort to make sure your stay is comfortable."

Lady Balley's eyes glittered with displeasure, but she would not speak before Sir William had made his opinion clear, in case she disagreed with him. His heavy gaze was fixed upon Cate, thin lips working away as he considered the question.

"You are doing me an injustice," he said. "My natural instinct is to punish the man who corrupted you. You are denying me that fulfilment."

"I am."

"And you lied to me."

"I did. I should have told you from the beginning that I would never let slip the real name."

Sir William breathed out through his nostrils the way a bull breathes out before charging, but the torrent of fury Cate expected did not come. Instead, he set his jaw.

"Very well then," he said. "I agree to your terms. We will stay."

"But remark I am not pleased," Lady Balley said sharply. "I have a liar for a daughter, as well as a jade."

"We do." Sir William scowled. "But we have a daughter, Honora, for all her faults."

Something had changed in her father, Cate realized, perhaps during their argument last night. Or perhaps she had never seen it in him until now, too blinded by her fear of his manner to see the strange, thorny affection that lay beneath it. An affection without understanding, an affection without affinity, but an affection all the same. It made her uncomfortable to recognize it.

But discomfort was not quite the same as hurt. She could tolerate discomfort, for her sake as well as theirs.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you very much."

* * *

David found Sarah waiting in the front hall for the last of her things to be installed on the hired chaise to take her back to London. She wore a luxurious, over-decorated travelling cloak, silk gloves, and a lacy hat. He thought she looked ridiculous, because all he could think of was the amount of dust and mud that her silk and lace would encounter on the road. When his footsteps sounded on the hall floor, she turned to him.

"I'm so sorry about last night," she said. "I had no idea that my words would inspire Catherine to say such a thing."

"You certainly did not," David said. "You thought she would be too cowardly to say anything at all. You hoped only to embarrass her, to make her feel threatened. You hoped to hurt her. You always were a bully."

"Do not wrong me, cousin. I spoke out of turn, yes, but not to such malicious ends!"

"Oh, Sarah." David shook his head. "I warned you. Speak no ill of my wife, for I chose her, for all her flaws, above all the other women in England. Above you, in all ways. You will never return to Plas Bryn, Sarah. After you leave today, these doors will forever be closed to you."

The pleased expression in her eyes faded to a haughty frown. "You do not mean it."

"I mean every word. You will never be invited to Plas Bryn again."

"You will change your mind."

He shook his head. "Never."

Behind her, the servants carried the last of her trunks out to the coach. She turned to watch them, the frown deepening on her face.

"It was my home first," she said. "If Father had been able to break the entail, he would have left it to me."

"The world is very unfair to daughters," David said. "If you had not hurt my wife, I might have more sympathy for you. As it is, Plas Bryn is my home now and my home is closed to your forevermore."

She gave a cold, short laugh. "Not never, I think. Paul is friendlier to me than you are."

"I have an idea that it will not matter how friendly Paul is to you, Sarah. Perhaps, as a parting favour, you will do me the grace of warning him not to hold high hopes of inheriting Plas Bryn. It would save me an awkward conversation with my brother."

The cold curve to her lips faded. "What do you mean?"

"You are too old to be ignorant of my meaning. Here. Your groom is waiting. I will escort you out."

He took Sarah's elbow in his hand and drew her sharply towards the front door. She stumbled to keep up with his pace.

"I can't believe it!" she said. "After all that woman did to you! Are you so easily tempted by a pretty face!? Or do you enjoy being hen-pecked and cuckolded?"

"She never hen-pecked me," David said.

"But she did cuckold you! She may do again! She will do, I wager!"

David thrust Sarah out over the threshold. Her groom was waiting with the packed coach and readied horses on the gravel sweep below.

"I told you before, say no ill about my wife." David practically dragged Sarah down the steps. "She loves me. That makes all the difference in the world. It changes everything that came before."

"I loved you!"

"Did you really?" David still doubted it was really love. He shrugged. "But you're not Cate, you see, so it makes no difference." He opened the coach door and held out his hand to help her up. "I bid you goodbye, cousin."

She ignored his hand and clambered into the coach, rather awkward in her ostentatious cloak. "Farewell, David. I hope one day you understand how you—"

He shut the door on her. There was no point trying to get the last word with Sarah. She always had more to say. As her carriage rolled away, his anger faded and he surprised himself by laughing. What did Sarah matter, really? His beautiful wife was upstairs with their son and she loved him. There was too much to be happy about to spare a moment's annoyance for someone like Sarah.

A spray of yellow roses in the sweep border caught his eye. He snapped one off for Cate. It would make a pleasant excuse to talk to her for a few minutes before breakfast, and he might be rewarded with a kiss. Or if he was not, it would give him the chance to steal one.

Smiling to himself, he went back indoors to find her.

__

2023-06-30: Last full chapter just to tie up some loose ends. I considered having Cate break from her parents completely, but honestly if she can put up with Mrs Demery, she can put up with them. They don't even live close by. Epilogue will be up in an hour.