Chapter 18
For the next stretch of time, Samantha ran the household into chaos. The accounts became a mess. Servants complained. Supplies disappeared. Waste piled up. Nicholas knew all of it, but every time Samantha pouted or cried, he gave in and told the staff to be patient with her.
Katherine listened to Lila complain from the little back courtyard and only smiled faintly.
She never interfered.
Then came the day of the spring gala.
Samantha sent word that this was her event and hoped Katherine would not appear and steal her credit.
Katherine was more than happy to stay away.
She remained in her room all day.
Late that night, just as she was about to sleep, the door was thrown open.
Nicholas strode in, carrying the chill of midnight with him, his face tense and urgent.
“Katherine,” he said, crossing straight to her bed. “I need your help.”
She sat up slowly. “What is it?”
“Samantha made a mistake at the gala. She accidentally used an antique jade carving that had once been gifted by the governor’s wife as a flower arrangement piece. Someone reported it. The governor’s family is furious. They’ve ordered that the person responsible be taken in for disciplinary punishment and publicly shamed.”
He grabbed Katherine’s hand.
“You know Samantha. She’s frail. She’s timid. A place like that would destroy her. She’d never survive the humiliation.”
His grip tightened.
“So can you take her place?”
Katherine looked at him.
Really looked at him.
At the fear in his eyes, at the desperation, at how natural it felt to him to ask this of her.