Chapter Thirty-Four

Given how prickly Nancy had been from the time they’d walked in the door, Kathy had expected her to say something. She’d fully been prepared to walk out if her aunt tried to strong-arm her and Eliza into making a trip to Kentucky. She’d even been somewhat prepared for a less-than-positive reaction to the news that she and Charles were seeing each other.

She’d not expected the other man. And she’d certainly not expected to be told she wasn’t an appropriate match for Charles. Not by her own family. His, sure. But to have Nancy say such a thing had blindsided her.

“Where do you want to go?” Charles asked once they were in his car.

Kathy shook her head. “I don’t know. Someplace private. I need a few minutes to think.”

He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Okay. How about my office? No one should be there. If I take you back to my house, I’ll kidnap you and keep you there. Not that I’d see that as a bad thing, having you there all the time, but it might confirm that ‘decidedly odd’ impression.”

Despite her breaking heart, she mustered up a tiny smile. “Silly man. The office is fine.”

She didn’t say much as they drove or as he led her into his office. She kicked off her shoes and sank onto the couch with a grateful sigh. With the shades drawn, a lamp on the side table beside the couch turned on, and the quietness of the building around them, the atmosphere was decidedly intimate.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Charles asked.

Kathy shrugged. “Cold water?”

“Sure. I’ll be right back.”

While he was gone, she sat there, not moving, and stared at the ceiling. Nancy’s words weren’t anything Kathy hadn’t said in her own mind a hundred times. So why did hearing them spoken hurt so much more? She was still trying to puzzle that out when Charles came back.

“Thanks.” She sipped the water then set it on a coaster on the table as he paced to the window. “I had so hoped things would turn out well tonight.”

He chuckled humorlessly. “I don’t know what to say other than to beg you to please not believe her.” He turned to look at her imploringly. “Don’t let what she said get to you. Please.”

Kathy played with the clasp on her bracelet. “I’m not sure how I feel about what she said, to be honest.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just that. I wasn’t expecting that sort of statement from Nancy of all people, and I’m going to need some time to think about it.”

He took his hands out of his pockets and stepped closer to her. “You don’t believe what she said, do you?”

“I…” Tears pricked her eyes. “I don’t want to, no. But I guess part of me does.”

“Why?” He hunkered down in front of her, clasping her hands. “Talk to me about this, about what you’re feeling. Let’s work through it.”

Kathy huffed, frustrated and angry and plain torn up inside. “I know I’m not good enough for you. This would be so much easier if you were some roughneck or farmer or something else where it didn’t matter so much who you got involved with.”

A flash of anger crossed his face. “Would you prefer someone like Dorian? Is that what you’re saying?”

“No!” She yanked her hands back and stood then moved around him. Her movements were jerky as she pushed her hands through her hair then settled them on her hips. She stared at the wall beside the window. “Don’t tell me you haven’t considered how my past could impact you if we moved forward with… with us.”

“Okay, I won’t tell you that. I have considered it. I just don’t care what other people think. Everyone who knows me, who loves me, the people I love back? They’re more concerned about my happiness than your pedigree or lack thereof.”

“Even your mother?” she shot at him, eyebrow quirked. “Because I seem to remember a scene with a debutante standing stark naked in your hallway that might indicate the opposite.”

He growled—actually growled—and shook his head as he went to the opposite end of the room. “My mother does not set my social calendar. Why does everyone and their damned brother think she does? And yeah, I think after she has a chance to get to know you, she’ll come around. I think you’d be good for her.”

Kathy was devastated by the hope and desperation in his tone. “You are much more optimistic than me then.”

“I’m sorry that tonight went the way it did,” he said quietly. “I said some things to Nancy I probably shouldn’t have, maybe overstepped some. And if that makes it harder for you, I apologize. That’s the last thing I wanted. But I’m not willing to sit back and let her hit out at you or at your mother, and I wholeheartedly disagree with her assessment about us. I have a hard time believing she said it even though I heard her with my own ears.”

“I don’t.” Kathy sat down lightly on the sturdy bookshelf beneath the window. “I’m having a hard time finding the words to explain, but now that it’s sinking in, I’m not surprised.”

“Then try to explain it to me.” He crossed to her, grabbing one of the chairs in front of his desk to sit in. “Please.”

“Nancy’s very concerned with appearances. I don’t mean to say she’s shallow, because she’s normally one of the sweetest people in the world, and she’d go out of her way to help anyone who needed it. But she does have a tendency to take an overblown perspective of things, make mountains out of molehills and the like. I think she’s afraid I’m going to get hurt, and I think she’s afraid it’ll be another scandal, one that reflects poorly on her and Roy somehow this time.” She let him take her hands again. This time, she threaded their fingers together to hold on to him.

“I don’t know if I’m strong enough to fight this battle,” she admitted quietly. “I’m so tired from just what happened this evening, I feel like I could sleep for days. And all the anger, the raised voices, every word was like a blow. Having you aggravated with me, it’s like scraping fingernails all over my body, leaving me raw. I just want everyone to get along. I thought I was strong enough to handle the fighting if it came, but I’m not. Instead, I’m just a bother to everyone, a problem to solve.”

Making that admission wiped her out, left her feeling hot and ashamed and utterly dejected. The prickling tears returned, and she brushed her cheeks when they were damp.

“Oh, Kathy, no.” Charles pulled her into his lap carefully, bracing a foot on the shelf to make their awkward positions more comfortable. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. Let’s just sit here for a few minutes. We’ll figure this thing out together. You are not a problem. Don’t you ever think that.” He kissed her softly then folded her into his arms with a sigh.

She didn’t weep exactly, but she most definitely shed tears as he held her. “Somehow, I guess I thought with all the therapy and the medication that this would be easier.”

“I don’t think there’s ever anything easy about having falling-outs with your family. I know it isn’t for me.”

She let out a rough sigh against his neck as she played with the knot of his tie. “Speaking of family, and hopefully happier things, how are Daphne and the baby?” She’d not had a chance to ask him privately yesterday at the beach.

Charles smiled. “She’s good. Trying to figure out what in the world to do with two rambunctious boys and a baby. I saw her Friday afternoon.”

They sat there for a little while longer, and Kathy was relieved to find her anxiety fading as time passed. But a marked sadness lingered, and that gave her pause.

“We’d best head back to the cottage,” she said a bit later, sitting up with a sigh. “I so hate that they’re leaving in the morning.”

Charles tugged her back to him and stole a kiss that left her clinging to him. “Is it selfish of me to want to take you home with me tonight? After you’ve finished visiting with them, I mean?”

Kathy smiled and carefully pushed his glasses up his nose. “I thought you’d be eager to drop me off at the door and skedaddle back to the sanctuary of the beach.”

“Never,” he told her somberly. “There’s no sanctuary there anymore without you.”

“Charles…”

He kissed her again then stood her on her feet. “Come on. Let’s get you back to them.”

“I don’t have to be at work until noon,” she said as he locked up the office.

“No?” He paused, keys in hand, his face cast in shadows from the security light behind him in the parking lot.

She shrugged. “I was going to use the time to pull myself together after they left. I was afraid I might need it. Mama’s spending the night at the cottage to help them get on the road, but I couldn’t. I hate saying good-bye to them like that. She’s planning to head straight to work from there.”

“So you’d be alone…”

“I would.”

He let out a harsh breath. “I don’t think you should be alone. You should definitely come home with me. I won’t take no for an answer,” he warned, though his tone was questioning rather than demanding.

Kathy closed the space between them and kissed him. “I won’t say no. You can drop me off at the house on your way in tomorrow if it’s not too much trouble.”

She knew she was giving in too easily and should have at least put up a token protest in case he wasn’t serious, but as she’d said earlier, she was wiped out from all the drama. If she hadn’t needed to see Sarah and Owen and the babies one last time, to eke out every last minute she could with them, she’d have begged him to take her straight home. As much as she believed she was setting herself up for heartache down the road, for tonight at least, home felt like being wherever Charles was.

The phrase “don’t borrow trouble” echoed through her mind as they drove to the cottage. Too tired to think about the mess with Nancy anymore, she decided to leave the worrying to someone else.