A Taste of Honey (24 page)

As much as Katherine tried to ignore Garrett and her feelings for him, she had to admit the truth; she was starting to fall in love with him.  Would the comfort of knowing that she had pleased her family be enough for her to forget the regrets of not marrying for love when she had been given the chance?

“Yes that would make mother happy,” Katherine answered grimly and left her sister alone so that she could seek out Lord Kent.  Walking past the sound of male laughter and the thick scent of cigar smoke, she peeked her head inside to look for him.  In the far corner she could make out his darkly handsome features. 

Unlike the other men, he sat alone, swirling his brandy before each idle sip from the glass.  Lost in his thoughts, he looked like a grumpy young child and slightly hopeless as if no one could fix all of his many problems.  The half empty bottle beside him did not seem to be doing the job.  She knew he had been through a parade of mistresses, was it all just for fun or was Kent a man looking for something?  Could she really accomplish what so many bottles of brandy and countless other women could not? 

Katherine had become drawn to him as a safer path than if she were with Garrett.  Watching him drink deeply from the bottle she began to wonder if he saw her the same way.  If they were married, she would let him live with his secrets, how could she not when she was hiding her own secrets from him already?

She knew that he didn't love her and she was only too happy to return that favor.  Had her mother and sister been given the choice she knew they both would have picked Kent over Garrett.  Katherine had to decide what was right for her heart and discover if she had the strength to fight for it.

Winnie entered Katherine's chambers and tapped loudly on the door leading into the bedroom.  “Are you ready yet?  We're only going for a short ride,” she reminded Katherine, who took as much time to get ready for a morning ride as she did for some great gala event.

Katherine stepped out wearing her full riding habit and shoes.  Seeing Winnie's disapproving glances towards the outfit, she tried to figure out what was wrong with it.  There were no scuffs, no tears.  She had rarely worn her riding habit back home because her father was the only one she liked to ride with and he had been too busy to go out very often.

“Are you sure that you've ridden before?” her friend asked.  It was clearly a worry of Winnie's because she'd been asking Katherine ever since they had decided last night to wake up early for a little horseback riding.  “Your outfit looks too new and clean to belong to a competent equestrian.”

“Yes, I know how to ride well enough.  And this is my new riding habit; my old one is at home in tatters.”  Her friend still looked skeptical.  “If the trail is too challenging for me, then I'll slow down,” Katherine promised and Winnie finally relented.  After being trapped inside of the walls of London, Katherine was looking forward to the outside air rushing through her lungs.

Most of the men were going shooting that morning on the east side of the estate where a small man-made pond had been erected to promote ducks in the area.  It meant that this morning was the perfect time to go riding on the western side of the house, where Winnie had noticed some of the horse paths led into the forest that they had gone past yesterday.  Robin had been present while they had hatched their plans and therefore they had politely invited her, but she declined, saying that she would rather sleep in.

“I already picked out two horses from his stables.  With the men going hunting this morning, I asked the stable boy to hide them so that we wouldn't get the last two left behind.  Besides one of them looks just like my mare back home so I had to have him to ride today.”  The white mare seemed to recognize Winnie as she walked up to it.  “I snuck out last night to feed him some carrots,” she explained when Katherine laughed at the familiarity between the two.

For Katherine's horse, Winnie had picked a smaller animal.  “He's very tame,” the stable boy assured her before lifting her up and onto its back.  “Just keep your signals clear and he'll be easy to lead,” the boy assured her who also treated her like a child on her first run.

“Really, I'll be just fine.  This isn't the first time I've ever ridden a horse,” Katherine told them.  Did her outfit make her look that unprepared?  It was perhaps a bit more corseted than some others, which did make it hard to breathe at times.

The boy was quick to inform them about all of the paths around the manor.  “It would be best if you kept to the right, some of the other paths are a bit too harsh for someone riding side saddle.”  He politely refrained from saying that the path wasn't for women but both Katherine and Winnie understood what he was implying.  With one quick look at Winnie, Katherine knew that they would be heading left for the more difficult route.

“Thank you for the advice,” Winnie called out, before turning her horse to the left trail and trotting off into the trees.  She clearly didn't like someone telling her what not to do. 

Mouthing a quick sorry to the stable boy Katherine turned to follow Winnie down the path.  It felt great to ride through the thick forest, watching rabbits and other small animals scurry in front of their path as they went.  After getting a few jumps and sprints out of her horse Winnie slowed down to a moderate trot beside Katherine.

“I must marry someone with a large country estate,” Katherine exclaimed.  She already felt better, her head cleared as she breathed in the fresh air.  “London is too cramped and dark for me.  I need plenty of daylight and long horseback rides every now and then.”

Winnie laughed.  “Garrett and I never spend the entire season in London for the same reason.  I can't stand to be away from the country for very long.” With a sideways glance at her friend she added, “Garrett has a large estate with wonderful grounds.  You should go visit it sometime.  Very nice gardens as well, not to forget the large library collection that I have already mentioned.”

Katherine frowned at her friend.  “You aren't taking his side now, are you?”

“Of course not,” she paused, “But I don't think that you should marry Kent.  And I do think that you and Garrett might do really well together.  Also I wouldn't mind having you as my sister in law.  So maybe I am agreeing with him,” she laughed at Katherine's gently frowning face.

“Traitor,” Katherine accused as she laughed back and they ventured further into the forest.

Katherine could tell when Winnie was about to send her horse into an all out run.  Her eyes sparkled brighter and a small smile quirked in the corner of her mouth.  Leaning forward into her horse Winnie gathered speed until she was flying ahead of Katherine, bringing her horse to a full gallop while they tore across the path and through the trees.

Katherine held back for only a moment before letting her horse chase after Winnie's.  The air swished past her as she clung to her reins, trying to not be unseated by the pace.

She saw a blur out of the corner of her eye coming towards her, but could not comprehend the situation until another rider shot up beside her, trying to reach for her reins to stop the horse.  It only frightened the horse worse, as the small mare gathered speed to outrun the other rider.  A set of strong arms reached around her waist and Katherine was pulled from her horse and onto the lap of the other rider as she watched her horse continue its frightened sprint into the forest.

Her head was jolted back as the horse that she had been pulled onto stopped abruptly.  The crushing vice of arms remained wrapped around her waist, stopping her from sliding off or falling but it also made it difficult to catch her breath after the shock.

Up ahead, Winnie watched the wayward horse pass her own and she turned back to see what had happened.  Her face became ashen as she looked at Katherine and her captor.  Pulling her horse up short, Winnie turned it around and galloped back to Katherine.  Beneath her riding habit, Katherine felt her heart race and she closed her eyes trying to stop herself from fainting.  She could have been killed if her captor hadn't succeeded in pulling her off of the horse.

The voice behind her sounded almost murderous as it addressed Winnie.  “What were you doing?” Garrett demanded.

Winnie pulled some stray pieces of hair from her face, looking Garret straight in the eye.  “I should ask you the same.  Let go of her.”

To emphasis his point Garrett's arms tightened around Katherine as his eyes flared like a mad man.  “Were you trying to kill her?”

Katherine forced her eyes open to see Garrett and try to calm him.  Yet, Garrett held her too firmly against him, making it hard for her to breathe through the thick layers and her eyes closed once more from the strain of j
ust trying to catch her breath.

“Don't start accusing me of doing anything wrong.  She is a good rider.  We were doing fine until you came.”  Winnie had never sounded so angry and Katherine watched as the color returned to her face in angry blotchy spots as she fought with her brother.  Her eyes appeared bright from unshed tears as she looked him in the face.

“I was watching out for her.  I wouldn't let anything happen to her.” Winnie gasped as she fought the urge to cry.  “She isn't like Amelia, Garrett.  You don't have to protect her like this.”  With a start Katherine realized that this argument was not about her.  It extended far back into a time that she knew very little about.  Gathering together what little she could understand Katherine began to piece together how Amelia had died.

Garrett growled through his teeth.  “You were egging her on, trying to get her to race with you.  I watched you Winifred.”  The grip around Katherine's waist increased in pressure.  All thoughts raced from her brain and her head began to tilt as she felt herself start to faint.

Looking at Katherine's face Winnie jumped down from her horse and ran to pry her brother's fingers from Katherine's form.  “Let go, you're going to hurt her!” she cried.  “She can't breathe, let her go!”

Finally noticing Katherine's limp and gasping form, Garrett eased his grip around her middle, letting her slide down into Winnie's waiting arms.  Winnie let her keep sliding as she laid Katherine down on the earthen floor, plucking loose some of the laces on her dress to help increase the air flowing into her lungs.  Katherine gasped in the air, greedily choking on the force of trying to breathe again.

Garrett stared down at her trying to wake from what he was sure was a nightmare.  He remembered that he had been passing by on his horse when he had seen Katherine streaking across the forest.  The horse was going too fast and she appeared unable to stop it.  The rest had been uncontrollable and instantaneous.  He had heard the sound of Winnie's cries from so long ago reverberating in his head like lost memories surfacing with a scream.  He had tasted the fear that it would happen again.  He would lose the one that he loved once more.

His eyes flew to his sister who sat on the ground beside Katherine's form.  She was older now but when he looked down on Winnie leaning over an unmoving form it felt like the same moment from three years ago.

“Why were you riding with her?  The ground is uneven on this path.  Her horse could have fallen or taken a fright and bucked her off.”  Garrett had tried to keep his voice even, but he knew that he was still screaming at Winnie.

“We were just fine Garrett.  I would never let her get hurt,”  Winnie told him, keeping her attention on Katherine who had finally gotten her breath back.  “Do you think that I am still as irresponsible as I was then?”

Katherine sat up and held onto her head to keep it from spinning.  Winnie tried to get her to rest again but the moment felt too important for her to just lie down and let things happen around her.  She stared up at Garrett watching the strain in his face as he looked down at her.  “Is that how she died?” she asked him, as his eyes glossed over with what might have been tears.

Winnie nodded her head in response while Garrett could do nothing but sit there, frozen in shock and fear.  “We were teaching her to ride, when I dove into the gully for a quick run.  I should have told her not to follow me but I didn't think she would.  I didn't know that she had decided to follow me until I heard her scream.”  Winnie wiped at one of the tears that had slid down her face.  “Her horse lost its footing and the fall broke her neck.  Amelia was dead before either of us could get to her.”

The three stayed silent, all of them caught up in their own thoughts.  Garrett looked so lost as Katherine sat there watching him.  She sensed that he was only able to look through her to the image in his mind of a dead woman's body that had lain crumpled on the floor.  Her own body shook with fear as if she could see Amelia's death replaying in his eyes.  Winnie glanced at her brother and seemed to have similar fears about her brother's set of mind.

Holding her hand out Winnie offered Katherine help in standing up. “I don't know where your horse went,” she muttered looking around the woods for any sign of the small mare.  “You're shaking too badly to ride on your own anyway, we can share my horse on the way back.”

It was the smart thing to do, Katherine knew that, but there was such a sad look in Garrett's eyes.  She wanted to heal that pain, to soothe him, hold him and let him know that nothing was wrong, to tell him that she was fine.  She had begun to realize that she could never heal Kent.  She could not take away whatever scars he had from a past that she might never understand.  Yet right now she could help Garrett.  Besides, he needed her and she could not deny a friend in pain.