Married to the Marquess by Rebecca Connolly Read Free Book Online

expected to come. He further suspected that she wrote the entire boring service out herself and gave specific instructions on what was to transpire and how it was to do so.
    Such was the behavior of Lady Penelope.
    May she rest in peace.
    He nearly snorted at that. Peace? Ha!
    Mr. Clarke shook hands with them all, and then waited for them to leave the parlor. It was time to receive the guests who had come to pay respects.
    Derek expected that, given the number of friends Lady Penelope had, this would take all of ten minutes, perhaps fifteen, and then he would be free of this madness.
    If it was a good day, even less.
    Ever a puppet to duty, he stood obediently beside his wife as a surprising number of people proceeded past them to murmur insincere condolences and far too many handkerchiefs dabbed at completely dry eyes.
    To his surprise, his parents came up and dutifully expressed condolences, but said nothing much further. Katherine thanked them for their attendance, which was more than Derek did. They took his hand as well, but moved quickly on. They had never been very emotional people, and mourning for someone they would not miss was not in their repertoire of feelings.
    More and more people came by them, murmuring their faux sympathies, and just as Derek was wondering how long he was going to have to stand here and be somber-faced, Nathan and Moira appeared.
    He almost grinned in relief, which would not have been appropriate at all.
    He sensed Katherine stiffening ever so slightly, but she was far too principled to object to an earl and countess, no matter how she disliked Derek’s friends.
    “Lady Whitlock,” Nathan murmured with an incline of his head.
    “Lord Beverton,” she said tightly, her mouth stretched in only what the most optimistic of people would have considered a smile.
    “My condolences on your loss.”
    “Thank you for coming.”
    Nathan nodded and moved on to Derek, who allowed himself to smile.
    But before he could say anything, Moira had taken hold of Katherine’s arm. “I know we don’t know each other, Katherine,” she said earnestly.
    Derek coughed to cover his sudden laughter at Moira’s use of Katherine’s given name, knowing how his wife would be shocked and appalled by it.
    “…but if you need anything, I hope you will let me know,” Moira continued, as if she had not just severely breached Katherine’s beloved sense of decorum.
     “Thank you, Lady Beverton,” Katherine said stiffly.
    Moira gave a comforting smile and patted her arm again, starting to move away. But then she hesitated, and before anybody could even blink, she had thrown her arms around Katherine in a rather awkward looking hug.
    Oh, that was not going to go over well. “Nate,” Derek hissed, seizing his friend’s sleeve, “what is she doing?”
    Nathan shrugged. “You know Moira. She does whatever she wants.”
    “Well, it’s going to drive Katherine absolutely batty and I’m going to have to deal with it.” And it was going to be terrible. Awful. Horrifying. The stuff of nightmares. He was apprehensive already.
    Nathan gave him a rather sardonic look and pushed his hand away. “Why don’t you try to stop my wife, Derek? I’m certainly not going to. I know better.”
    “I know it feels dark right now,” Moira whispered to Katherine as she held her close, “but it gets better. I promise.” Then she let go, smiling gently, and took Nathan’s arm. She glared at Derek, and he returned it with a completely lost look of his own. What, did she really think that he had killed Katherine’s mother? Other than that, which was actually a rather intriguing idea, he had no idea what he could possibly have been in trouble for.
    “Be nice,” she mouthed, looking rather severe.
    Nathan snickered quietly, and escorted her away.
    Derek glowered after them, wishing they would have stayed. Pleasant conversation would be difficult to come by for a while. But thankfully, he and Nathan and Colin had arranged to