The Duke's Masked Wife

"You're almost there, Kate. I am so proud of you," Katrina said as she watched Kate who sat on the other side of the carriage. Kate had scored bigger than Katrina did.  There was nothing more satisfying than seeing her daughter having an easy life. It was what Katrina worked so hard to achieve. "The house is turning out nice. I will give the two of you some money so you can continue to change it up to your liking."

"There is no need for that mother. Simon tells me to spend what I want but I am being mindful to not seem like I will waste his money in the future. You should save the money you want to give us," Kate replied, looking away from the window to her mother.

Katrina smiled as Kate was changing quickly. Perhaps too quickly. Katrina was preparing Kate for this very moment for years but now that the time had come, Katrina did not want to have her only child leave her side.

As hard as it would be to let go of Kate, Katrina could not hold Kate back. Kate's marriage to Simon would continue to push Katrina closer to the status she wanted her family to have. Not like the days when she worked in the red light district and had nothing to her name.

"Why are you smiling at me, mother? You have not replied to me," said Kate.

"I am just thinking about how close you are to having everything I always envision you having. I dreamed of you having a life better than what I grew up with.  I want the best for you, Kate. Seeing you getting ready to be married and be without me is just making me sad. It will just be me when you are gone," Katrina said, holding back her tears.

"That is why I said you can look to remarry. I won't mind if you find someone else to share your days with. Father has been gone for a long time so no one can talk about you finding new love by now. You do not have to get married right away and it is not like I will not visit you often. Who else will I ask for advice? When we have children, you are the only grandparent they will have so they will regularly visit you. Nothing will change other than the fact I am not living there," Kate assured her mother.

Kate also thought of what life would be without her mother in arms reach. They were always together and her father's death brought them even closer. It was weird to think of not seeing her mother daily.

"I don't need another man in my life unless he is a King.  I will try to enjoy the peace in the house now until you have children to bother me," Katrina said, looking forward to raising her grandchildren.

"I will try to have one quickly so I can send them to your home. Mother, I was thinking of hosting a gathering before our wedding and inviting some of my peers. Grace already did one. You can get all sorts of gifts but Simon does not want to have too many people in our home. He is not fond of visitors," Kate frowned. It was the one thing that ticked her off about Simon. She loved the attention but Simon hated it.

"He lived a quiet life before you, Kate. Some people prefer to not let anyone in their homes. Try suggesting somewhere else as the location for this party and see what he says. We can do it at my home but there will be so much to plan when we are already planning a wedding. I think you should leave this party out and stop trying to compete with Grace. She is not on your level," Katrina replied. Grace came from a good family but her looks did not compare to Kate's.

"I know she is not but I get tired of her boasting about the things she does. I want to do everything better than her. I wish she was the one to disappear instead of Lila. Lila got ahead of herself for a moment but I could always put her back in her place. I don't believe that she is missing. I am sticking to the rumor that Lila got pregnant before her wedding and that is why she ran away. She'll eventually have to come back to Lockwood and I cannot wait to see her," Kate smiled, looking forward to the reunion where she would rub her marriage to Simon in Lila's face.

Katrina wasn't in the mood to hear about Lila or Grace. "I told you to stop thinking about the two of them and find more friends who suit you. I like the Viscountess for you. You said she has been visiting you a lot to see if you need help with the wedding or advice as a new wife since she has only been married for three months. Stick with her."

"I only speak with her because of her title. All she does is talk about the child in her stomach and ask about Alessandra. She's just using me to find out information about someone else. She's lucky to be Viscountess or I would have sent her away. I want to surround myself with people who have titles and statuses. Let me," Kate stood to open the carriage door for her mother when it parked in front of their home. "I will be like your maid these last few days we are together."

"I must be blessed to have a future Marchioness opening doors for me," Katrina said as she exited the carriage first. Her smile fell when the first person she saw waiting for them was Randall. 'I told him to stay away from my home,' she thought.

Katrina was secretly involved with his business so she did not want Randall coming to her house like this. No one knew she was behind the success of his new business in the red-light district.

It would only take one person to be curious about how they knew each other to start looking into Randall and exposing her past. No matter how many times she told Randall to stay away he kept showing up like this to make her angry. He took joy in the fact he knew all of her secrets and could expose her at any moment.

Kate disliked seeing Randall at their door again. She noticed how her mother tensed up when he was around but Kate could not figure out why. He claimed to be an old friend of the family but Kate did not recall her father speaking about Randall. She found it suspicious how Simon called Randall by a different name when he spoke of a family friend he met.

"Go in and do not speak to him," Katrina ordered Kate. The second reason she did not want Randall around was so he could not try putting his disgusting hands on Kate.

Kate didn't need to be told to avoid Randall. Despite his clean appearance in clothes she knew was expensive, Kate wanted nothing to do with Randall. A Marchioness should not be around someone like him. Kate ignored Randall as she entered the home.

"She has the same attitude as you. We had business plans today Katrina. You know that I have no one else with your skills to help me. We are supposed to be targeting a young Lord to get one of our women married to but you blew me off. For what exactly?" Randall spoke softly despite his anger.

"Something came up. Can't you be a big boy and use your brain to figure certain things out? You were the one to get me to Desmond-"

"But you played the role of the woman he wanted well," Randall reminded him. If he had put any other woman in Katrina's place to go after a Baron, they would not achieve all that Katrina did. Katrina took scamming to another level. He needed her to teach the young women what she knew.

"That's what desperation would do to you. When you don't want to go back to the lowly life you had before, you find you could put on any grand show to trap anyone who can offer you a better life. I will write down more instructions for you but you need to send me half of what ee made from the young lady who is getting married. I helped put her in that position to marry a man who would inherit his father's wine business. Pay me first," Katrina said as she was not going to let Randall get all the money.

"I will have it in your hands by the end of the day," Randall replied. He noticed something in the corner of his eyes and saw that it was the butler who had a habit of appearing when he was near Katrina.

"Is he just doing his job or is he smitten? I hope you are not fucking your butler, Ida. I am a jealous man so if I cannot have you, no one else can. I hate that he is always here with you. Get rid of him before I do," Randall advised her, smiling at James to taunt him before he left to take care of business.