Most likely Lady Anastasia thought the only way to escape his presence was to actually go into the study and look for the blasted button.
"I'll just be here waiting, shouldn't follow you in, isn't proper and all that." Benedict coughed.
Katherine rolled her eyes from her hiding spot in the hall.
Once the door clicked shut, Katherine hurried to his side. "Tell me you have the key."
"Oh, I have the key. Did you know…" Benedict turned the lock. "…that Lord Marks is quite the fellow? He offered to pay me to get those two together in such circumstances. Jolly fellow, should probably send him a Christmas ham."
Katherine stifled a laugh when she heard Paisley's voice begin to rise.
"How much port did he drink?" Katherine asked.
"Enough to hold her hand, possibly enough to be tempted to kiss her."
"What's wrong with you!" Katherine pinched him in the arm. "You had one job, well two. Get him foxed and find the key."
"Listen," Benedict pushed her against the wall playfully, his hands resting on her hips. "I did the best I could. What were you thinking wearing a dress like this?" He seemed mesmerized as his hands slowly caressed the satin.
"What?" Utterly confused and a bit tipsy from the many glasses of wine she drank at dinner, Katherine could do nothing but stare at him in disbelief. "What the hell does my dress have to do with anything?"
She covered her mouth with her hands. Where had that come from?
"Heavens, I love your dirty mouth." He winked, his hands still playing with the fabric, twisting the ribbon around her middle with his fingers. "Your dress, my lady, is distracting. You're lucky I was able to concentrate on the mission, let alone not drink myself into oblivion without touching you."
"Oh." She wished in that moment that she would have thought of a better response, but she was yet again dumbstruck by his dark sensual looks, his hooded eyes, and full lips.
"Shall we?" His voice was husky as he offered his arm.
Telling herself it was silly to shake or be nervous around someone she was marrying so soon, Katherine nodded and gave him her arm.
Thinking he would lead her back to the party, she began to get somewhat alarmed when he escorted her outside.
"Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise," he mumbled in her hair before bestowing a kiss on her temple.
Far be it for her to argue a surprise.
Such a stark contrast between the glowing white snow and the dark sky. The moon hung in the sky like a picture. Benedict led her around to the front of the house, where a carriage was waiting.
"What's this?"
"Your Christmas surprise," he answered sweeping her into his arms and placing her in the seat. Fur blankets were stacked to the right, a bottle of wine and glasses in a basket to the left.
Grinning from ear to ear like a small child, Katherine managed not to throw her arms around his neck and laugh.
He remembered.
She had no idea he had listened that night when she was but seven years of age.
"I want my own Christmas carriage!" she wailed and wailed, until her father announced he was going to sell all the carriages if she kept complaining.
"Silly goose." Benedict sat next to her. At fourteen, he seemed so much older, darker, and of course wiser.
"I'm not silly." Katherine crossed her arms and lifted her chin into the air, trying to prove to him that she was absolutely an adult who could make her own decisions, and at that point in her short life, she wanted her own Christmas carriage. "It just isn't fair." She sniffled and wiped her nose with her sleeve.
Benedict laughed then, a boy laugh that was more amused than mocking. "Then we shall just have to get you one, but not now, for your father looks ready to shoot anything that speaks."
Katherine giggled. "When, Ben? When can I have my own Christmas carriage?"
He pulled her to his side; she tucked her feet underneath her and sighed as the weight of his arm held her in a warm embrace. "How about I tell you a story, and in that story you'll see. Hmm?"
"Oh, yes!" She clapped her hands with glee.
"One day when you are all grown up and going to lovely parties with sparkling ball gowns and handsome men…"
"Like you?" she asked, for she thought him quite handsome.
"Yes, like me." He blushed. "One of these days, you will catch the eye of one of those men, and he will proclaim his undying love to you. He'll offer to buy you any dress in the world if only you will love him. He'll offer to sail to the moon."
"That's silly!" Katherine covered her laughter with her hand. "One cannot sail to the moon!"
"Exactly my point, Kate, one cannot sail there, but his love will be so deep, that in his mind, he has already decided that if it is within your desires, he will find a way to do it."