"Your hair, " she mentioned.
"Yes, Mother. It was too heavy. I took it down. I'm tired of fashion's dictates," Kat grumbled in an unattractive, unladylike way. She thought suddenly of the free-flowing Arabian clothes and life without corsets.
"And corsets bind most unappealingly," Kat continued, sulking.
Anne looked shocked.
"My dear. What would a woman be without a slim waist?" she asked. She glanced to Jamie and Edward, but neither seemed interested in their conversation.
Katharine was tired of the ball, the throng of people and the heat. She was terrified of being introduced to Mohammed in front of her father and having to make niceties to a man who had been her lover.
"Let's announce the betrothal," Edward suggested to the threesome.
"Oh yes," Anne smiled as she held another champagne flute in her hand.
Katharine wondered if her mother was drinking too much and watched as Edward managed to attract the large crowd's attention.
Edward thanked the people for coming near and far to join in the festivities and to welcome his beloved daughter home. He then took his daughter's hand and Jamie's hand joining them together.
"Anne and I are proud to announce the betrothal of our beloved daughter Katharine to James Clifton."
Applause broke out around her as Katharine fell into a black hole. Jamie caught her before she sank to the ground. As he carried her upstairs to her bedroom, Anne was fussing behind them.
***
Fern and Daisy, the Bucket sisters, were 15 years older than Katharine and vicious town gossips. They stood behind a large pillar in the ballroom and watched as the blonde was picked up and carried away by her fiancé.
"Did you see that, Fern? She fainted!" Daisy told her sister in a hushed tone.
Fern, a large-nosed woman with frizzy red hair and watery brown eyes, sniffed decidedly.
"Of course she fainted.” Fern said. “The little chit couldn't wait until the wedding night. She's obviously in the family way."
***
Mohammed stood behind the town gossips unseen. She had spread her legs again and this time, the Englishman's seed had been potent, he thought. He would never take the leavings of a pale Englishman. He imagined her as she had been when he had taken her from behind in the bath. Pounding into her tight pussy had been beyond pleasure for him. His little princess had always said one thing when she had wanted the opposite.
Katharine had always been too proud to admit that she needed and wanted him, but he had been the same.
He had never been able to admit what effect she had on him. She had dazzled him, as she had the men before him and after him, but he still wanted her. He decided that he would place her in the harem. That is the only place for this wayward falcon, Mohammed thought arrogantly.
***
Katharine awoke slowly with a pounding headache.
"There, there," Anne said as she patted her hand. She then poured her a glass of water.
"I don't remember," Kat began.
"You fainted, dear. It must have been the heat of the ballroom," Anne explained. She took a cool cloth and placed it over her daughter's forehead.
"Was the betrothal announced?" Katharine asked.
"Yes, dear."
"Are you pleased, Mother?"
"Well, yes. I suppose I am.” Anne said, smiling. “And you, are you happy?" She wondered about her high-spirited daughter who seemed to want to please her family for once.