The Viscount Who Loved Me

Kate and Anthony literally cannot sleep because they cannot stop thinking about each other. Their feelings for one another, while still unnamed and not fully understood, have intensified since arriving at Aubrey Hall. Both concede that there is much more to the other than they originally thought, and that their initial judgments did not afford the other any fair consideration of how nuanced they might be. However, instead of thinking of Anthony in relation to herself, Kate’s thoughts are focused on Edwina. She sees Anthony’s devotion to his family as a sign that he will be a good husband for her sister, and if that is the case, Kate feels she cannot stand in the way of their courtship any longer. Her decision to block the courtship before was based on Anthony being an irredeemable rake, which has now proven to not be the case. Without that reason to justify keeping them apart, Kate does not have any other qualm she can rely on to block Anthony’s suit. Kate always puts Edwina’s wants and needs above her own, even though the sisters have only had one discussion about what Edwina wants in a husband. Kate judges Anthony’s suitability for Edwina by the standards she would judge a spouse for herself, rather than evaluating them with Edwina’s criteria in mind.

When the thunderstorm begins, Kate’s hiding place mirrors how she hid under the desk in Anthony’s study. When she is upset, she makes every effort to be unseeable, so that she can keep her emotional turmoil private. Her retreat from the thunderstorm is more about using the table as literal physical barrier between herself and the storm to make her feel protected, whereas hiding under the desk was a matter of being concealed to avoid an embarrassing situation. The library table also provides a shelter wherein Kate can ride out her panic attack, as being covered by the table gives more privacy than being in the middle of the room. When Anthony finds Kate, her emotional distress startles him. Rather than pulling her out from under the table or trying to wake her up, Anthony joins Kate under the table and holds her. He meets her where she is at, and he does not pressure her to talk. He offers verbal reassurance and his physical touch through an arm around her shoulders and is supportive and gentle.

Their conversation when Kate recovers is significant, as it is the first time the characters begin unpacking their traumas, and their discussion of grief and fear strengthens their emotional connection. Their feelings encompass more than just finding the other attractive or discovering specific traits they admire; they begin to understand one another on a deeper level. Anthony’s reaction demonstrates that he does care about her. He immediately positions himself on the floor with her and sees her through the worst parts of her panic attack. The following day, when they talk in the garden, Anthony is surprised by how conflicted he feels about Kate’s permission to court Edwina. Logically, marrying Edwina fulfills the baseline criteria Anthony looks for in a wife and viscountess; emotionally, he becomes more invested in Kate, so his heart and his brain contradict each other.

At first glance, Anthony’s extreme reaction to Kate’s sting is comedic, but one must consider how triggering this moment is for him. He has started to accept that he might be falling in love with Kate, and almost immediately after he comes to this realization, he is confronted by that her mortality in a way that brings all his fear from his father’s death to the surface. The scene is also sexually-charged, as Anthony pulls Kate’s dress so low on her chest that he nearly exposes her breasts and placing his mouth on her collarbone “treat” the sting to suck out the venom. It is a much more intimate “kiss” than the one he placed on her wrist the day before. When faced with his greatest fear, someone he loves being at risk of dying, Anthony’s lesser fear of being caught unchaperoned with Kate matters much less to him. Not only are they alone in a secluded section of the garden, but they are caught in a physically inappropriate situation. Being “compromised” in this way risks scandal and ruin, especially for Kate, even though there is an innocent explanation for what they were doing.

When Kate and Anthony are alone and newly engaged, they have more freedom to be physical with one another. They are already betrothed and will be married soon, so intimacy is less risky. Although both Kate and Anthony feel relieved that they will be married to someone they care for, they still have no idea how the other feels. Anthony thinks Kate is offering excuses about her lack of a dowry to put him off the idea of marrying her since he would not gain from it; Kate thinks Anthony still pities her, she feels wrong for enjoying his attentions, and she still thinks Anthony loves and wants to marry Edwina—though he has never indicated that he loves Edwina at all. Although Anthony tells Kate she is perfect, and she believes him in that moment, she still does not think of herself as desirable. Kate feels unworthy in every way because she is so accustomed to being no one’s favorite.