‘A few pennies.’ Pete’s voice was quiet and it broke Kate’s heart to hear the boisterous lad reduced by the circumstances life had thrown at him. There was no need to ask how he had got the money; he was desperate and alone and there were veryfew avenues open to him. She would not judge him for what he had to do to survive, not when she knew what it was like to be hopeless.
‘Why not take Silas out and find something for you both to eat? Everything seems better on a full stomach.’
The boys needed very little persuasion to leave the house, seeming to trust now there was an adult involved, everything would be fine. Kate wished she had their faith in her, because she was out of her depth. With a shaky breath, she promised herself she would do whatever she could to make things better for them, in whatever way she could.
Once they were safely out of the house, she bent down and inspected their mother. Life had been very unkind to the woman, who was thankfully alive but unresponsive to anything Kate said or did to bring her round. Empty bottles of gin surrounded the bed and the smell of alcohol coming from the mother was strong enough that it was clear how the problem had started, but Kate had no idea how it would end.
Standing, she stepped back a few paces, her dress snagging on the wooden table. As a vicar’s daughter she had helped nurse sick people and she was not afraid of hard work. When the boys returned she would go back to Glanmore House, fetch some of her money and pay for a doctor. In the meantime, she would clean the woman up. Plan made, she began to work.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Aknock sounded on Edward’s bedroom door, but unlike the night before, it was not soft and gentle: not Kate then, who had fled during the night and who had not turned up for breakfast. It was surprising how much he missed her presence in his room when she had only been in here once. The noise came again, sharp and impatient, before the door handle turned and Christopher strode in.
‘I could have been naked.’
‘Fortunately for both of us, you were not.’ Christopher shuddered dramatically. ‘You look remarkably well-rested. The shadows around your eyes are almost normal-coloured.’
‘I slept well for once.’
‘I am surprised. I would have thought the endless stream of visitors for Miss Hornel would have been cause for a very restless night.’
‘Obviously, you do not know me as well as you thought.’ And after Kate had spent most of the night in his arms, Edward was less worried about the men who had called on her than he hadbeen. They hadn’t discussed what they were to each other and that was some cause for disquiet, but he did not believe she was the sort of woman who let a man touch her intimately and then married another. The suitors were not a problem with which he need be concerned any more. There might be other hurdles but after last night, he thought he might be able to overcome them. He was not about to admit any of his desires to Christopher, however. ‘Why are you here?’
‘The post has been. There is a letter from Hornel.’
‘That was quick.’
Christopher looked at him quizzically. ‘It has been nearly thirteen weeks since he set sail.’
It seemed like no time at all and yet he could barely remember life without Kate in it.
‘What did it say?’
‘We have not read it yet. I am to collect you and then we are to reconvene in Tobias’ office to read it together.’
Sweat beaded on his brow and he whipped it away with the back of his hand. He’d set these events in motion, but now they might have answers, he wasn’t sure he wanted to read them. ‘It is unlikely to have anything of import to share. He can barely have arrived before he sent it.’
‘Well, we are not going to find out if you do not get a move on.’
‘Right, of course.’
‘What is the matter with you today?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Something has changed.’
His brother was surprisingly perceptive. Everything had changed. He’d changed. He’d thought he had understood what it was to bed a woman. He was wrong. He’d thought it wasimpossible for him to sleep through most of the night. He was wrong. He’d thought a relationship between him and Kate was hopeless. He hoped he was wrong. Instead of saying that, he said, ‘Has it?’
Christopher muttered something about irritating brothers, but he did not press the matter. Edward followed him through the long corridors of Glanmore House, his mind not on the correspondence he had been waiting to receive but on the way Kate had responded to his touch. While he’d lain awake next to her sleeping body, he’d imagined what it would be like if she let him brush his fingers over her skin. He’d thought he would take his time with her, gently trace his mouth and fingers over every curve of her body, allowing her to get used to the idea of him, but the reality hadn’t been nothing close. It had been like trying to hold onto flames as they crackled and burned, shifting and dancing. The way she had reacted to him, the delight her body had experienced at his touch, had awakened something in him that had burned bright and unexpected in its brilliance. Tipping her over the edge again and again had become his greatest triumph. He’d wanted to see how many times he could get her to come apart in his arms, and could have gone on all night seeing how he could get her to react to him. But she had touched him and, already nearly mindless with pleasure, he had been lost, incapable of doing anything other than race to his own ending.
There were still days and weeks left to see how many times he could get her delicious body to sing for him. Last night did not have to be a one-off. If she was willing, they could have forever.
He stopped as they passed the entrance to the Blue Lounge, his heart pounding.
‘What is it?’ asked Christopher.
‘I am going to ask her to marry me.’
