The sound of galloping hooves interrupted her concentration.
God help her if Winderton had returned.
She deliberately ignored the rider. That didn’t stop her actors from craning their necks to see who was coming.
Kate thought to chastise them—and then an awareness, almost as if the air around her became suddenly charged, made her look in the rider’s direction as well.
It wasn’t Winderton.
Instead, a powerful chestnut galloped right into their small encampment heading straight for where she stood at the edge of the marked-off ground.
The rider reined in. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a hat pulled low over his eyes. He looked right at her, and, again, her every sense responded to him.
Few Corinthians could have dressed as well as he did. His boots, in spite of the dust, were London made and of the finest materials. Buff breeches encased long, muscular legs and no local tailor had the skill to create the cut of his bottle green jacket.
Nor did this man while away his time in clubs. He was strong, vital... his unshaven jaw was lean and his scowl fierce.
It took all Kate’s courage to stand her ground. He eyed her as if she was beneath his contempt. That only made her hold her head higher, her back straighter.
He spoke. “Miss Addison?”
Abruptly, immediately, she recognized him.
Her heart pounded. She fought against a wild dizziness. Now, Arlo’s stealing her money, running off with the vicar’s daughter, the wagon breaking, all of it was nothing when compared to this fated meeting.
“Do you remember me?” he asked.
How could she ever forget that voice? Low, deep, a hint of masculine raspiness. Many an actor would have sold his soul to possess it.
Except now it lacked any hint of warmth or a once-earnest shyness. Instead, it demanded she acknowledge him. As if she had been waiting for years for him to decide tohonorher with his presence and should now bow in submission?
Long ago, when she had been trusting and in love, Kate Addison had given herself to Brandon Balfour. In turn, he’d sold her out, abandoning her as if she was nothing more than chattel to be handed from one man to the next.
Her sister Alice had warned her that those who had hurt her would reappear in her life again. It was the way of the world, Alice had assured her. And Kate had best be prepared because when those people returned, she would get to mete out justice...
Brandon Balfour sat on his mighty steed and wanted her torecognizehim, torememberhim.
She would not give him that satisfaction.
Her smile polite and serene, she answered, “I’m sorry, good sir, have we met before?”
Chapter Three
Kate Addison didn’t recognizehim?
Bran’s self-assurance eroded slightly. He had expected to be her reckoning, her past catching up with her. He had assumed she would remember him on sight and fall to her knees in remorse and fear over how callously she had once treated him.
He was eager for her to realize what she’d let slip through her grasping fingers—because he was no longer the lowly, unknown architect who counted his every penny. No, he was a man of the world.
Yes, he was still trying to establish himself in London but his years in India, and shrewd management, had made him richer than any of the peers and nabobs who had once tried to seduce her, the acclaimed “Aphrodite” of the London stage, with money and gifts.
Of course, a reckoning was a flat thing when the other party didn’t even recognize you.
Granted, almost fifteen years had passed since they’d last seen each other, but still... she had loomed large in his imagination, no matter how much he’d tried to deny her.
It also didn’t help the awkwardness of the moment that she was still beautiful. No wonder his nephew had fallen at her feet. In her demure day gown, a dress so well fashioned even Lucy would not have faulted it, and her thick, raven-black hair artfully styled, Kate could have easily passed for a member of the nobility.
She must be what? Five and thirty? Her hair was as shining as if she was twenty. No age lines creased her features except at the corner of her eyes, and that was as it should be. She’d always enjoyed a good laugh. The sound of it had charmed everyone around her.
