“Kate, you should have sent for me. You should have let me know. I would havemurdered him.” Happily.
But then he remembered the worst part of that summer, what had driven him to seek the farthest corner of the world away from England to escape her, even thoughts of her. “You stayed with him. He did that and you stayed with him?” Days after that night, word went out that Hemling was her protector. He’d won the bets on the books—and the woman. She’d been with him when Bran had sailed for India almost a month after her disappearance. “Did he hold you captive?”
Her jaw hardened. She turned and began walking away.
He reached out, grabbed her by the crook of her arm and swung her around.“Why did you stay with him?”Bran had to know. “You could have sent for me. I would have come for you.”
She jerked her arm from his hold. “Come for me? I thought you were the one who helped him kidnap me. I never heard from you. I thought I was all alone—”
“I searched for you. I couldn’t believe you would leave your play without notice—”
“I was a prisoner. Hemling wouldn’t let me leave—”
“This is England, Kate.There are laws. If a man imprisons you against your will, you have recourse—”
“Is that what you think?” She gave a harsh laugh. “Well, why not? You are a man in England. You have no idea what it is like to be a woman alone. The laws do not protect us.”
“Iwould have come for you—”
She practically screamed her frustration in his face. “You are sucha fool. I had nothing and no one. What? Do you think I wanted my parents to learn what had happened to me? Don’t you understand the shame of it? Or the pain it would have caused my family? I kept thinking I could manage to keep everything hidden. And as foryoucoming for me, well, I am certain that all the betting books knew that Hemling had claimed his prize. I didn’t see you riding up like a cavalier to rescue me. I imagined you had claimed a good share of that bounty.”
The truth of her words chased the anger from him. She was right. Bran had known when Hemling had declared himself the wager’s winner. All of London had known. “The Aphrodite” had chosen the marquis. And Bran’s own sense of how little he had to offer Kate, how little he had deserved her, had allowed him to believe that, of course, she would desert him.
Bran stood powerless over the past, and yet devasted by this twist on what he had believed.
“No amount of gold would have persuaded me to betray you to Hemling. I thought I was in love with you, Kate. He used both of us.”
Her shoulders lowered. She closed her eyes as if she didn’t know if she wanted to believe him.
“However, you stayed with Hemling,” Bran continued quietly. “I thought you chose him over me. I—”
Bran broke off as the truth sank in. What excuses did he have? He’d failed her. “Everyone said Hemling had offered youcarte blanche. I never questioned it.”
“Of course not.” The corners of her mouth tightened as she added, “After all, isn’t that what all actresses want? A rich protector?”
Yes, that was what he’d thought. What the world had thought.
“I completely disappeared from the stage. Poof! Overnight, and no one questioned it—as if I had such poor character I would do that to the company of actors I performed with. I have no doubt that Lydia Marksmore who took over my role was thrilled with what everyone believed was my decision. It was as if no one knew me well enough to wonder where I was. Or cared.”
And what could Bran answer? He was guilty as charged.
“I stayed with Hemling because I thought I had no other choice,” she said, her words damning. “I felt trapped. I didn’t know what to do. It seemed as if the world conspired against me. He’d already taken from me my reputation. No theater owner would hire me for fear of offending the marquis. I was lost until I realized I could just walk away. When I finally found my way clear to leave him, I learned you had left England.”
“Presumably with the money I’d received for your betrayal.”
There was a heartbeat of silence. Then she agreed, “Presumably.” She shrugged it away with one shoulder. “When I was under Hemling’s protection, everyone told me I should be happy, except he was destroying me, Brandon. I didn’t like the person I was letting myself become. When I walked out, he demanded I return. He threatened any theater that might have hired me. I did receive some offers, though. From men willing to have me for a mistress. I refused.” The last was delivered dryly.
And she hadn’t had him to turn to.
“Kate—” he started, not knowing what he was going to say, what he could say.
She cut him off. “It is all in the past, Brandon. Hemling is dead. Funny that it matters that the man who tried to destroy me is gone. By the by, did you know my brother is a duke? You probably didn’t even know I had a brother, or cared. We knew so little of each other back then. We were interested in other things, weren’t we?”
He didn’t like the hint of derision in her voice before she briskly moved on. “My father was a younger son. My mother was an actress and the family had disowned him but after everything is said and done, upon my grandfather’s death, the title had to go to Matthew. There was no other. And, he has married an heiress. Funny how life changes. When I attended the wedding last year, I realized that Icanreturn to London now. I have resources. I am not some poor girl attempting to succeed on sheer talent alone. I am wiser, stronger, and determined. This time, I will triumph because I own my company.Icontrol my destiny. This ismycompany,myactors,mydecisions. I’m also beyond the age where men will fall over themselves for me.”
“You are still a beautiful woman, Kate. Look at Winderton.”
She gave him a cool eye before saying, “That may be true, except I’ve changed. I’m no longer the trusting doe-eyed miss.”
