“You were respected in India?” Kate’s head rested on his chest.
“Well respected, yes. Of course, I had to work for it.”
“You will have to work for it here.”
He reacted as if her answer surprised him and then he smiled ruefully. “You are right. I just don’t like the struggle. Not at this point of my life. Marsden assures me that the committee hasn’t ruled me out completely.”
“What does the earl have to do with the committee?”
He pressed a kiss to the top of her hair. “He took up my cause when he learned that Lord Dervil had promoted his man in my place. Dervil and Marsden are sworn enemies.”
“Because?”
“Dervil shot his father—”
“What?” Kate started to sit up but Brandon held her down.
“It was a duel over a property line. The two families have been neighbors for centuries and have been at each other’s throats for that length of time. Then I did something to upset him.”
“What?”
“I convinced Lucy not to sell Smythson to Dervil. Mars believes Dervil campaigned against me as a way of striking back.”
“Do you think that is true?”
Brandon lay there a long moment, his hand moving down to her shoulder where he drew lazy circles with his finger. “I have no idea,” he said at last.
Something in his tone sparked her curiosity. She raised her head. “Do you want to build bridges?”
“I’ve built many of them.”
“Yes, but do you want to build them?”
“Say, over roads or buildings. I designed those as well.”
“And are they what you want to build?”
The movement of his hand stopped. “It is what I do.”
“You also tell stories,” Kate reminded him. “You collect them.” Sometimes, after they had made love, he would tell some tale he’d tucked away. Her favorites were the ones he’d learned in India. They were like the mythic tales he had shared with her years ago.
“I’m not a writer,” he told her. “I’d be bored. I like my stories already written.”
Kate sat up. “And yet, when you tell them, there is a very visual strength to them.”
“I doubt if there is money in repeating other people’s stories.”
There it was. The simple fact of his life—and hers. Money was important. “I hope the Earl of Marsden is correct and you still can build your bridge.”
His response was to kiss her down to the mattress and for the next hour, they were very busy.
Kate discovered that in spite of her nocturnal activities, she wasn’t tired during the days. Brandon would walk her back to her tent right before dawn. She would sneak into her cot and manage a few hours’ sleep until she needed to be up for work.
Granted, she didn’t continue her normal pattern. In the past, she was usually the first up. Now, she often slept later than Jess, the laziest person in the troupe.
Of course it was noticed. And all the actors, save Silas, teased her. Kate could sense his worry, even though they didn’t speak about what she was about. He may have thought her smart, but that did not mean he thought her wise.
However, he was not living her life.
