Chapter Six
Kathryn had faced loss and despair many times during her brief life. Still, things had never seemed as dark and hopeless as they did when Talon turned the curricle back toward London.
She should have known her father wouldn’t help her. But she hadn’t expected him to viciously berate her or slander her mother before a total stranger.
She might be able to obtain an annulment on her own, but even if she did, where on earth would she go? There were no relatives to take her in, only an elderly aunt who would never stand against her father. Kathryn had no money of her own and no way to support herself.
It was over. All her little schemes to escape her fate had fallen apart. She couldn’t think of anything else to do, anyone else to turn to. She didn’t have any friends save Talon, a pathetic truth she’d just as soon keep to herself.
“Maybe I am like my mother,” she whispered. All her life she’d wondered if her mother had truly been the awful person her father portrayed. Maybe her mother had just been lonely, so starved for affection she’d turned to a stranger for comfort. Kathryn was starting to see how that could happen, how loneliness could turn you into someone you didn’t even recognize.
Talon went still beside her. “Don’t do this to yourself. I kissed you, Kate. The fault was entirely mine. I should never have taken advantage of you.”
She shook her head. He’d been the one to initiate the kiss, but she’d been dying for his touch since the moment they’d met. In fact, she wished he’d kiss her again. Right here. Right now.
The tension between them grew, and for a moment she thought hewouldkiss her again, but then he looked away and made a soft, encouraging noise to the horses. He seemed to be in a hurry, and she didn’t blame him. He’d undoubtedly had quite enough of her for one day.
“Do you think we’ll arrive back in London before your father?”
Talon nodded. He looked exhausted. She’d kept him out on this wild goose chase all night.
As for herself, she was too upset to be tired. All she cared about was cutting her losses. “I think it would be best if we didn’t mention this to him.”
“I agree.” He gave her a sympathetic glance. “What will you do now? Any more tricks up your sleeve?”
She blinked against the sting of tears. “No. No more tricks. I guess there’s nothing left to do but go to the Carolinas.”
“You won’t be alone.” He reached for her hand, and somehow it felt right to thread her fingers within the elegant, lean strength of his. “I’ll be with you.”
She looked up at him, at his starkly chiseled features, and knew she’d never seen anyone quite so beautiful. “I don’t know what I would have done without you today. I hardly know you, yet you’ve gone out of your way for me time and again.”
“Think nothing of it.” His words were light, but she sensed she’d made him uncomfortable.
She dropped her gaze, trying to keep from mooning after him. He released her hand, and she almost cried out at the loss. But he only put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer.
“Lean on me, Kate. It’s been a long, difficult night. You don’t need to be strong anymore.”
His words brought a fresh sting of tears to her eyes, but she blinked them away. He pulled the heavy, wool lap blanket around them both, giving freely of his strength and warmth.
Never in her life had she been offered a shoulder to lean on.
Lean on me. His words echoed inside her tired brain. She drifted off.
to sleep, thinking perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad, after all, to spend a few weeks at sea with Talon Montgomery.
* * * * *
Talon awoke late in the afternoon, grumpy and disgruntled. It had been nearly dawn before he and Kate had returned. She’d slept on his shoulder most of way. The tenderness he’d felt when he’d carried her through the darkened house to her bedroom disturbed him.
In fact, the whole situation disturbed him.
He didn’t want to care about her, didn’t want to see gratitude in her lovely green eyes. Was she a fool to trust him?
He could have had his way with her last night. Her defenses had been decimated, first by Daniel’s betrayal, then by the stunning rejection she’d endured at her own father’s hands.
He should have taken advantage of her fragile state. What good could come of stretching this sordid affair out?
He groaned and covered his face with a pillow. There lay the crux of his problem. He didn’t want to have an affair with Kate. He liked her far too much to take her virginity, impregnate her, and cast her aside.
