Trial by Desire (Carhart #2)

Least of all Kate.

“We’ll see her in the morning. Everything will work out—just you see.” It was more a promise to himself than a vow he could make to her. He would take care of her. He wouldn’t ever let her fall. She didn’t need to know about Ned’s own idiotic problems.

She didn’t find his reassurances ironic. She seemed, in fact, to take his strength for granted, a trust that warmed him almost as much as it left the palms of his hands cold. His promise seemed to settle into his skin. No; when faced with this sweet trust, winter wouldn’t matter. He simply wouldn’t let it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

AS MUCH AS KATE WISHED to spend her time exclusively with her husband, when morning dawned, her responsibilities overwhelmed her. They were going to have to do something about Louisa. Now that the earl was aware that Kate was involved, the matter had become a thousand times more dangerous.

Kate and Ned made certain that Harcroft was not lurking nearby, then they started off. Kate splashed across a cold stream, holding on to her husband’s arm. They crept across fields, avoiding country roads. They didn’t dare be spotted on their way to the cottage where Louisa was staying.

When they were ushered inside, Kate explained the problem. “Louisa, your husband believes I had something to do with your disappearance.”

“So what does that mean?” Louisa shook her head. “I’m not going back. I’m not letting him have his son, either.”

“No. Of course not,” Ned said.

“But it does mean that this situation is no longer tenable,” Kate finished. “It never has been. You have to either decide to leave England, or you must confront your husband and find a way to wrest your freedom—and your son’s—from his grasp.”

Louisa simply looked at Kate before shaking her head. “Unlikely. I’m his. I married him. He controls my funds. And besides…” She sighed. “If he looks at me that way, I might just crawl back to him. I did it once before.” There was a grim edge to her speech.

Kate set her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I know it’s not easy. But you’re going to have to do something.”

“I can shoot him,” Louisa offered hopefully. “Isn’t that ridiculous?” Her voice shook. “I can’t imagine looking him in the eyes and telling him no, but I can see myself shooting him.” Her voice dropped. “I can see myself shooting him very easily.”

“Perhaps we might consider solutions that do not lead to your subsequent hanging,” Kate suggested.

Ned flicked a glance at Kate. She had no notion what he intended. The hardest part of her hobby had always been convincing the women in question to act. She didn’t understand why it was so hard to make the decision to leave a violent husband. A man who was willing to break bones didn’t deserve much consideration, in Kate’s opinion. And yet there was this vacillation. She tried not to let it irritate her.

Sometimes it still did.

Louisa pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them to her, as if making herself smaller would shrink her problems. “It’s easy for you to tell me to make a choice,” she said. “But when I try to think of the future, my head just hurts. I can’t face it.”

Kate exhaled in exasperation. “But you shall have to do so.”

Louisa set her fingers to her temples and didn’t respond.

“You know what?” Ned’s voice rang out, doubling Kate’s annoyance. “Did I ever tell you about my experience with Captain Adams in China?”

At those words, Louisa looked up, and Kate pressed her lips together. This hardly seemed the place to exchange anecdotes. They needed to plan, to think, to charge forward. They had little enough time as it was. Kate turned toward her husband, and her brows drew down.

But at least Louisa had uncurled from her little ball, as if once the tension was released, she could sit straight again.

“No,” she said softly. “You didn’t. I’ve heard almost nothing about your journey. What was China like? Was it foreign? Exotic?”

Ned rested one hand easily on his knee and leaned back. He looked toward Louisa, as if she were the only person in the room, and Kate felt her annoyance grow.

“It was frustrating,” he replied. “Very frustrating. I arrived, thinking my mission would take me maybe a month or two. But when I first got to the Eastern hemisphere, hostilities had broken out. The ship I was on rerouted, so as to find a safe place to land. It took me months just to make my way to Hong Kong. But I’d promised Gareth I would investigate the opium situation in China. And I was bound and determined to go forward, war or no war, hostilities or no hostilities. After all, I hadn’t traveled halfway round the globe, just to be fobbed off with secondhand accounts. I wanted to see the British action in China, and I wanted to see it personally.”