Authors: Angeline Fortin
Hyde Park
Near Belgrave Square
London, England
August 1876
The weeks that followed were a revelation to them both. The shackles that had long chained Harrowby
into the staid proper earl he was, had suddenly been cut away
,
leaving behind a man with unbound enthusiasm for life and for Kate.
Where Kate had once been the aggressor in their particular chase, she found their positions reversed. Brand had become the hunter and she the prey. He stalked her through dark hallways drawing her into alcoves and closets for brief, passionate interludes that always left them hungry for m
or
e.
They spent long nights in bed finding new pinnacles of ecstasy that neither of them had
thought possible until daylight would threaten and Kate would tumble from his bed, rumpled and tousled, to catch a few hours of sleep before Nathan awoke.
As a pair, t
hey whiled away the days with Nathan and, more often, Susan as the Ryder family grew together. Each day was filled with new activity, whether they punted the Thames, fished
or picnicked. Both
Nathan and Susan
learned
how to swim
during
those long, hot summer days.
With Susan spending more and more time with her son, Kate found herself free to spend
more time
with Brand. Sometimes they might walk together in the woods behind Ramble House but often they might be found together in Brand’s study. Kate would often
curl up
on the couch reading
or studying scientific journals regarding present day innovations in the treatment of disease
while Brand worked
or wrote
, but sometimes she would help him with his business logs and accounting.
Often Kate was physically restless.
It bothered Kate that, after years of activity, she felt sluggish and soft. She’d
finally
asked Brand to let her take his scull out to combat the laziness and had found a new love in the sport. In t
hose quiet
hours out on the river, however, Kate found time to reflect on her parents, her home. Often she would
second-guess
her choices, wondering if she had made the right decision. Each time, she would arrive back at the dock to find Brand waiting for her and it would all become clear.
Every
day Kate fell more in love with Brand. Though he had always been a man to admire, his release from the boundaries that had ruled him had set free a man possessed of amazing wit, undeniable intelligence and a razor-sharp tongue when he chose to employ it in conversation that would be thoroughly unacceptable in London’s drawing rooms.
He spoke his thoughts against many of the policies the government enacted
. No longer
fearing a social backlash,
Brand
packed them all up to return to London with hopes of arguing for
the passing of the Royal Commission on the Factory Acts
. It was a bill
that would make school attendance compulsory for children in the hopes of ending problems in child labor.
Kate was proud of him for supporting the measure.
Freed
from
the expectations of his mother, Harrowby
looked upon London with more interest, taking Kate and Nathan around to sites that weren’t considered quite ‘the thing’ but were of interest nonetheless. As for Susan, a return to Town gave her the opportunity to rekindle old friendships and to re
-
enter Society as she saw fit.
Kate couldn’t have been more
impressed by
Brand as he came into his own.
They were a perfect comple
ment for one another, she thought. Where her light-hearted approach to life helped soften Brand’s aristocratic starchiness, that qualit
y in him went a long way in taming
Kate’s moments of capriciousness, maturing her into a woman she thought her parents would be proud of.
She longed to be able to shout her love for him from the mountaintops. But of course, she could not. Though she was certain that everyone in the household from Susan down to the lowest scullery maid was aware of their affair, they did their best
to
temper their affections in Nathan’s presence. Brand didn’t want the boy to question the propriety of it, though sometimes Kate suspected that Brand was uncertain where their relationship might go and didn’t want Nathan offering solutions that Brand wasn’t prepared to fulfill.
He cared for her, Kate knew. His affection was boundless, his desire unmistakable. Brand appreciated her mind as well, asking her opinions on both his business and his writing.
But when the words she had spoken so rashly were never repeated, Kate couldn’t help but wonder if the love she had for Brand was standing sadly alone.
“
Isn’t it interesting that
we haven’t gotten so much as one raised eyebrow from anyone in this house yet? I mean I can see wh
y
they wouldn’t try it with you, but
I haven’t heard one thing
about someone who had it from somebody about something they heard.
” Kate said one afternoon as they were sitting on the
bank of the Serpentine
in Hyde Park
while Nathan practiced
casting
with a new lure
Brand had bought for him the previous day
.
“Actually, I rather think it’s odd that that
there’s been no gossip in the house
,” Brand told her
as he made some notes for his next story in a little notebook he’d taken to carrying around with him
.
“Yea
h
, that’s what I said,” Kate
responded with a frown. “Isn’t that what I just said?”
“You said ‘interesting’,” he corrected.
“Same thing,” Kate said then gave a little smile. “A Minnesota thing, I guess. I wish I could take you there someday, Brand.”
“Into the wilds of America?” he asked with a playful shudder. “Thank you but no.”
Kate shrugged. The way her home state was in 1876, she might no
t want to visit there either. Alt
hough she had a momentary Minnesota-girl thrill at the thought of running across Laura Ingalls and seeing how
‘Little House on the Prairie’
actually was, Kate also had vivid imaginings of rogue Indians and winter storms before the advent of central heat… or snowplows run through her mind. “Maybe you’re right.”
“You mention your homeland often.”
“I miss it,” was her simple, heartfelt reply.
Harrowby looked at her thoughtfully
, thinking that there was more to it than that
. “We might go if there was someone there you wanted to see. Your parents perhaps?” He’d never been completely sold on the idea that Kate had no family, no one who might wonder where she was. Though her grief when she spoke of missing her parents was real, when she spoke of them, it was in the present tense, as if they were still alive and perhaps only lost to her. For all his probing, Kate hadn’t yet confirmed his suspicion and he had to wonder what kept her from talking to him about it.
H
e’d heard many stories in the past month
about her life in America, about her childhood and formative years, but it was all very generic. He didn’t think it was unintentional either
.
Kate was keeping something back. Harrowby didn’t like that she didn’t trust him enough to tell him more.
“Kate…”
She reached into their picnic basket and retrieved a hunk of cheese, holding it out to him. “Hungry?”
Harrowby grimaced. “Not at all.”
“You’re not feeling
well
?” she asked, her eyes studying his face.
“I’m fine.
”
H
e waved her worry away. “Perhaps I ate something that doesn’t agree with me.”
“You should stick to the
healthier food
that the staff eats, Brand,” she chided. “It’s better for you tha
n all those fancy dishes you are served
.”
“You have different meal
s
than I do?” he asked curiously, grateful for the distraction.
“Entirely,” she told him, breaking off a piece of the flavorful cheese for herself. “Wasteful, you know.”
“It is,” he agreed. “I’ll have to look into that.”
Silence fell for a long while before Kate noticed Brand absently rubbing his stomach. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Certainly,” Brand said, sitting up. “You finished my
new
book last night, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did,” was all Kate s
aid, aware that Brand was tense
with expectation as he sat next to her. She munched more of the cheese, waiting for him to blow and smiling broadly when he finally broke.
“Kate!”
Kate laughed. “Oh, Brand! You worry too much. It was wonderful. Truly wonderful.”
“Really?” he queried suspiciously.
“Yes,” Kate assured him, patting his hand. “You are way ahead of your time with the stuff you’re writing. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it’s almost like
Crichton
meets Koontz to
me.
Sci-f
i with a horror twist
. It’s one of the most unusual stories I’ve ever read.”
She was right;
it didn’t make any sense to him at all.
“But good?”
“I think it could be a bestseller.”
With a
satisfied
grunt, Harrowby laid back on their blanket
thinking a bestseller – yet another unusual phrase from his charming Kate – sounded like an excellent thing
. He folded
his hands behind his head. He
was
satisfied
with
her words, but his relaxed pos
ture
clearly
sent
thoughts of a different sort through Kate’s mind. “
I see you’re getting your
sexy on,” she said in a low voice, careful not to let Nathan overhear.
Slanting her a look from the corner of his eye,
Harrowby thought of the nights spent with Kate in his bed
, each more passionate than the last. Each one more fulfilling. Kate was uninhibited in her lovemaking, adventurous enough to confirm that he wasn’t her first lover. He couldn’t help but wond
er who it had been. Was it
Dr. Fergusson who had come into his home posing as her husband
,
or another? Had she been married before? Was she a widow or a scandalous divorcée?
Surely,
she would have confe
ssed such important details by
now if there were any truth to be found in them.
Though he was possessive enough to have a care that another had had Kate before, it didn’t change his feelings toward her. Each day saw the caring and affection between them deepen. Though he had lost hope of eve
r
finding a woman who might come to care for the man beneath the title, Harrowby hadn’t truly reflected on what depth of feeling might be roused in him
when he did
.
He’d never expected to lose himself in a woman as he did
in
Kate
Kallastad
. He wanted to bring her the same pleasure
and contentment she delivered
to him – outside of the bedchamber as well as in it.
That caring
,
unlike any he’d ever experienced
,
had left
Harrowby
unsettled
with
the realization that he was falling in love with her. But was it truly so shocking? Kate was unlike any other woman
he’d ever known
. She was unique, thoughtful and intelligent.
She enthralled him as deeply with her conversation as she did with her luscious body. He could spend a lifetime just listening to her draw ou
t every vowel and soften every T
, talking with her about science and discovery, hearing her thoughts on his writing and gaining so much more profundity in that endeavor from hearing her feedback.
He could live forever on the rapture he found with her in a single kiss.
With a wry grin, Harrowby realized that he’
d
always thought love made a fool of men, made them weak. Strange how he’d never felt more powerful in his life.