Anne Barbour Read Online Free Page B

not recall how long it had been since anything had seemed even remotely humorous to him.
    “Doesn’t Regina ring a peal over you when you return to the house looking like you’ve been digging in the Mendip mines?”
    Kate’s eyes crinkled in a mischievous smile, and within him, a response stirred.
    “I usually manage to sneak up to my room without being observed, although I may be in for it tonight, since we will probably arrive home close to dinnertime.”
    “And no one suspects what you do up in the back of beyond all day?”
    “Well, the place is so inaccessible—I think that was what enticed us three to make it our own—nobody knows exactly where it is, nor do they particularly care to find out. From time to time I bring Jem up with me—Jem Carver, one of the stable boys. I have been forced to build supports, else the hillside is likely to cave in on me, and I need help for that.”
    “And Father permits this activity?”
    Kate remained silent, brushing vigorously at a mud stain on her sleeve.
    “I see,” he said. “Father doesn’t know, does he?”
    “Well, he hasn’t asked, after all. And I just—didn’t want to bother him,” she finished lamely. She rushed on before he could speak again. “But, what about you? Are you home for good, David?”
    “No.”
    He knew his answer was unnecessarily short, and as the eagerness in Kate’s eyes faded, he added, “This isn’t really my home anymore. I have only returned because Father insisted that I do so—to recuperate. Even then, if I hadn’t learned of his paralytic stroke ...”
    “But where will you go?” The question came out in a childish wail.
    “Oh, back to the Continent, I should imagine. I have been offered a position on Castlereagh’s staff—a very lowly, minor position—to help with the preparations for the Congress. After that...” He shrugged, then said in an effort to lighten the moment, “By that time I shall no doubt have made myself so valuable to the Foreign Office, they’ll be clamoring for my services on a permanent basis.”
    “But, how could you bear it? To go away and never see Westerly again? David, there is the River Farm. It is unentailed, and there is a lovely cottage on it already. Uncle Thomas always said you should have it someday. Perhaps ...”
    “No!”
    Her eyes widened at the harshness of his tone.
    “I do not want to live,” he continued in the same voice, “on a patch of land on the outskirts of Westerly, like a child with his nose pressed up against the toy-store window. This place,” he swept an arc with his arm, encompassing rolling hills and the lovely old manor house lying in its fold of earth, “was my home, but I am not a boy any longer. I must make my own way.”
    “But I was so looking forward to your being here,” she said softly. “Since Philip died, I have had no one ...”
    The pain was ripping at him now, and he interrupted savagely.
    “You are no longer a young girl. Good God, Kate, you are—what?—twenty now? Have you been living in some sort of a fantasy all this time—dreaming that big brother would come back to you someday and make everything all right? Well, Philip is dead. He is not coming back, and I cannot replace him.”
    Kate gasped under the onslaught of his words. A hot reply sprang to her lips, but they had by now reached the stable yard and Moody, the old groom, was approaching to help them dismount. She slipped from her horse, unaided, and averted her face so that David would not see the tears that spilled down her cheeks.
    David’s empty gaze followed her as she ran into the house. This is only the beginning, little one. I have not yet told you the worst. Will you still cry when you have learned to hate me? Or will your tears harden — as your heart surely will?
    Through long practice, Kate managed to avoid anyone in her blind rush to the sanctuary of her room. She slammed the door and flung herself on her bed, sobbing among the ruins of her universe.
    How could