Brotherhood 02 - Broken Promise Read Free

and turned away from Austin. The man obviously needed to compose himself first. After several moments, he turned back.
    “I don’t know if you are aware of what went on between the two of us that caused our separation.”
    Austin had heard the rumors, but he’d learned early on in his detective career to let his clients put events in their own words. He waited for the earl to continue.
    “Gregory would have inherited the title. He’d been raised to follow in my footsteps. I didn’t question his abilities—ever. I was very proud of him. Then…”
    The earl’s shoulders slumped as if he carried the weight of the world. As well as the guilt of his firstborn son’s death.
    “He fell in love.” He lifted his gaze and looked at Austin. “Did you ever meet her?”
    Austin knew who he meant. He was referring to the actress with whom Penderly’s son had fallen in love and eloped. “No, I never did.”
    “Her name was Collette Flemming.”
    The earl stepped to the multi-paned window in the front of Austin’s office and looked out. There was nothing there except a narrow street and an occasional hack that traveled by.
    He turned. “I reacted badly. But after I lost Jarrod, Gregory was all I had left. He was the future of the Penderly line. I couldn’t think past the disgrace that bringing an actress into our family would cause. He would never have been accepted by Society, his wife would never have been accepted. They would have been ostracized, shunned. It was…too much for me to accept.”
    Penderly stiffened. “I said some cruel things to Gregory. But I couldn’t think past the disgrace I would suffer if my son married an actress.”
    Penderly’s body seemed to collapse in on him. He returned to his chair and sat. He suddenly seemed years older than he had when he’d entered a few moments earlier.
    “The day we argued was the last time I saw my son alive. He eloped the following day. He died a few short months later.”
    “Is that why you’ve come to see me? Do you suspect foul play in the death of your son?”
    Penderly lifted his head. “No. Nothing like that. I sent my nephew, who is also my man of business, to gather the details of the accident. The local magistrate verified that Gregory died when his horse stepped into a hole and fell. There were witnesses.”
    “Then what assistance do you need from me?” Austin realized at that moment that he would do anything Penderly needed. He owed him for the son he’d stolen from him in a French prison.
    Penderly’s regal bearing came to the forefront and he faced Austin with firm determination. “I want you to find the woman my son gave up his inheritance to be with.”
    Austin evaluated Penderly’s request. The man wanted him to find the woman who’d ruined his son’s life. The woman who’d stolen his son from him.
    A hint of warning raced through him. “Would you mind telling me why?”
    Penderly’s eyes opened wide. He knew what Austin’s question meant. “Not to do her harm,” he said. “Never that!”
    “Then why?
    “My reasons are personal.”
    Austin leaned forward and leveled Penderly with an expression Gabe once told him could shrivel armor. “I want to know why you mean to find her. And I expect the truth.”
    Penderly breathed a heavy sigh of resignation. “Of course you do. I wouldn’t expect a man my son thought so highly of to consider a task without being assured my motives were honorable.”
    The earl lifted his shoulders and sat straight. “I want to take care of her the same as my son would have, had he lived. I want to make her a part of our family like Gregory asked me to. I know my actions have come too late to make my son happy, but I want to do what he asked of me —and I refused.”
    Austin studied the earl for several long seconds. He’d always relied on his instincts to tell him when someone was lying to him. Penderly’s hooded expression gave him a moment’s pause.
    “You’re deciding whether or not to