Brotherhood 02 - Broken Promise Read Free Page A

believe me,” Penderly said. He leaned back against his chair. “Allow me to tell you about the first time I met my son’s mistress. I knew Gregory would be with her, so I went to her house fully intending to expose her for the Jezebel I believed her to be. I’d passed the point of anger and bordered on madness. I hated her. She was ruining my family, destroying Gregory’s future.”
    A small smile lifted the corners of Penderly’s mouth. “Instead, I found I liked her. I was not only in awe of her beauty, but I discovered there was something special about her—her strength of character, her intelligence. I understood why Gregory loved her. But more importantly, I realized that she loved my son. It was so blatantly obvious that I reacted with a vehemence that was totally unlike me.”
    The earl’s face lost a shade of color. “I was desperate to separate them, you see. When I met her, I realized she was a bigger threat than I’d imagined. I said several things I didn’t mean.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, neither she nor Gregory ever knew that.”
    “You don’t think perhaps she was putting on an act?” Austin asked. “She had experience on the stage, you know.”
    Penderly shook his head. “When I threatened to disown Gregory, she offered to give him up. She pleaded with me to reconsider, then pleaded with Gregory to leave and forget her.”
    “You think she was serious?”
    Penderly nodded. “She came to see me later that night. She wanted me to know that I had nothing to fear from her. That she intended to leave London. And Gregory.”
    “Are you sure she wasn’t just saying that? She could have been—”
    Penderly held up his hand and Austin stopped. “I offered her enough money to live in grand style for the rest of her life if she promised never to reenter Gregory’s life.” He shook his head and looked at Austin. The haunted look in his eyes was a mirror image of the look he’d seen in Lieutenant Dunstan’s eyes just before he died. “She refused to take any money from me. She said she’d be fine on her own, that she didn’t want Gregory’s money. And she didn’t want to ruin his life.”
    “And you believed her?”
    Penderly shut his eyes as if reliving his conversation with Collette Flemming. “Yes, Captain. I believed her. She kept her word. She left London that night. Left Gregory. Left the theater. Left everything. Just as she said she would.”
    Austin leaned forward in his chair. “What happened then?”
    “When Gregory realized she was gone, he came to the house. We had a terrible argument. He said he’d never forgive me for what I’d done. Then he left to follow her.” Penderly paused. “That night was the last time I saw my son.”
    The earl didn’t speak for several long seconds. When he did, his voice had a quality to which Austin couldn’t quite give a name. There was a softness to it, a painful emptiness.
    “Have you ever been in love, Captain?”
    Austin hesitated. Finally he said, “No, sir. I haven’t.”
    “Do you believe there’s such a thing?”
    Austin knew there was. He even believed there was a love so consuming nothing would stop the people who were in love from moving heaven and earth to be together. His sister, Liddy, and his best friend, Gabe, had discovered a love that all-consuming. They’d moved heaven, and gone through hell to have that love.
    He could hardly admit that to Penderly. He couldn’t even say the words out loud, because to admit it would mean acknowledging that he knew such a love was beyond his reach. No decent female could ever love him that completely. Not after the things he’d done. “Perhaps there is. I don’t know.”
    A smile lifted the corners of Penderly’s mouth. “There is. That’s the kind of love my son and Collette Flemming shared.” He hesitated. “I know it’s not proper to admit such a fact, but that’s the same love my wife and I feel for each other. Which is the reason that I understand what drove