Harlot at the Homestead Read Free Page A

bad that even when I was full as a tick, I couldn’t shake off your memory. And then you waltz back into my life, my home, my family…as if nothing ever happened.”
    He stepped over the bench and glared at her, making her heart lurch.
    “Please, Kenan…” she proffered her shaking hands toward him. “Please don’t be so mad at me.”
    “I want nothing to do with you. Nothing.” He glared at her and when he spoke again his voice was dangerously low. “You can get yourself some rest for a few days but soon as you feel better, I want you out of here before anyone finds out. I’ll not have people saying that the Duggans are the type of family to tolerate a harlot at their homestead.”
    Catherine watched, as powerless as a newborn foal, as he stormed off into the night, banging the door behind him. She sat still, frozen in time, listening carefully to the tearing of the seams at the edges of her composure. One by one, they unpicked until the grief came tumbling out and she hunched over her knees, surrendering to sobs that rendered her breathless. The guilt, the pain and the anguish came flooding out of her and she submitted to them all, no longer forced to suppress them.
    Rosie rubbed her back and stroked her hair, then enveloped Catherine in her arms. The tender act brought more tears and Catherine cried until she was empty and her eyes were sore and swollen.
    “He doesn’t mean it, Catherine. He’s just shocked to see you again is all. It’s an enormous shock for him…for every one of us.”
    Catherine looked up and wiped her sleeve across her face.
    “He’ll never forgive me, Rosie.”
    Kenan’s sister reached out and smoothed the hair from Catherine’s face then took hold of her hands.
    “Maybe not, Catherine, maybe not. Give him time and let him make up his own mind. But you’ll have to be honest with him. A man and woman can’t base a relationship on lies. You may never find the innocence of the love you had before but you may be able to salvage something. Even if it’s just friendship. But you must tell him what really happened.”
    Catherine’s eyes filled up again and she struggled against the choking pain in her throat. Tell him what really happened? That could never be. He was convinced that she was a harlot, that she’d willingly betrayed him. And in a way she had.
    Kenan strode into the black night, oblivious to the rain that pelted his body, soaking him instantly and causing his clothing to cling to his skin. He walked right out of the gate and onto the path that led to the surrounding land then he began circling the perimeter fence. He took long strides, his pace increasing his heartbeat and forcing him to breathe quickly.
    Darn it, he was so mad he was knocked galley west and he didn’t know how in the hell he was going to recover. How could this have happened? He’d tried so hard to accept that Catherine was gone and now here she was, all pretty, sweet and vulnerable and he was likely to end up in a hoosegow if he didn’t master his emotions.
    He was horrified that she’d been hurt. Those marks on her arms had turned his stomach. He’d battled the anger within him since the day he’d been told of her disappearance and done his best to squash it down but every time a memory had surfaced or a nightmare had tortured him, he’d been all churned up again. Catherine had been the woman he was meant to protect, but he had failed.
    Or he’d thought he had. Each time he’d followed what seemed to be a fresh lead in his continued search for her, it had come to a dead end and he’d finally been persuaded to give up. But he’d never stopped thinking about her.
    Now it seemed that she’d actually made a choice and left him. Sure, she seemed ashamed of her scars but she’d been in no rush to explain them to him either. Maybe she’d gotten them leading some other fool into a false paradise.
    So the grief he’d suffered had been an illusion and he’d been a fool. But now her jig was up