by Jo Beverley
She tried to hold on to her strength, but her lips quivered.
Oh, ’struth.
Cate quickly took the leather flask from his pocket and put it on the table. “Have some of this.”
“What is it?”
“Dutch courage.”
“What?”
“Geneva. Gin.”
“Gin!”
“Have you never indulged? It can sweeten bile.”
She changed her grip on the knife. Startled, he half rose to defend himself, but then she drove it, two-handed, deep into the rickety table.
“My, my,” he said after an appreciative moment. “Do please sit, drink, and tell.”
“You’ve already had too much to drink, sirrah.”
“It’s never too much unless I’m unconscious. You have glasses, I see. We could even be elegant.”
Suddenly she laughed. It was ugly, but a release of sorts. She pushed straggling hair off her face, then took two glass tumblers and slammed them on the table. She went back to open a low cupboard and returned with a bottle.
“Brandy,” she said, putting it beside the glasses. “My mother’s medicinal supply. I’ll get some water.”
“Seems a shame to dilute it.” Cate picked up the bottle and unstoppered it. “Your mother is abed upstairs?”
“My mother is dead.”
“My condolences.”
“Four months ago.”
Cate cursed his drink-blurred mind. He was being tossed pieces of a picture but couldn’t quite put them together.
She sat down opposite him, straight and proud. “Pour me some, then.”
The knife stood upright between them. Some vague reference to the sword of Damocles struggled to form, and failed.
He sniffed at the brandy. Not good stuff, but perhaps not atrocious. He poured half an inch into one glass and pushed it over to her. He poured the same into the other. He’d normally take more, but even half an inch might be enough to send her under the table. He didn’t want her sozzled, only loose tongued.
And in his arms?
No, he had no place in his life for folly like that, but he’d help her if he could.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Author’s Note