My Dangerous Duke (18 page)

He urged her with a silent nod to continue.

“My grandfather hired Captain Madsen to take his daughter to New Orleans,” she said with a nostalgic little smile. “Papa’s frigate was known to be very fast. Plus, my father had been in the Marines, so if there was trouble, he knew how to handle a sword.”

Rohan knew in his bones then that “Michael Madsen” had to be Gerald Fox. But it wasn’t the Count DuMarin who had hired him but Rohan’s father.

“What happened once they set sail was something no one could have planned.” Her smile turned dreamy. “Along the voyage, the two of them fell in love. The bold English captain and the delicate French miss. They eloped—and I was the result.”

Rohan returned her smile cautiously, but was shaken to the core to hear his suspicions so utterly confirmed. It awed him all the more to think that if it weren’t for his heroic sire’s choice of Gerald Fox to take Lady Gabrielle to America, the beautiful Kate would never have existed.

He shook off his amazement, needing to make sure this was all she had been told about her origins. “You’re right,” he said mildly, “that is pretty romantic. So, what happened then? ”

“Disaster, of course.” She gave a decidedly Gallic shrug. “Life at sea is dangerous. It didn’t help that my father’s brash influence led Mama to attempt a degree of adventurousness that she was not suited for in the least. You see, my parents shared a pastime: hunting for treasure between Papa’s cargo runs.”

“Treasure?” he echoed in surprise.

“Mm-hmm. It took them all over the world. That was how she died. They went into a cave one day, along with some of the crew. I don’t know what horde of hidden gold they thought they were searching for this time—they never found anything. But this was their chief form of amusement, a hobby, their shared passion. I was still too small to participate. I stayed on board with Charley—he was Papa’s bo’sun and like a grandfather to me. I remember standing on the rails, watching the longboats row up to those caves.”

“Where was this?”

She thought about it. “I don’t really know. There were seals. That’s all I remember. The rest is a blur. For, you see, they went into those caves to search for some stupid pirate treasure, and when Papa came out, he was carrying my mother’s lifeless body in his arms.”

“My God … what happened?”

“Some kind of accident inside the cave. Part of the rock overhead collapsed and fell on her when it came crashing down. They tried to keep me from seeing her body.” Kate stared through her empty wineglass. “Before the day was out, they buried her at sea wrapped in a shroud and weighted down with a cannonball. I kept screaming like a wild thing because I was convinced she was only sleeping.”

“You were how old?” he whispered.

“Five.” She looked at him grimly. “Her death changed everything. Especially my father. He didn’t want me aboard his ship anymore for fear that something would also happen to me. Within a few months, he bought the cottage and sent me to live in it, with Charley to look after me. The old man was set to retire, anyway, and as for me, it was time to begin my schooling. My mother’s dearest wish was for me to have the sort of education usually reserved for a son.”

“Why is that?”

She shrugged. “She disliked having been so sheltered at her convent school. The nuns wanted to mold young ladies who were virtuous, not learned, and when France went mad, she resented having been molded into a beautiful, helpless damsel, unprepared to fend for herself in any particular.

“She convinced my father that that must never be allowed to happen to me. That I must be molded with great independence, and raised to be able to care for myself. She wanted to make sure that if the world ever went to hell in a handbasket again in my day, as in hers, that I would be able to survive.”

The painful truth of her words, with their edge of bitterness, penetrated his heart. He gazed at her for a long moment. “That would explain your resilience after what you’ve been through.”

She looked gratefully into his eyes, then shook her head. “I’m not as brave as you think.”

He gazed tenderly at her in question, but she did not explain the remark, continuing her story instead.

“As soon as we were settled in Dartmoor, Charley began hiring my various nurses and governesses, and later, my tutors. Poor Charley. He’s gone, too, now. My last link to my parents. He was not just the bo’sun, you see, but my father’s confidant, and part owner of his ship.” She smiled nostalgically. “Gruff old thing. He never had much to say, but behind that grizzled exterior was a heart of gold.

“O’Banyon and the Doyle boys were lucky old Charley wasn’t on hand to defend me the night they burst in,” she added. “He’d have blown them all to smithereens with his shotgun. He was very fond of that shotgun,” she mused aloud. “He taught me to use it as part of my boyish education.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Unfortunately, those cretins got to me before I could lay my hands on it.”

Rohan raised an eyebrow at the prospect of a little thing like her firing a shotgun. “The recoil must throw you across the room.”

“I brace myself. But yes, I do go flying,” she admitted with a grin. He laughed softly, trying to picture any of his elegant London paramours having a conversation with him about guns.

Pirate’s daughter, plenty,
Pete had said, and Rohan had to agree. A consistent picture of who this unique young woman was finally was beginning to come clear in his mind.

“At any rate, Papa went back to sea, leaving Charley to keep watch over me. Charley, in turn, hired a string of nurses and governesses to help take care of me—and that leads me back to what I originally wanted to tell you.”

Rohan nodded in encouragement, waiting for her to take it at her own pace.

“There was only one time in my life when Charley ever really yelled at me—I mean, he
bellowed.
”

“At you? The little angel? What ever did you do?” he asked, quite entertained to think of her as some naughty child in ribboned ringlets.

“The first nanny he hired for me was trying to assess how much I already knew, so that she could determine where to start my education. She asked me if I could write my name. So I did. But she rejected it. I did it again, and she began to scold me.” She paused, staring at him. “I had written down my name as Katherine Fox.”

He went motionless, completely focused on her.

She shook her head. “I refused to budge on this. The governess thought I was lying. I wanted no part of her, anyway. Charley heard me yelling at the woman, and her scolding me, in turn. He came to see what was the matter, and when the governess showed him my signature, he dismissed her on the spot.

“I’ll never forget what happened next. I was so pleased, thinking I’d won, but Charley grabbed me by the arm and stooped down to my level. He stared right into my eyes and told me that my name henceforth was to be Kate Madsen.” She paused, looking slightly haunted. “He threatened to leave me if I ever told anyone again that my name was Kate Fox.”

He saw her swallow with emotion.

“So, of course, I never did. That was the most terrible threat. He was all I had left.” She shook her head. “Time passed. Eventually, I forgot all about it. Kate Madsen was my name—but then, that night, O’Banyon came along calling me Kate Fox, and I remembered that incident again after all these years. It was as if he knows something about me that even I don’t know about myself.” She looked at him with fear swirling in her eyes. “What does it mean, Rohan? Why is this happening to me?”

Everything in him longed to offer comfort, but he knew he must not give in to that temptation. Not yet.

“What do
you
make of it?” he countered.

“Well … there’s only one explanation, isn’t there?” She was growing paler by the second. “Logically—it sounds as if my father ordered Charley to raise me under a false name. But why? Why else would Charley tell me to lie? Did he and my father know that someone would eventually come after me? My God!” she exclaimed all of a sudden. “My whole life have I been deceived about who I am?”

“Easy,” he murmured, reaching across the table to lay his hand on her forearm. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it, I promise you.” Judiciously, he withdrew his steadying touch. He had a delicate balance to keep here. “Let me ask you this.”

She nodded, her fearful eyes focused on him in question.

“Did you ever receive official confirmation of your father’s death?”

“What, like a death certificate? No—I don’t think so. I don’t know for sure, I-I was only ten when we got word of his ship going down,” she sputtered. “But we
must
have! Charley would have got it. Besides, I received my inheritance! A sizable sum—I mean, it wouldn’t seem much to someone like you, but it was all my father’s fortune, enough for me to live in a comfortable independence.” She shook her head and looked away. “God, what am I to make of this? Why would my father change my name?”

“Probably to protect you.”

“From what? From whom?”

“He must have known he had some serious enemies. Somebody
did
just kidnap you. What does that tell you?”

She looked overwhelmed. “Are you saying that I could have been in hiding from somebody all these years and not even known it? Is that why Charley would never take me beyond the confines of our village?”

“Perhaps. Or—” He hated to do this, but he had no choice. Best to get it over with quickly. “There could be,” he murmured, “an altogether different explanation.”

She looked up desperately and met his scrutinizing stare.

He knew the time had come to let her see a couple of his cards. If this was an act, then he would take one last chance to jar her out of it with a more aggressive warning.

“What do you mean?” she pursued.

“You could be lying to me right now,” he said softly. “And if that’s the case, I want to give you this chance to come clean.”

“Come clean? What are you talking about? Rohan—you’re scaring me.”

“It’s not my intention. Not if you are innocent. I am willing to take your words at face value. But if you are lying to me, if all this is a masquerade, and you came here thinking to trifle with me, then be warned, you are in far, far over your head.”

“What?”
she breathed.

He refused to budge, hardening his heart as she paled, looking bewildered, and a little like she might cry. If in the off chance she
was
a Promethean agent, she would know exactly what he was talking about and hear him, that he’d called her bluff.

If not, then she did not need to understand.

“Look around you,” he advised. “In six hundred years, my family has never shirked our duty. If you came here with aught against me, take this chance to confess. It will not come again. I promise you, you will find mercy if you speak up now. On the other hand, if you refuse, don’t expect me to spare you just because you’re beautiful. I am giving you this chance, but if you think you can deceive me, what happens to you, I’m afraid, will be your own fault.”

She stared at him, slack-jawed.

He waited patiently. “Well?”

“You are a madman!” she choked out, then abruptly pushed up from the table and began striding away, looking terrified.

He shut his eyes, but it appeared he had his answer. Everything in him longed to go after her, but he remained in his chair, given that his last effort to follow her had resulted in her running out onto a cliff. “Come back, Kate.”

“Did you just threaten me to
kill
me?” she demanded, pivoting to face him from a safe distance.

“Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.”

“Rohan, I haven’t the foggiest notion what you are talking about!” she cried.

He looked over at her for a long moment. “I do hope that’s true.”

“God, get me out of here—I thought I could trust you!”

“Kate!” he barked. He stood as she started running from him in a swish of whooshing skirts and pattering slippers. “Kate.” He checked his tone. “Please come back.”

“I want to go home!” she yelled, whirling to face him with an impassioned stare, tears in her eyes.

“In the middle of the night?”

“In the morning, then! Order your soldiers to take me back to my cottage tomorrow!” He could see her shaking.

“Back to your isolation?”

“Oh, you
would
throw my words back in my face! Who are you? Why do you have all these soldiers around here, anyway? Why does a duke need soldiers?” she shouted.
“What is going on around here?”

“Kate, please.” He relented, softening his tone. “I did not mean to scare you. I needed to make sure you were telling the truth. Come back and sit down, I beg you. Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“You just threatened my life!”

“I was only testing you,” he insisted calmly. “I would absolutely never hurt a woman.”

“Like your ancestors?”

“Please,” he said simply.

“Why? What were you testing me for?” she demanded as twin tears spilled from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “Why would you do that to me? I thought I could trust you.”

“You can.” He could not bear her tears. “Kate—I work for the government in certain … covert capacities,” he said cautiously. It was as close to the truth as he was authorized to tell. “That is why I have the soldiers, and it’s also how I can promise to get you justice. But I had to make sure you were being honest with me before I could give you … the most important piece of information that came out of my talk with Peter Doyle.”

“Well?” she demanded.

“Come back and sit down, please.”

“No! I’ll stay where I am.” Fists clenched at her sides, she made no move to come closer. “Tell me what you know! If I passed your stupid test, I deserve to hear it now!”

“Very well.” He watched her with a hooded gaze. “O’Banyon claims your father is alive.”