Page 49 of Exile's Return
‘My wife.’
Daniel let out a long breath. ‘You went all the way to Barbados? Why? Did you think you could spirit me away?’
Kit flinched at the bitterness in Daniel’s tone.
‘Yes,’ he replied, reaching into his jacket, and tossing a paper down on the table between them. Daniel picked it up. Yellowed and brittle with age, it crinkled as he unfolded it. He scanned the contents and let it fall back.
‘It’s a Pardon…my Pardon.’ He ran his hands down his face and stared down at the seemingly innocuous paper. ‘All the time I was a free man and I never knew?’
‘They told us you were dead,’ Kit said. ‘Dead of a fever.’
Daniel looked up. ‘Outhwaite,’ he said, and this time Kit heard the hatred in his brother’s voice.
He laid a hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
‘I know the truth, Dan. I know what that man, Outhwaite, did to you. I made sure he went to the gallows.’
His brother’s throat worked, his lips compressed so tightly they looked bloodless. He shook off Kit’s hand, turned away andwalked over to the window where he leaned on the windowsill, taking deep breaths before he turned back to face Kit.
‘And what of you? They told me you died at the end of a rope.’
All humour went from Kit’s face. ‘I did.’
‘Then how are you standing there?’
Kit subsided into a chair and ran the fingers of his crooked hand through his hair. ‘It is such a long story…’
A spark of anger flared in Daniel’s face and he held up a hand. ‘Only one thing matters. Is it true? Are you a turncoat?’
Kit felt the breath leave his body as surely as if Daniel had hit him. ‘Who…where did you hear?’ His bluster died away. He wanted to deny the truth but he knew from the look of growing revulsion on Daniel’s face that his face betrayed him.
Daniel took a step back. ‘It is true? You betrayed your friends, everything you believed in?’
Kit rose to his feet. ‘You don’t understand. I have to explain…’
‘No, you don’t!’ The spark flashed into a blaze of anger. ‘While I suffered in Barbados, you betrayed the cause we believed in. Damn it, Kit. Good, loyal men died because of you.’
Kit closed his eyes. It was easier to allow Daniel to rage and rail at him than deal with the unspoken lies between them.
Daniel continued, his voice tight with rage. ‘So you live in obscurity, under an assumed name…Do you jump at shadows, Kit Lovell? Because the King will return and what will be your reckoning then?’
Kit held up a placatory hand. ‘Daniel, please—’
Daniel stood aside and opened the door. ‘I don’t want to hear excuses. You’re a filthy turncoat. It would have been better for both of us if I had never set foot in the Ship Inn. Go back to whatever hole the Comte D’Anvers occupies. I never want to see you again.’
For a long, long moment Kit couldn’t move. He understood Daniel’s anger, probably better than Daniel himself. Perhaps intime they could meet again and he could tell his brother that everything he had done was for his sake, but not now…not here.
With deliberate care, he turned and collected his belongings.
‘You will always be welcome at my home — Hartley Court in Hampshire.’
Daniel glared at him. ‘I will never set foot in any place where I will find you,’ he said. ‘Does mother and Frances know you are alive?’
‘Yes. Do they know about you?’
Daniel shook his head. ‘No.’
‘Then it would be a kindness to advise them. I have no doubt they will be anxious to be reunited with you, but they deserve better than a surprise on their doorstep.’
