The Devil's Good Intentions (43 page)

When Rachel came to retrieve Katherine one day to bring her to the orphanage, she was delighted to see that Peter was with her. Her delight however turned to annoyance when she learned that Peter was there to guard her against Jeffery.

“
Did Salvador put you up to this?” She snapped at him as she stood toe to toe with him and gave him her most impressive scowl.

“
No Kat, Salvador is innocent of all charges” he teased back to her, apparently unmoved by her scowl.

“
Then it’s you who doesn’t trust me!” She shrieked out.

Peter smirked at her and shook his head in denial.

“
Peter!” She growled out and stomped her foot.

“
Charles informed me that you ladies visited the orphanage every week at this same time and I took it upon myself to attend you ladies. It’s Jeffery I do not trust Kat, not you.” he tried to assure her.

“
Humph” was all that she could reply as she made her way to the carriage, leaving Peter laughing in her trail.

Rather than dropping Katherine off at her home, they sent one of the escorts back to leave a note for Salvador to meet them at Charles Estate for dinner that night and then proceeded to head in that direction. The remainder of the afternoon was spent wandering in Rachel’s hedge maze and playing dice in the game room.

Ed joined them later that evening just before Salvador arrived.

While the guests gathered in the game room, Charles brought Katherine to his gallery.

“
My Lord, Charles! These sketches are incredible!” Katherine breathed out in amazement.

“
If nothing else, I can admit that my drawings are the one thing that I can get right.” Charles chuckled out.

“
You don’t give yourself enough credit.” Katherine stated absently as she studied a sketch that portrayed India.

“
How so?” He asked curiously.

“
You are a wonderful husband to Rachel, a wonderful friend to Salvador and one of the pillars to the Brotherhood. You’re a good man.” She responded in a tone that scolded him for not knowing.

“
Wow Kat, that’s a true compliment coming from you.” He responded sheepishly.

Katherine gave a chuckle of disbelief.

“
Dear Charles, I am not but a naïve country girl being led along by Salvador’s short leash. There is nothing substantial about me to compliment the bare facts.” She retorted as she turned her attention back to a particular sketch that caught her eye.

This sketch was of a woman staring out to the sea from her palace tower. She suspected the palace was in India but the woman did not look native to the land. Katherine could see all of the detail in her face and could actually feel what that woman was feeling at the time.

“
She’s so sad.” Katherine mused out loud, furrowing her brows. “Defeated and longing for her home” she continued, unaware that she was speaking her thoughts out loud.

“
That was my impression when I spotted her. I suspected she was part of the palace harem but I could never be sure. Day after day I would see her there, staring out to the sea.” He responded to her vocal thoughts.

“
Such beauty should never be caged.” She speculated.

“
Like you were?” Charles responded.

She snapped out of her trance and swirled around to meet his gaze.

“
I was never caged!” She responded with disbelief.

“
Of course you were Katherine. You were a rose hidden deep in the forest.” He responded, cocking his eyebrow for her to deny it.

“
I am no great beauty Charles and my seclusion was necessary.”

She scowled thinking back to the first couple of months that she had fled to her cottage. She was terrified that she would be found. But even more so she felt guilty that her Father had ruined so many lives and by her fleeing, they would never get the closure that they deserved. Many men had invested their hard earned money into Father’s business ventures and when he failed, he let his investors fail as well.

“
Necessary? You were a little girl Katherine, how could you justify your way of living?”

“
It was me or them. I selfishly chose me.” Katherine’s bottom lip quivered.

She remembered one gentleman in particular who had come calling just before her Father had died. He stood in the receiving area shouting up the stairs to her Father who had refused to come down. He had lost everything because of him. She hid behind a chair and watched the man crumple to the ground and cry into his hands.

Katherine never hated her Father more.

She felt a finger brush away a tear that had fallen to her cheek.

“
It wasn’t your fault Katherine and you were just as much of a victim as they were.” Charles said gently as he laid his hand on her shoulder for reassurance and comfort.

“
I-I don’t want to talk about that.” She finally managed to say as she took a deep breath and returned her attention to the sketches on the wall, desperate for a distraction and change of topic.

“
Please tell me about this one.” She prompted him, nodding to a sketch that was of a shady part of town with the focus being on an alley that disappeared into darkness.

“
Ah, that sketch is of a crime scene. I had several others of that same crime but they were given to the bow street runners and were never returned.”

“
Dare I ask more?” She asked cautiously.

“
I have often been called to crime scenes because of my talent. I’ll capture every detail for the detectives and a few times my sketches have helped to solve a crime or two.”

“
You must be proud.”

“
Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Do you know my background?”

“
No.”

“
My Father was a bow street runner gone bad and my Mother was a victim of a tedious crime.”

Katherine gasped.

“
You see, my Father had been chasing one particular criminal for years. When he finally got close to catching him, the criminal found my Mother and slit her throat – leaving her in his room at the boarding house he was staying at. It was a warning to my Father to back off.”

“
I’m so sorry” Katherine whispered.

“
She was a good woman from what I remember of her, I was only six at the time. But after that, my Father became obsessed with catching the man. He left me with one of his informants who happened to run a brethren house while he chased this man. My Father stopped seeking justice and put all of himself into revenge. When he learned that this man also had a family, he hunted them down and killed them all – including the man’s four year old daughter and ten year old son. If that wasn’t bad enough, he leaked out into the criminal circuit where I was and tried to use me as bait. I was almost eight at the time and was drunk off of wine when my Father set the trap.”

“
No!” Katherine gasped out in horror.

She didn’t want to envision a helpless child being surrounded by whores and being fed spirits!

“
I grew up quickly during my time there; I was a form of entertainment for the residences of that place…among other things.” He tacked on quickly as he flinched.

“
Your Father couldn’t have known!” She declared, hoping a father could not be so cruel.

“
He knew. He laughed it off telling me it was about time I became a man. But that’s neither here nor there. The object of my Father’s obsession took the bait. When he found me, he put a knife to my throat and when my Father sprung out of his hiding place, the man laughed with triumph and gleefully told him he was going to enjoy watching him as he slit my throat. My Father had the last laugh though. He said that I was a small sacrifice compared to the reward his death would bring and told him to go ahead and kill me. The man obviously was shocked and hesitated for just a moment. In that moment one of the women who had been trying to look out for me snuck behind him and slipped a blade into the man’s neck. As I was dropped to the floor, his blade cut my ear.”

Charles pulled back a tuft of hair to show Katherine a small scar located on his earlobe.

Katherine sniffed and wiped her tears from her cheeks.

“
I didn’t even think. I grabbed the blade from the man when he fell to the floor and flung it at my Father in pure rage and hurt. The knife met its mark, implanting itself snugly into his heart. He would have survived if the whores hadn’t let him bleed to death. I myself was taken to another room to be comforted by the woman who saved my life. That woman turned out to be Rachel’s Mother.”

Katherine gasped in shock. She remembered Rachel mentioning that her Mother worked in such a place but would never have imagined just how destined Rachel and Charles were to be together.

“
Did you know Rachel at that time?” She asked.

“
No. Rachel was brought up by her Aunt and very rarely saw her Mother. Her Aunt was a religious fanatic and convinced Rachel that she inherited her Mother’s looks and therefore was a sinner and was doomed to turn out like her. She had tried to put Rachel in a convent, but Rachel would always run away. No, I met Rachel much later in life. I met her Mother once again when she was on her deathbed, shortly after Rachel and I wed and it was only then that I recognized her.”

“
How tragic of a story.” Katherine scowled.

“
I always believed that if my Mother hadn’t died, my Father wouldn’t have turned out to be the man he became. I was told that he was one of the best runners out there and because of him the city was safer. I sketch for the runners now to try and make up for what my father had become. It’s the least I can do.”

“
But it wasn’t your fault.” Katherine declared as she saw that scared little boy he must have been on that day.

“
If that’s what you believe then we have more in common than you think.” He speculated thoughtfully.

Katherine thought she caught his meaning but couldn’t be sure.

Before she could clarify, Peter and Ed walked into the room and joined them.

“
Showing off your talents old boy?” Ed commented as he slapped Charles on the back.

“
Indeed” Charles responded as he gave Katherine a meaningful look and turned his focus to Ed.

When she turned to Peter, he was studying her face with curiosity and then started to approach her.

She knew her eyes must be glossy from crying. This time her tears were for Charles.

“
Are you alright?” Peter asked gently as he approached her from behind. Katherine had already turned to study another sketch.

“
Of course - I have to admit that Charles talent is over whelming.” she managed to get out in an even tone.

“
Yes, his talents can be quite…moving.” He responded carefully.

She turned her head to see him and smiled to assure him as he continued to study her.

“
Katherine…” Peter prompted her.

“
Katherine and I were just having a chat.” Charles voice came from behind them. “I was filling her in as to why I sketch for the runners.”

“
Ah” Peter exclaimed from behind her. “That makes sense.”

Dinner was fantastic and so was the company. Salvador and Katherine arrived home later than they expected to and ended up falling asleep the moment their heads touched their pillows.

The next morning, Katherine woke up to her husband’s caresses. She smiled groggily at him and stretched out.

“
Is it early?” She mumbled out.

“
No Love, it’s mid-morning.” He beamed at her with a bright smile that made her heart flutter.