Kane Samantha - Brothers in arms 1 (12 page)

Darling Kate,

To tell you again how much we love you is at once too much and not enough. You will
weary of the words with time, so we must think of other ways to show you. May this be the first
of many love tokens, given with hearts full and eyes misty, and received in kind.

Yours Forever,

Tony and Jason

P.S. Tony wouldn’t let me rhyme it. Jase

Kate smiled at Jason’s postscript. What a contradiction he was turning out to be—

funny, sweet, and dominant. The combination was thrilling. And Tony, who had always been the puppet master, orchestrating the world to his tune, left shattered by desire in the face of Jason’s forcefulness. The two made a team that was wildly exciting, and brought Kate to the edge of full-blown arousal just thinking about them.

There was a knock on her door and Kate called out, “Come in,” as she put the note back in the box, lifting the necklace out.

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Veronica entered the room briskly, but came to an abrupt halt when she saw Kate holding the necklace.

“My God, it just gets more gorgeous every time I see it,” Very breathed. “Let me help you put it on.”

Kate wrapped the necklace around her throat, and handed the ends to Very over her shoulders. As the girl locked the clasp, Kate put the earrings on. When she was done, Very stepped back and gazed at Kate in the mirror.

“You’re beautiful, Aunt Kate,” she told her quietly.

Kate spun around and grabbed her niece’s hands. “Yes, yes, I am, aren’t I?” she laughed. Suddenly Veronica reached out and pinched Kate’s arm. “Ow! What was that for?” Kate asked her, rubbing the offended arm.

“I just wanted you to know it was real.” Very grinned at her over her shoulder as she sauntered back to the bedroom door. “Your beaux are waiting downstairs, by the way. They look almost as pretty as you.” She reached for the knob on the door, but didn’t leave. She stood there holding it for a few moments, staring hard at the door in front of her.

“What is it, Very?” Kate asked her quietly, resting her hands on the girl’s shoulders.

“Have you…” Very’s voice shook, and she stopped to swallow. “Have you changed your mind then, about Jason and Tony?”

Kate hugged her gently. “I don’t know, dearest, but I’m not closing the door on them yet.”

Very’s nod was jerky, and she shrugged off Kate’s hug as she opened the door.

“Good,” was all she said. Once she stepped into the hall, she added, “You better hurry.

They seemed somewhat impatient…oh bloody hell. Can’t you two wait five minutes without supervision?”

Kate heard their laughter before she saw them. She stepped out of the room into the partially darkened hallway, hidden in the shadows behind Veronica. Tony was smiling and stepping toward Veronica, while Jason was just pulling himself away from the wall, where he had been lounging with a shoulder braced against it.

“We were lonely,” Jason said, “and couldn’t wait to see Kate.” He stopped suddenly, since Tony had come to a complete standstill in front of him. “What the devil?” he muttered, stepping to Tony’s left to walk around him. Then he looked up and saw Kate.

Kate could tell the instant they both spotted her, the fine hair on her arms and nape rising in response to their heated gazes.

“Kate.” Jason breathed the word, and it broke the spell. She smiled, and she could feel how big, how bright, the smile was. Tony and Jason smiled back, appreciation evident in their faces.

“Yes, I do look rather grand, I think,” Kate said with a laugh, as she spun around for them to see. As she twirled, she saw that even Very was smiling.

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Jason laughed as he stepped past Tony and offered his arm. “Very grand doesn’t do you justice, my love. We shall have to invent a new word to describe you.

Gorgeoulicious?”

Tony spluttered behind him. “That is not a good word. Sounds too silly, and Kate does not look silly. Beauteous, elegant, sophisticated, alluring. All of those are excellent descriptions.”

“Beatelesophitalluring? Too long.” Jason’s tone was teasing.

By now they were all laughing, Very so hard she slid down the wall to land with a thump on the floor. At moments like that, Kate was reminded how young she still was, and how little laughter there had been in her life for the past year.

“I shall settle for very fine,” Kate informed him as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes.

Tony, with the hint of a smile still lingering at the corners of his lush mouth, told her quietly, “You shall never have to settle for less than your due again, my love.” He reached out and gently touched one finger to the jeweled collar she wore. “I thought this was almost too much, but I see now that Jason was right. It complements your natural beauty perfectly. You shine brighter than the sun, Kate.”

“Well,” she replied archly, taking her hand from Jason’s arm, “I certainly hope the other theater patrons don’t complain after the lights go down and the curtain comes up.” She began to pull on her gloves as she glanced sideways at Very and waggled her eyebrows at the effusive praise of the gentlemen.

“Oh, yes,” Very giggled from the floor, “I can hear Lord and Lady Complainsalot now. ‘Really, those jewels are so vulgar, they are larger than anything I have locked away at home. Bad form, to outshine the sun, eh what?’”

Her exaggeratedly dull, nasal, upper-class accent had the other three laughing again. Jason reached down a hand, and Very grabbed it, nearly leaping to her feet when Jason tugged her up.

“Good heavens! Be careful how you use those muscles, Jason. You nearly pulled my arm off! If the dress shop doesn’t work out, we shall have to sell you to a traveling carnival as a strongman.”

Jason looked slightly abashed at Very’s teasing. “I’m sorry, Very, I wasn’t thinking.”

Very was instantly contrite, and gave Jason an impulsive one-armed hug. “I was just teasing, Jase. Kate and I like having a strong man around. We feel safe for a change.”

Very’s offhand statement went unnoticed by Kate, but Jason and Tony exchanged a look. They hadn’t forgotten why Kate and Very didn’t feel safe. And they had vowed they would never let harm come to them again.

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By the time they arrived at the theater, Kate was so nervous she thought she might be sick. Her hands were clammy beneath her gloves, and she could feel how pale her face was. Her lips felt bloodless. As the carriage neared the entrance and began to slow down, she blindly reached out and took Tony’s hand. From the seat across from them, Jason leaned forward and, frowning, took Kate’s other hand.

“Here now, what’s all this?” he asked quietly. “You’re not going to let the Mrs.

Truehearts win, are you, Kate? I thought I could count on you on our side. If you show them this fear, they’ve got you. You’ll be forever under their bootheels. I want better for us. I want the three of us to walk in there, bold as brass, and make them jealous with our beauty and unapologetically forbidden love. Doesn’t that sound fun, hmmm?”

Jason’s soothing tones and the gently rhythmic rubbing of their fingers against her palms were quieting Kate’s nerves, and she took Jason’s teasing to heart. No, she wouldn’t let them win, she had no desire to be under anyone’s bootheels again. Then a thought had her sucking in her breath sharply, almost forgetting to breathe. What if
they
were here? What if
he
was here?

She made herself breath deeply, in the exercise that always calmed her. When the carriage stopped, she was in control. She had Tony and Jason at her side; nothing could go wrong, tonight, nothing.

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Jason had a strategically located box, so they had a view of almost the entire theater.

Kate tried to hold back, to sit out of sight of the other patrons, but Jason and Tony had other ideas. They marched her right to the front of the box, and sat down on either side of her, immediately leaning closer to exchange conversation, purposefully announcing their intimacy to the world.

Kate’s fear and discomfort receded in the face of her exasperation with the two men. Did they mean to give her no say in her future? Were they trying to force her into marriage by compromising her? Well, if that were the case, they had sorely miscalculated. With her reputation, she was beyond compromising. She sighed loudly to get their attention.

They stopped talking and looked at her expectantly.

“What is it, Kate?” Tony asked, reaching for her hand, obviously misunderstanding her sigh as distress rather than pique.

“I’m wondering if I’m to be allowed to breathe this evening, or if you two are going to suffocate me all night?” she asked archly.

Immediately both men pulled back, looking startled and not a little guilty. Kate had a moment of satisfaction that she had guessed correctly before a strange voice came from the back of the box.

“Bravo, my dear, don’t let them bully you.”

Kate looked over her shoulder at the speaker. He was a slight, handsome man, his age anywhere from mid-twenties to forty. It was a sad fact of the war that many veterans were young chronologically, but their souls had aged considerably in their military service. It made it hard to determine their real age. Despite the question of age, or perhaps because of it, he was very attractive, with thick, wavy chestnut hair worn longer than was fashionable, a fresh, clear complexion, and a smile to brighten even the darkest corner. His eyes sparkled with mischievousness, and Kate found herself eagerly anticipating an introduction. It was only as he got closer that she noticed his very fashionable attire.

Tony and Jason had stood as soon as they heard his voice, and from the eager smiles on their faces, Kate knew that this was a friend.

“Daniel! How marvelous to see you!” Tony cried out, as he enveloped the smaller man in an embrace.

“Oh, good lord, Tony, you’ll rumple my neckcloth, and I’ll never hear the end of it from my valet.” In spite of his protest, Kate noticed Daniel returned Tony’s embrace as fiercely as it was given.

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Jason reached out and clasped Daniel’s shoulder even as Tony hugged him.

“Daniel, we had no idea you’d be here.”

“And miss your big debut? For shame, Jase, for believing me such a wallflower. So, are either of you cretins going to introduce me to this ravishing lady, or am I going to have go find someone else to do the honors?”

Kate spoke up with a laugh. “Oh, I daresay we don’t stand on that kind of ceremony here. Just step around the big brutes and tell me who you are. I am Kate Collier.”

She knew she was breaking one of the most important social rules by familiarly speaking to a man she hadn’t been introduced to, but Kate wanted to start as she meant to go on. She was her own woman, had worked hard to claim that distinction, and felt the need to assert herself with Jason and Tony and their friends. If she didn’t want to be trampled by the will of men again, then it was up to her to do something about it. It was with these martial thoughts that Kate reached her hand around Tony, and drew the gentleman closer.

“Daniel Steinberg, my lady, at your service.” He bowed low over her hand, properly kissing her wrist, on her glove.

Kate hid her astonishment. A Jewish gentleman, and apparently a great favorite of Tony and Jason. She realized with a start that it wasn’t all that unusual. They were quite unconventional in many ways, their choice of friends included.

Before Kate could respond, two more gentlemen came to their box to say hello, and soon Kate lost count, and gave up trying to remember names. She found herself wondering who else was “a matched pair” like Tony and Jason.

Daniel and another gentleman, whom Kate did remember, Mr. Simon Gantry, had accepted Jason’s invitation to join them in the box, and were sitting comfortably behind the three. Soon most of the men drifted off, promising to return at the intermission.

When the play began, Kate had quite forgotten about her initial fears, and even her earlier pique at Jason and Tony. She enjoyed the first half of the play, a comedy, tremendously.

At the intermission, Mr. Gantry went to fetch refreshments for everyone, while Kate and Jason and Tony held court. At least it seemed that way to Kate, so many gentlemen came to meet her, and to talk to Jason and Tony. They all treated the two men with an inordinate amount of respect and affection, some referring to them as Major, and Kate realized with a start that her two beaux were in effect the leaders of this little band of misfit veterans. Her heart swelled with pride and a little trepidation. If she accepted them, she accepted responsibility for these men as well, some of whom she could see were still beset by their own wolves. She wasn’t sure she was up to the task, but knew she would try with all her heart.

A few minutes into the intermission, a path cleared through the throng, and two men came toward them. One was heavily muscled and walked with a limp. His face 66

The Courage To Love

was saved from plainness by the intelligence burning in his gaze, and the small dimple in his chin. He was older than his companion by several years, and far more somber.

The second gentleman was extremely handsome, in an almost boyish way. He was tall and thin, but Kate could see that he was well built in spite of that. His hair was almost red, but such a dark shade many would mistake it for brown. His blue eyes twinkled merrily, and he greeted everyone by name. Kate couldn’t help but smile at his exuberance, and the indulgent smiles sent his way by many of the men. He seemed so friendly and without airs, that Kate was taken aback by Jason’s introduction.

“Kate, my dear, this is His Grace, the Duke of Ashland, Frederick Thorn. You may call him Freddie.”

The duke merely laughed. “By all means, please, do call me Freddie. Anything else, and I’ll have no idea whom you’re talking to. I say, but you are a bewitching thing, isn’t she, Brett?”

The somber man at his side smiled, and his face was transformed into a sweet, rough handsomeness that made Kate’s heart skip with the desire to comfort, to tend, to heal. She resisted the urge to embrace him as an old friend, astonished at her response to him. Suddenly she noticed that most of the men were watching him with the same tenderness she felt, and a burning curiosity arose within her. Who was he? Why was he with the young duke?