A Thin Line (17 page)

“Of course you are.”
 
He would be standing rigid, no emotions crossing his face.
 
His hands would be behind his back, clenching and loosening occasionally.
 
His hands were the only give-away of what he currently felt, and now she couldn’t even see that.

“What does that mean?” He asked harshly.

“Nothing.
 
Can we just get this done with?”

“Why did you consider me a traitor?”

“I told you already at our meeting the other night, or did the blast affect your memory as well as my sight?”

“Kala,” she heard Derek say in a reprimanding manner.

“Fine.
 
The night of Derek and Tessa’s ball I heard you telling that woman, for lack of a better term, things that she had no right to know.
 
I kicked the door to warn you people were on their way.”

“I guessed.
 
So why did you follow me there?”

“I would rather not answer that,” she stated calmly.
 
If he forced her to, she would, but everything she had ever felt for him would be laid bare, and she would hate him for that.

Gabe wisely decided not to push the issue.
 
“Why didn’t you come forward sooner?
 
Why didn’t you let Derek or Richard know about your suspicions?”

“First of all,” she continued, “I kept hoping what I heard had been wrong.
 
Second, I would have gone to the family if I had
known
the family could help, instead of thinking I might endanger them.
 
At the time, I felt I needed to protect everyone, including you.
 
Silly of me, wasn’t it?”
 
He studied the defiant look on her face.
 
“And finally, I did try to tell, if you remember, but instead of anyone explaining the situation, everyone patted me on the head and told me not to worry my pretty little head about it.
 
Oh yes, and then they wrote my father to come and get me at once.”

“Perhaps we should have trusted you more,” she heard the regret in her brother’s voice.

“Yes, but what has happened has happened, and we all must deal with it.
 
I know more about the two of you than anyone has a right to, yet I have never revealed your secrets including those you don’t think I know.
 
You know, I might have even been useful.”

“I sincerely doubt that,” Gabe said austerely.

Kala slammed her hands on the leather arms of the chair, causing a loud pop.
 
The stinging of her palms was a welcome accompaniment to the anger coursing through her.
 
“It is exactly that attitude that has turned you into such a prig, Your Grace.
 
Did it ever occur to you that women can get things out of people that men cannot?
 
And I would not have lowered myself to sleeping with someone for information.”

“I never...”

“Enough, both of you,” Derek yelled into the room.
 
Kala could hear Derek’s pacing.
 
He sounded angry or worried, or perhaps even a bit of both.
 
“You are both acting like children right now.
 
Accusations and blame will get us nowhere.
 
We need answers to find out who did this to you, Kala, and you will stay uninvolved in the matter.”

“I’m involved in this up to my eyeballs, literally.
 
I want to get the bastard who did this to me.”

“Are you going to cry again?” Derek asked worriedly.

“No.
 
Crying, I found it, gets you nothing but a headache and burning, puffy eyes.
 
Neither of which I need to deal with right now.”

“Why did you let Southerby escort you?”

“I enjoy his company.”

“You are too trusting,” condemnation reeked from Gabe’s voice.

“Because I like Justin?
 
Please, give me some credit.
 
Justin would never hurt me.”
 
Her voice came out unsure even to her ears.
 
Damn the man for making her doubt herself.
 
“I would rather spend time with Justin than Lord Frederick Dewhurst.”

“That man is a menace,” now Derek sounded put out.

“Yes, he is.
 
Let us not forget that McKenzie has also been squiring me about.”

“Just to irritate me,” Gabriel muttered.

“Is it so hard for you to believe that a man might actually be attracted to me, even though you aren’t?”
 
She paused, putting a capable hand in the air before she continued, “Oh wait, yes it is, because I’m simply the ‘pest’.
 
The little hoyden in pigtails that chased after you two,” she stood and moved forward, aiming towards where Gabe had been standing. She held her hand out flat until she felt the firmness of his chest.
 
She refused to acknowledge the tingle of awareness that traveled up her arm to other places in her body, and instead pointed her finger and began punching him in the chest with it.

“Let’s get this straight right now.
 
I am a woman,” she accented each word with a stab of her finger.
 
“This may be surprising to the both of you, but men like me.
 
And yes, I like men.
 
Especially those who do not discourage me from thinking for myself, or demand that I live my life within certain parameters.
 
It is my life
.
 
Do you understand?
 
Perhaps Justin will even let me help him if he is involved in nefarious activities.”

“You would be wrong,” a new voice entered the conversation from the doorway.

“What are you doing here,” she heard Gabe question at the same time she said, “Oh great.”
 
She threw up her hands and plopped back down into the chair she had just vacated.

“I’m here to check on Mikala.”

“I’m fine.
 
I can’t see the hand in front of my face, but I’m fine.
 
Would you care to join in on the Spanish Inquisition?
 
It is really quite titillating,” she said sarcastically.

“Kala, that’s enough,” Derek reprimanded.

“I am not a child to be reprimanded, brother.”

“Then stop acting like one.
 
We are trying to get to the bottom of who did this to you.
 
You could at least be a little more humble.”

“Humble?” Her gravelly voice began rising in decibels.
 
“Humble?
 
I should feel humbled for losing my sight because I tried to rid England of a traitor?
 
That’s rich Derek.
 
Perhaps, I should also bestow a gift on the person who did this to me, shall I?”
 
A thought just floored her.
 
She stood once again and addressed Gabe, “If your little French hussy is responsible for this, I will scratch her eyes out and then she will know what it feels like.”

“It’s not her.”

“How can you be so sure?” She questioned.
 
“Letting your feelings interfere with the truth?
 
Oh, wait, that’s right.
 
Since you became a duke, you don’t have feelings anymore do you?
 
That is for those lowlier than you.
 
So you must be letting other, more physical things interfere.”

“My God, Kala, that is enough,” Derek interjected.

“I have heard enough,” Gabe said, and she heard his footsteps echo out of the room.

“I haven’t had that much fun in quite some time,” for the first time during the whole questioning process Richard spoke.
 

“Kala, that was bad form all the way around,” her brother used his reproving voice once again.
 
She defiantly tilted her chin in the air.
 
“I give up.”
 
She could not see him toss his arms in the air but knew he did.
 
He often used that gesture when dealing with her.

“Southerby, why don’t you take Mikala into the parlor?
 
Blackburn and I have some things we need to discuss.”

“Certainly.
 
Mikala?” She felt him take her hand and place it on his firm arm and lead her from the room.
 
Once they were settled in the parlor, in chairs facing each other, Southerby started in as well.
 
“Kala, weren’t you a little hard on Hawkescliffe?”

“Stay out of it, Justin.”

“He just wants to protect you.”
 
Kala sat in silence.
 
There were too many men in her life wanting to protect her.
 
Justin’s voice halted her scattered thoughts.
 
“Kala, there is something you should know.”

“What is it?”

“I truly care for you and. . .”

She cut him off before he could continue.
 
“Justin, you are a wonderful friend.
 
I couldn’t ask for a better one, but I don’t love you.
 
And I refuse to saddle you with an invalid.”

“I see.
 
Well, that’s good to know before I made a fool out of myself unnecessarily.”
 
Did she mistake the hint of coldness that entered his voice?
 
“But I wanted to offer guards to help watch the house and your family.”
 
Definitely cold.
 

“Sorry,” she tried to sound demure, but came off lacking a bit.
 
“Thank you, but no.
 
Besides, why did you never tell me you worked for the Foreign Office?”

“You never asked what I did, remember?”

“So now you are putting the blame on me?
 
Is it truly the woman’s responsibility in any relationship to do all the thinking?
 
And would it have done any good if I had asked?
 
Or would you have come up with some asinine story?”
 

“Quit being hostile.”

“Hostile?”

“I think I’ll come back later.”
 
She heard the chair squeak as he stood and his boot heels left a tattoo sound in the still air within the parlor.
 
“Can I give you a word of advice?”

“You will regardless.”
 
She shrugged, peeved at the world in general.

“If I were you I would evaluate my attitude and the reasons those around me do the things they do.
 
You might find yourself surprised.”
 
She heard the parlor door open and close and fading steps on the marble foyer floor.
 
Standing, she tried to pace, but continually bumped into furniture. After finally reaching the mantle of the fireplace, she grabbed one of the knick-knacks in frustration and drew her arm back.

“Don’t you dare throw that, or you will get the thrashing you need.”

Chapter 13

Drucilla’s voice came from the doorway.
 
In a matter of seconds Kala felt the object taken from her.
 
She heard a soft thud indicating it had been put back in place.
 
Kala felt her hand being taken and she was pulled across the room.

“Where are we going?”

“Outside,” Drucilla said, instructing Kala when to step down.
 
“If you want to throw something, there are good sized rocks under your feet and no one else is out here.
 
Just stay facing the way you are right now.”

“This is foolish.”

“Exactly.”

“Are we really going to start this again?
 
This is a conspiracy.”

“As a matter of fact, we have not had the opportunity to discuss you all that much.
 
Regardless of what you think right now, the world does not revolve solely around you.
 
So whatever we think is as five individuals.”

“Six.
 
Justin,” she added as an explanation.

“Kala, I know you’re bitter about what happened.”

“Bitter?
 
Bitter does not even
begin
to cover how I feel.”

“Yes, well, you are going to have to get over it if you want whoever did this to you brought to justice.”

She felt deflated at the words Dru spoke.
 

“Dru have you ever been betrayed by someone close to you?”

“Yes.
 
Perhaps not in the same manner as you have, but a betrayal is a betrayal, and it is hard to overcome.
 
But when you do, you will be a better person for it.”

“Dru?
 
Dru?” Richard’s voice reached them on the terrace.

“We’re out here,” Dru called back.

“Kala, your parents have just arrived.”

“Great.”
 
Richard held out an arm for each woman and guided them inside.
 
Soon Kala found herself wrapped in the arms of her father.

“My baby girl,” Michael Simmons crooned.
 
He stood almost as tall as Derek and had that same muscular build.
 
She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder and felt the comfort of his old tweed jacket on her skin.
 
Kala inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of his pipe tobacco, and it automatically soothed her wayward emotions.