When she looked up from her ledgers, thin bars of light slanted past the edges of the curtains over the front window. It was later than she’d thought.
She snuck out the back, pulling the hood of her cloak low against the vulnerable feeling she’d worn since returning to Hull. The Cains lived blocks away, but Kate kept her head down and avoided meeting anyone she knew along the way. By the time the housekeeper let her into the Cain home, Kate had held her breath so long that she was dizzy. She gulped air and paced in the entry hall until Lucy rushed out of a room halfway down the wide corridor of the house.
“Lucy!” Kate called, hurrying toward her as if she were a lifeline. “I’m so glad you’re here. I need another favor, I’m afraid.”
Lucy glanced over her shoulder, raising her hands.
“I’m sorry to impose. And it is an imposition, but—”
“Kate!” she whispered, her hands wrapping around Kate’s wrists. She looked behind her again, and kept walking so that Kate had to move backward.
“Lucy, what . . . ?”
“Your husband!”
“What?”
And then he was there. Not her husband, of course. Not his ghost. It was Gerard stepping out of the same room Lucy had come from. He was here. Right here. His mouth stretching into a smile, his arms opening in welcome.
Kate gasped out a choked cry and scrambled two steps back.
“Darling,” he said. “It’s me.” Though he smiled even wider, his eyes were like coals burned to ash.
“Poor thing,” Mr. Cain said, patting Gerard on the back. “She looks shocked to her very core. You should have warned her you were coming, sir.”
“Well, I thought to surprise her, but I see it’s too much. She always was a delicate thing. Come, Mrs. H
amilton, and greet your long-lost husband.”
Though she was standing still, she felt as though she were speeding down a tunnel. Choices flashed past her and she couldn’t grab any of them. What should she do? What should she do?
If she exposed him, then he would expose her. He could accuse her of assault and calumny and murder, and who would defend her? They’d only know her as a liar. A woman who’d used a falsehood to settle into their midst. How could she claim innocence when she’d lied about so many things already? Her name, her husband, even the place she’d come from.
In the end, she made no decision at all. She simply let herself be swept into his embrace, wincing as he hugged her. Oh, God. Oh, God. What was she going to do?
Mr. Cain made a joke, seeming unaware of Kate’s horror. But just before Gerard released her, Kate met Lucy’s gaze. Her friend’s eyes were filled with confused fear. Kate wondered what her own looked like.
“I am so thankful for your hospitality, Mr. Cain,” Gerard said, turning to shake the man’s hand. “I was quite at a loss when I arrived in port and could not locate my own wife!”
Male laughter filled the hall. It sounded like the horrid barking of wild dogs.
“Come,” Mr. Cain said, “we’ve just poured tea.”
“I should really . . . I should get back to the shop. . . .”
Another round of loud laughter.
“She’s in shock,” Gerard said with a pleased smile. “But much as the sight of my lovely wife renews me, I’m still parched. And Mr. Cain was just telling me that you’d gone to London, darling. Whatever were you doing there?”
Kate watched Lucy flinch and tried to school her own features to calm. “A coffee roaster,” she made herself say with only a slight tremor to her voice. All she could think was Gerard is here. Gerard is here.
And everything was over.
“A roaster?” he asked.
“Yes. I was hoping to strike a deal with him directly.”
Her mouth was working, and her feet too, as they were moving past open doorways now. Once they reached the morning room, Gerard led her to sit next to him on the settee and Lucy filled another cup for her.