TOUCH OF THE WOLF By Susan Krinard

She shivered in the afternoon sunlight. If Cassidy was not able to Change, would she suffer the same fate as Braden’s uncle: outcast, unwanted, discarded?

“I know a-about Miss Holt,” Matthew said, as if he had guessed her thoughts. “My nephew Braden is… very much like Tiberius. He is devoted to my f-father’s Cause.” He met Isabelle’s gaze. “Matthias… knew I would w-want to help, if I could.”

You couldn’t even face your own problems, Isabelle cried mutely. How can you help her? But Matthias had been her ally. She couldn’t afford to reject Matthew, for Cassidy’s sake.

“I will be leaving Greyburn,” she said tonelessly. “Cassidy will need someone to watch over her. If you—”

“Leaving Greyburn?” He struggled to his feet. “Why?”

Didn’t he know? Wouldn’t Percy or Beatrice have made it abundantly clear, the instant Isabelle fled the drawing room?

“Because,” she said. “I am a whore, Mr. Forster. A fallen woman. If not for Lord Leebrook, you might never have known. I returned to England for Cassidy’s sake, but I will not be permitted to remain in a respectable house.”

He shook his head. “What n-nonsense, Mrs. Smith,” he said. “You are no—”

“But I am.” She stood up, not bothering to brush the grass and earth from her dress. “I lay with Percy Sayers when I was little more than a child. He left me and married a woman of his own class. I went to America and turned to the only occupation for which I was fitted. It is only because I knew Cassidy’s mother that I am here now.” She laughed. “What would Matthias say to that, Mr. Forster?”

Matthew looked about as if he’d lost something he couldn’t quiet recall. “I… d-don’t—”

“You need not pretend civility, Mr. Forster,” she said. “But I shall ask you to keep your promise to help Cassidy however you may. You—and Matthias.”

He cast her a glance of bewilderment and pain. Isabelle looked away, and saw another figure mounting the hill… Cassidy, climbing as fast as her narrow skirts would allow.

Without another word, Matthew left. Cassidy barely slowed as he passed her.

“Isabelle!” she called. “Isabelle, wait—”

She forced herself to stand very still as Cassidy flung her arms about her waist. “You shouldn’t have come,” she said. “The others—they will think… I am no fit companion for you now, Cassidy. I never was.”

Cassidy grabbed her hand and refused to let it go. “I don’t understand what’s going on, Isabelle. All I know is that when you saw Lord Leebrook, you ran. And then… that woman called you names—”

“With good reason.” Oh, that I could have spared you this. “Do you remember the story I told you about my youth?”

“Yes, but—”

“Lord Leebrook was the man I loved. The man who scorned me. It was because of him that I left England.”

Cassidy pressed Isabelle’s hand to her face. “It must have hurt, to see him again—”

Still so innocent. “Yes, but not in the way you think, my dear. I never thought to meet him at Greyburn. But now that he is here, everyone will know.” She caught her breath. “When he and I were together, I was disgraced. The rules marked me as a… no better than a woman who sleeps with men for money, even though I’d been with no one else. I was unfit for respectable men, good men.”

“But those rules,” Cassidy said fiercely. “They were for Lord Leebrook, too—”

“No. Not in our society. The woman must remain pure. Untouched—” She saw Cassidy’s confusion. “You lived on a farm, Cassidy. Do you… know how men and woman create children?”

“Is that what you did with Lord Leebrook?”

“Yes. Because I believed I loved him. Because he asked that of me, and I could not refuse, no matter the consequences.”

“But if it’s what men and women do when they love each other,” Cassidy said, “how could it be wrong?”

Isabelle mourned silently. “It is not always done out of real love, Cassidy. And only a woman can bear children. A man must know the children she bears are his alone. Without marriage, children have no name. That is why the rules were made. I didn’t have a child, but it didn’t matter. I was ruined in the eyes of society.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *