Harlot at the Homestead by Molly Ann Wishlade Page A

been there to protect you, Catherine. I should have been there.”
    “You couldn’t have been with me all the time, Kenan. What happened…it was wrong and it wasn’t fair and sometimes I’m so darned mad about it myself that I could scream for hours but it wouldn’t help anything. It wouldn’t change anything.”
    He swallowed hard to try to dislodge the lump in his throat. She had been through so much and yet she was still so brave, so stalwart. No wonder he loved her so much. She’d make any man proud to call her wife.
    “The man introduced himself.”
    “What was his name?” Kenan growled.
    “If I tell you, Kenan, you must promise me not to go after him.”
    He shook his head. “I just…I can’t…”
    “Then I can’t tell you.”
    “No…tell me, please. I just need to hear his name.”
    “Thomas Henderson.”
    “Of the shipping family?”
    “Yes.”
    So the filthy rich son of a New York shipping merchant had waltzed into town and taken away his fiancée—probably just for the fun of it. Men like that toyed with young women like a cat would play with a mouse, then cast them aside when they were too broken and jaded to be fun anymore.
    “He told my uncle to take a seat opposite then he motioned for me to sit at his side. My legs were trembling so darned much I near fell onto the sofa. He asked me if I knew what he wanted, so I replied that I knew that my uncle was in debt and that apparently I could pay off that debt.”
    “And?”
    “Henderson explained the terms.” She rested her forehead on her knees. “He said that my uncle’s debt was so great that it would take quite some time to pay it off. If I was serious about helping…I had to know what was involved.”
    “The filthy bastard! I’ll hang him from the nearest tree if I ever get my hands on him. I swear I’ll—”
    “No!” Her retort was cold and firm. “It won’t do, Kenan. I went along with it and now the debt is settled. I won’t have retribution and the grief that it will cause. Can’t you see that I did what I had to and now I’m back? I have to move on or else I’d just as well give up! I didn’t go through all that…all those days and nights of…of suffering…just to throw everything away!”
    Her eyes filled with tears and her lower lip trembled.
    “I might be wrong but you seem to have feelings for me still.” She blinked hard. “And maybe we can salvage something from this mess but not…not if you’re intent upon revenge. Thomas Henderson is a rich and powerful man and if you go up against him, Kenan, you can only lose. And I agreed remember…no one forced me!”
    Kenan ground his fists into his eyes and tried to calm his breathing. What Catherine said made sense even though it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Another man had taken the woman he loved as payment for a debt incurred by her uncle. It was outrageous, disgusting and immoral but she had gone along with it. The law was hard to implement at the best of times and Henderson was a man with means, with power. In comparison, Kenan was a cattle driver with a small homestead. He did all right but he’d be no match for the likes of Henderson…not if he went about it the legal route anyhow.
    “Okay, Catherine,” he whispered. “I’ll put all desire for retribution aside.” For now , he added to himself. “Please just finish explaining.”
    “He took my hand and I had to fight the urge to snatch it back. The smoke from his cigar burnt my eyes and made me want to cough. But I couldn’t take my eyes off his face, Kenan! It was huge! Like a large florid sack broken only by his beady gray eyes which reminded me of small rocks stuck in a mud pie. I later found out that he was only in his early thirties—same as you—but he looked much older ‘cos of the bright red veins running from the sides of his nose like cracks in the scorched earth.” She shuddered and Kenan ground his teeth together at the image she’d created.
    “He said that I was an