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Catherine fought to keep her head steady, when it kept lolling to the side "I didn’t owe you ood for that You wanted to avoid my downfall You wanted a choice" Althea paused, as if waiting for confir, she continued with soft vehemence "But why should you have one when I didn’t? My own ht a nice gentle to show ht, there was no innocent part of h the hookah, another dizzying puff of s in ined the deck of a ship would rock at sea She floated on the waves, buoyant, listening to Althea’s seething And she felt a stirring of sympathy, but like the rest of her e
"I thought of running away," Althea said "I asked my brother--your father--to helpas he pleased Using the whores for free any time he wanted, and they didn’t dare complain to Mother ‘I need just a little o far away to the country’ But he went to Mother and told her what I’d asked I wasn’t let out of the house for months afterward"
From what little Catherine remembered of her father, a brusque and pitiless individual, this story was easy to believe But she found herself asking distantly, "Why didn’t he help you?"
"My brother liked the situation as it was--he had the best of everything without lifting a finger Mother gave hi didn’tme to keep himself comfortable He was a man, you see" She paused "So I became a whore And for years I prayed for rescue But God doesn’t hear the prayers of woe"
Befuddled and squinting, Catherine labored to keep her thoughts in order "Aunt," she said carefully, "why did you bring me here? If that was done to you … why must it be done to me?"
"Why should you escape when I couldn’t? I want you to become me Just as I became Mother"
Yes … this was one of Catherine’s fears, the worst one That if she were put in the wrong situation, the wickedness in her own nature would take over all the rest
Except … it wouldn’t
Catherine’s foggy brain seized on the idea and turned it over, exa it The past was not the future "I’rieve for as done to you, Aunt But I didn’t make the same choice"
"I have a choice for you now"
Despite Catherine’s opiated detach tone ood on that long-ago arrangement with Lord Latimer," Althea continued, "or you will service customers in the brothel, as I did Which shall it be?"
Catherine refused to choose "Doesn’t ed but intractable "Nothing will change who I am"
"And who are you?" Althea’s voice dripped with conteood for the likes of this place?"
Catherine’s head becaer She lowered herself to the settee, resting her head on the arm "A woman who is loved"
It was the worst, iven Althea And it was the truth
Unable to open her eyes, Catherine are of a bustling rip on her face, of the leather hose from the hookah shoved between her lips Her nose was pinched shut, and she breathed in helplessly A flood of cool, pungent shed, and was forced to draw it in again, and then she wilted into a placid and near-insensible heap
"Take her upstairs, William," Althea said "To her old bedroom Later we’ll athered Catherine up carefully "Ma’aed "She certainly won’t go anywhere under her oer"
William carried Catherine upstairs, settled her on the small, ed her ar at her middle, in the position of a body in a casket "Sorry,eyes "She’s all I ’ave I ’as to do what she says"
Chapter Thirty
Guy, Lord Latimer, lived in a newer section of London on the west side, with a picturesque and peaceful common, and a row of stucco-fronted houses built in a deeply wooded hollow Leo had visited the house on h the street and the house were neatly kept, the place was littered with distasteful memories that would have made an East End slu from his horse before it had even halted, Leo raced up to the front door and pounded on it with his fists All his thoughts had diverted into parallel currents, one occupied with the anguished desperation to find Catherine before har already had befallen her--please, God, no--how to ain
The other current was directed toward the one goal of turning Latin of Harry yet--Leo was certain that he was not far behind, but Leo had no inclination to wait for hi butler opened the door, and Leo shouldered his way in "Sir--"
"Where is youryour pardon, sir, but he is not--" The butler broke off with an astonished yelp as Leo grabbed hiainst the nearest wall "Good God Sir, I beg you--"
"Tell me where he is"
"The … the library … but he’s not well…"
Leo’s lips curled in an evil smile "I have just the cure for hian to sputter for help, but Leo had already released him In a matter of seconds he had reached the library It was dark and overheated, an unseasonably large fire blazing in the hearth Latimer was slumped in a chair, his chin on his chest, a half-eues of yellow and red flaaze lifted to the harsh contours of Leo’s face, and Leo saw fro that he was sow-drunk Too bloody drunk to see a hole in a ladder It would have taken hours of steady i to arrive at this state
The realization filled Leo with furious despair Because the one thing worse than finding Catherine with Lati her there He leaped on the bastard, clenched his hands around Lati position The bottle dropped to the floor Latied, and he choked and spat as he tried to pry Leo’s hands free
"Where is she?" Leo de him a hard shake "What have you done with Catherine Marks?" He loosened his bruising grip just enough to allow Latihed and wheezed, and stared at hi lunatic! What the bloody hell are you talking about?"
"She’s disappeared"
"And you think I have her?" Latihter