Brotherhood 02 - Broken Promise by Laura Landon Read Free Book Online

she asked.
    The question took him off guard. Their conversation wasn’t going down the expected path, though he wasn’t sure at the moment what path that might be.
    “I’m sorry,” she quickly added. “What I meant was that you don’t have children, do you?”
    He shook his head. “No, to both your questions. I’m neither married, nor do I have children. Is that important?”
    She laughed again, unleashing another shower of shimmering air to cascade around him.
    “No, it’s not important, but if you were married with children, you’d realize that even the children most lacking in features are beautiful in their mother’s eyes.”
    His gaze caught hers and he said the first words out of his mouth. “But in your case, it would be impossible to have a child who wasn’t beautiful.”
    Her cheeks turned a brilliant pink and she lowered her gaze.
    Austin mentally called himself every kind of fool imaginable. Why had he said that? He could have stayed focused on his mission, asked her any of the hundred questions the detective in him needed to ask. Instead, he told her she was beautiful.
    What was wrong with him? He was behaving like the ‘old’ Austin. The Austin he’d been before the war. The Austin who flirted with beautiful women and sought their company. The Austin who enjoyed the fairer sex and being with them. The Austin who still had something to offer a woman. But that Austin was dead.
    The Austin he was now had taken too many lives to count, both on the battlefield and off. The man he’d become had ruined the lives of countless families here in England, including the Earl of Penderly’s. The soul inside him was black as tar. And now he was paying compliments to Penderly’s daughter-in-law as if it didn’t matter that she was a widow—a widow who’d obviously loved her husband very much. A widow who’d been in mourning less than six months.
    He mentally reprimanded his inexcusable behavior, then assumed the cold, impersonal detective he’d become since the war and turned to face her. “So, Lady Fledgemont, what is our next step? How do you see this dilemma resolved?”
    The baby’s bottle was empty and Lady Fledgemont placed Jonathan to her shoulder and patted his back. “You know what I want. I’ve made myself clear from the start. I want to be left alone. I want the Earl of Penderly to believe I am dead. I don’t want him to know Jonathan exists. The question is, what do you intend to do?”
    She rocked little Jonathan harder, which was the only indication of her nervousness, her unease. She was obviously a woman who’d always been in control, but in this she wasn’t. And she knew it.
    “I won’t give Jonathan away. He’s my son. I’ll never give him up.”
    “No one is asking you to give him up,” he said, needing to ease her mind.
    “You are, if you’re intent on telling Penderly about him.”
    “That won’t happen.”
    “Then you will go away from here and forget you found us?” The expression on her face filled with hopefulness.
    “No.”
    Her expression died.
    “I intend to visit the Earl of Penderly once more and ask some questions. I want him to convince me he doesn’t intend to harm you.”
    “And the babe?”
    “He won’t harm the babe either. I promise you that.”
    Her expression darkened. She was evaluating how much she could trust him, both with her own life, and that of her son.
    “I need your promise that you’ll wait here until I return from talking to Lord Penderly. We’ll decide then what steps to take.”
    “You want me to meekly sit here like a lamb awaiting the slaughter?”
    There was anger in her eyes. Fury in her expression. He needed to calm her. “No. You will not be sacrificed. Nor will your son.”
    “Then what?”
    “All I ask, Lady Fledgemont, is your promise to remain here while I speak to your father-in-law. If he is responsible for the attempt on Jonathan’s life, I’ll protect both you and your babe. I’ll take you where I know