Jason shook the proffered hand, then took a swallow of sherry. He was trembling and appeared on the verge of collapse.
Lucien said to Kit, "We should take him to my house, I think. Obviously he needs food, clothing, and rest."
She nodded agreement. Her new-found cousin looked up in confusion. "You're not going to send me back to the hulks? The last I heard, our countries were at war."
"God willing, not for much longer. It was a damned fool war to begin with. And frankly, I wouldn't send a rabid dog to the hulks." Lucien helped the American to his feet. "Can you walk? Good-carrying you would be a bit conspicuous." He put his arm around Kit's waist, and the three of them went outside, where his carriage waited right outside the stage door.
Half an hour later they were in the kitchen of Strathmore House. Kit noted that Lucien was surprisingly familiar with the area for a peer; midnight raids on the larder must not be uncommon. He even found a pot of soup. Kit heated it while he rummaged for bread, cheese, and a steak and kidney pie.
In spite of his obvious hunger, Jason Travers was unable to eat much. After pushing away his soup bowl, he studied Kit. She became aware of his gaze and glanced up inquiringly.
"Sorry," he apologized. "I know you're not Kira. If I hadn't been expecting to see her, I would have realized the moment I laid eyes on you. Yet the resemblance is astonishing."
"You're not the first to be confused," she remarked. "Even our father couldn't tell us apart."
"Then he wasn't paying attention." His hands tightened around his mug of ale. "Where is Kira? I assume she must be in some kind of trouble."
Tersely, Kit explained about her sister's disappearance and her own impersonation. Jason's face darkened as she spoke. When she finished, he said with barely suppressed violence, "Damnation, I've felt that something was wrong for weeks, but assumed it was one of the strange fancies one gets in prison." He rubbed the scar on his temple, which was visibly throbbing. "I suppose that was why I risked trying to escape-I knew I had to find her."
Recognizing a distress that nearly equaled her own, Kit said reassuringly, "Wherever she is, she is in good health-I would know if she weren't. And we're doing everything we can to get her back."
"Tell me what I can do," he said, his expression like granite.
"Don't worry," Lucien said, pouring more ale for each of them. "You'll be conscripted if necessary. First we have to locate her. But now it's your turn to talk."
"Yes, I'm curious how you met my sister."
Jason closed his eyes briefly, marshaling his thoughts. "Four years ago your family solicitor notified me that I was the new earl. Because of the late earl's improvidence, there was no financial legacy, so I scarcely paid attention to the letter. My grandfather was a younger son who had emigrated to America and maintained only the most tenuous connection with his family. As an American I couldn't hold the title, so the whole subject was of only intellectual interest.
"However, when business called me to Britain, I found I had a certain curiosity about where the family came from. After I'd finished in Liverpool, I traveled up to Kendal. The current owner of the estate showed me around and invited me to dinner. I looked at the parish church with all of its memorials to dead Travers and rode through the hills and generally found it an interesting trip." He made a face. "I see why my grandfather left, though-it was the dampest, grayest place I've ever seen."
Kit smiled. "Westmoreland is wet even by British standards, but one grows accustomed. The countryside is very beautiful."
"In a bleak sort of way," he agreed. "I was about to leave when the innkeeper told me that one of the late earl's daughters had just arrived at the inn. He said Lady Kristine was visiting because she and her sister had been slowly paying off their father's debts, and that she had probably come to make the last installment and thank the creditors for being patient."
Lucien cocked an inquisitive brow at Kit.
"Not Papa's gambling debts," she said. "His ghastly gamester friends can fry in hell for all we care. But we felt an obligation to pay the tradesmen. We would have been in rags and living on porridge if the Kendal shopkeepers hadn't extended credit to the family."
His eyes glowed with the tenderness that turned them gold. "What an honorable pair you are."
She traced a figure eight in spilled ale. "Kira did more than I; successful actresses earn more than scribblers."
"All the more credit to you." He took her hand under the table, his fingers lacing through hers.
"The innkeeper spoke very highly of you both," Jason said. "Since I was curious about my English cousin, I asked for an introduction to Lady Kristine. She was… not what I expected." A reminiscent smile played around his lips.
When the silence became lengthy, Lucien said, "We may assume that the stars stopped in their courses and angelic choirs sang?"
Jason pulled himself back to the present. "That's a fair description. I followed her to York, where she was performing. For the next weeks…" His voice thickened, and he stopped.
"Did Kira want marriage, but you couldn't bring yourself to marry an actress?" Kit asked, an edge in her voice.
"No!" He gave her a fulminating glance. "I did propose to her-in fact, I damned well got down on my knees and begged-but she refused to marry me unless I settled in England. I don't know whether she wanted to be a countess, or whether she was enjoying her career too much to leave, but I couldn't agree to give up my home and country."
"Not an easy choice," Lucien agreed.
"We had an almighty row. I told her if she changed her mind, she knew where to find me in Boston. She answered that if I changed mine, she'd welcome me back with open arms, but otherwise never to darken her door again."
"No wonder you were so angry when you showed up and my arms weren't open," Kit said.
He ran a distracted hand through his dark hair. "I haven't known a moment's peace since I left York. After I got through cursing Kira, I missed her horribly. So I started to think seriously about moving back to the old country even though, like any good American, I despise the British government. It's rotten to the core."
Kit shot a glance at Lucien, who had spent much of his life defending that government. He said only, "There are many here who would agree with you, but a government is not a nation."
Jason gave a lopsided smile. "True, and when I thought about it, I realized that I like the English as individuals. Since I don't have any close family left in America and my business, which is shipping, could be run as well from Britain as Boston, I decided to go back to Kira, hat in hand, and offer to settle here. Then the war broke out. I volunteered my services, and a few months later I was a prisoner in one of the hulks, living on swill and praying that I wouldn't die of jail fever."
"The hulks are the vilest prisons in Britain," Kit said gravely. She had written several furious articles about how inhumane they were. "You're lucky to have survived."
"Believe me, I know," Jason said with an involuntary shiver.
Lucien commented, "You were a privateer captain?"
The American stared at him. "You must be a damned uncomfortable man to know. How did you guess that?"
"Only someone captured at sea would be likely to end up in a British prison rather than in Canada," Lucien explained. "You mentioned that your business was shipping, and you seem like the sort who prefers giving orders rather than taking them. Hence, a privateer seemed probable. Still, I'm surprised that an officer was sent to one of the hulks."
"The captain of the frigate that captured the Bonnie Lady took a personal dislike to me and used his influence to see that I was sent to the rottenest prison available."