“What you believe,” she replied, humiliation making her sound breathless, “is of little consequence. I am not obliged to explain myself to you.”
She had to mentally brace herself against the impact of his hard gaze. Suddenly feeling a spell of dizziness, Raven turned and sank into the chair again, letting her head drop into her hands.
Amazingly enough, his tone bore a trace of compassion when he asked if she was all right.
“Oh yes, I am simply thriving,” she muttered with no little sarcasm. “I am regularly accustomed to being abducted and beaten and drugged!”
He stepped closer. With a finger under her chin, he turned her face up to his, his piercing, dark-eyed gaze assessing her intently.
“How could I possibly be all right after everything your brother did to me?” Raven demanded, her voice unsteady. “First he struck me with the butt of his pistol and rendered me senseless. Then he tied me up and forced me to drink some foul potion…” She held up her arms, revealing the livid bruises on her wrists. “He brutalized me.”
A grim frown scored Kell Lasseter’s mouth for an instant, but then he visibly repressed it. “I am sorry for what my brother did to you, Miss Kendrick. It was inexcusable. But you are not entirely blameless yourself. Not when you seduce gullible young bucks for sport.”
Raven’s gaze narrowed with her own frown. “That is a lie! I have never seduced anyone, most especially your brother. The worst I am guilty of is offering him friendship.”
“You spurned him because of his Irish blood and his lack of a title-because you considered him beneath your notice.”
“I rejected his suit, yes, but when he proposed marriage to me I was already betrothed.”
Kell Lasseter’s expression only hardened, his stare unwavering, relentless. “But you had him thrashed for daring to raise his eyes to you.”
“I certainly did not! Your brother became drunk one evening when I was at Vauxhall Gardens with friends. He accosted me and tore my gown and almost ravished me-”
“So you deny setting your groom upon him?”
“Yes, I deny it!” She shot him a fierce look. “My groom only intervened to protect me, for which I was eminently grateful. As it was, I barely escaped scandal.”
“But first you ordered Sean beaten half to death.”
“I tell you, that was not what happened. O’Malley struck him, true, but only to make your brother release me.”
“Your groom just happened to be strolling through Vauxhall with you, Miss Kendrick?” Lasseter drawled, his tone sardonic.
“No, he was keeping a watchful eye on me in case of trouble! Your brother had been tormenting me for so long, he had become dangerous. During the fireworks he separated me from my party and dragged me into the woods. O’Malley came after us. I’m not certain what happened to your brother after that, since I was rather distraught at the time. To my knowledge, O’Malley left him there to sleep off his inebriation.”
A muscle flexed in Kell’s jaw. “That is nothing like the story Sean tells.”
“If so, then he has been deceiving you-completely distorting the truth.”
“The scars on his back are no distortion, Miss Kendrick.”
“What scars?”
“From the brutal floggings he endured. Compliments of the British Royal Navy. Sean was taken up by an impressment gang that night and spent four months in hell. Have you any idea of the damage a cat-o’-nine-tails can inflict on a man’s flesh? Those scars will be with him till the day he dies.”
Raven stared, not knowing what to say.
“Is it any wonder Sean was desirous of revenge after enduring such brutality?” his brother asked grimly.
She swallowed, unaccountably feeling a measure of guilt. “If that’s true, then I am sorry. But I swear, it was not deliberate. I had no idea what happened to him. After that night, he never approached me again. Frankly, I was thankful to no longer have him plaguing me. I was at my wits’ end… But I never saw him again until yesterday.”
Kell regarded her skeptically, studying every emotion that crossed her beautiful face. Her complexion held a delicate pallor from her ordeal, highlighted by hot flags of anger and humiliation burning on her cheeks.
Was it possible that her version of events was the truth? That she wasn’t to blame for Sean’s impressment? Or was she simply an excellent actress with the skill to dupe him along with every other witless male she encountered? Even if she hadn’t deliberately orchestrated Sean’s downfall, would she even care if she sent an innocent man to his doom?
“Perhaps you don’t know your brother as well as you think you do,” she muttered defensively, breaking into his thoughts.
Kell found it difficult to scoff at her observation. Was Sean really the victim in this damnable conflict…or was she? Once more Kell felt a surge of anger at them both.
“In any event”-she drew an unsteady breath-“he should be well-satisfied with his revenge, since he has totally ruined me.”
Her lower lip suddenly trembled, the first sign he’d seen in her of any frailty. When she blinked back her tears resolutely, Kell felt his heart twist hard. Her vulnerability touched him in a place where he thought he had no real feeling left.
She squared her shoulders, drawing her dignity around her like armor. Her eyes glistening, she held his stare with defiant pride.
Kell swore under his breath at his body’s unwilling reaction to her arresting beauty. Those eyes were such a vibrant, startling blue…the color of a wild Irish sea. They haunted him almost as much as the memory of her nipples rising eagerly to his mouth last night.
Still half feeling the thrust of her soft hips against his loins, the softness of breasts barely constrained by her shift, Kell clenched his teeth. Lust was hazardous, and so was sympathy.
“Where is your brother?” she suddenly asked.
Her question made Kell frown. “Why does it matter?”
“Because he should be made to face his crimes. What sort of coward is he to behave so viciously and then run away, leaving you to deal with the aftermath?”
“He didn’t run. I sent him away.”
She closed her hands into fists, obviously working herself into an outrage. “Well, I can assure you, he won’t escape punishment. He should be hanged for what he did to me.”
Kell felt every muscle in his body go rigid. He’d known the situation would eventually come to this. That Miss Raven Kendrick would likely want retribution. And that if he were honest, she deserved retribution. His brother’s treatment of her sickened him. Even so, he’d spent much of the night stewing over how to extricate Sean from this debacle.
Even if Raven Kendrick were not as vicious as purported-which was seeming more likely by the moment-the danger to Sean was acute. He might not hang for enacting his revenge, but with her family’s powerful connections, he could very well go to prison.
Bloody hell. Sean deserved punishment, certainly, but prison would destroy him.
Kell felt his resolve harden. He couldn’t allow his brother to suffer that fate. If Raven Kendrick intended to bring charges…well, he would simply have to persuade her to reconsider. And that meant determining what possible recompense he could offer her.
When he remained silent, she eyed him mutinously. “I should like to go home now.”
Kell hesitated only an instant. “I’m afraid I cannot allow you to leave just yet.”
She stared. “Why not? My family will be worried sick for me.”
“I can’t return you to your family, looking like something the cat dragged in.”
“Your brother dragged in, you mean.”
“Perhaps, but I’m still not convinced you’re the victim in this case.”
“Your opinion is entirely beside the point.”
“Even so, you’ll remain here for the time being.”
“Why, so you can molest me again?”