Free A Terrible Beauty by TASHA ALEXANDER Page A

civilization.”
    â€œBloody hell.” Colin dropped his face into his hands. “How could I have made such an error? I swear, Ashton, I was certain—”
    â€œDo not abuse yourself,” he said. “You had no way of knowing. Even Kimathi feared the poison had killed me, and he was acquainted with its use and symptoms.”
    â€œSo you walked across Africa, Lord Ashton?” Margaret asked, crossing her arms. “How industrious of you.”
    â€œI cannot fault you for your doubt, Mrs. Michaels,” he said. “It is an incredible narrative. Truth, as they say—”
    â€œYes, yes, stranger than fiction,” Margaret said. “Do continue.”
    â€œKimathi stayed with me until we came upon a party of German archaeologists who were returning from a dig in the Sudan. They took me to Cairo, where everyone believed me to be dead, leaving me in the unfortunate circumstance of being unable to access any funds. Reiner, with whom I had grown close during the journey, saw me some weeks later, desperate and on the verge of illness. He took me home with him. After a few months in Munich, I had regained nearly all of my strength, and set off for London.”
    â€œWhen was this?” Colin asked.
    â€œLate in the spring of 1891,” he said. “It might, perhaps, be preferable if I continued the story without your friends present.”
    â€œAbsolutely not,” Margaret said. “If you think I will leave Emily even for a moment—”
    â€œIt is quite all right,” I said. “There is nothing Margaret and Jeremy cannot hear.”
    â€œReiner and I came to Berkeley Square, where we saw you, Hargreaves, leaving the house. I shall never forget the scene. Kallista was wearing a pale blue dress and you kissed her on the threshold.” I felt my face turn what must have been a shocking shade of vermilion as he spoke.
    â€œI assure you—” Colin began.
    He raised a hand to stop him. “At the time, I was livid; you can imagine. But that was long ago, and I have since recovered from the blow. You both thought I was dead, and it had been nearly three years, long enough for Kallista to be out of mourning. Though you will forgive me, my love, for having wished you might not have been ready to start afresh quite so soon.”
    I rose from my seat. “Sir, I cannot apologize for any of my actions. I have behaved honorably, and had no reason to think you were alive.”
    â€œWe both know that is not quite true,” he said. “I understand you—with the assistance of Mrs. Michaels and some other friends—undertook the investigation of my death, and that during the course of it, did entertain the notion that I might still be alive.”
    â€œWe did,” I said, “but our hopes were based on deliberately misleading and erroneous information.”
    â€œAnd I told her I saw you die.” Colin’s voice was soft.
    â€œAnd she trusted you, as she should have,” he said. “I blame neither of you. You acted as anyone would have given the information at hand.”
    â€œLord Ashton—if that is truly who you are—would you satisfy me on one more count?” Margaret asked. “I understand your anger at what you claim to have seen at Berkeley Square, but why did you not come forward and confront your friend?”
    â€œAt first, my rage was too great. Then I felt humiliated and wanted to slink off into nothingness. My best friend and my wife, together? Can you imagine what that sort of betrayal feels like, even if one knows it is not really a betrayal? I watched the two of you—forgive me—from a distance over the following months, and I could see the love you shared. After all the pain I had already caused Kallista by leaving her a widow so soon after our marriage, how could I intervene and take away the happy life she had cobbled together from the despair she must have felt when she thought I