Free Independent Brake (The Dominion Falls Series) by Sarah Cass

quietly.
    “Sometimes.” Kat shrugged as she met his gaze. “That’s to be expected. That doesn’t mean I regret anything.”
    “Regret and loss are different things.” Patrick squeezed her hand. “But pain is pain.”
    “I think we all know what that’s like.” Kat held his hand, and reached out to grab Delphine’s. When Delphine completed the circle by taking Patrick’s hand, Kat smiled. “At least none of us are alone any longer.”
    * * * *
    A few seats down, Kat heard Melanie whisper, “Like clockwork.”
    Kat tried not to snort, but had to cough to cover her reaction. For one so ashamed of what she’d done with Patrick, Melanie sure liked to draw all the new employees attention to him. Maybe she wanted company in the misery of not managing to capture the elusive man into marriage proposal.
    Patrick strode right to Kat’s window, one brow already perked. He hadn’t even made it there when Delphine was at her shoulder. In the two months since they’d formed a solid round-about friendship, more often than not when Patrick arrived, Delphie was close at hand.
    He leaned on the counter and spoke low. “I see new faces.”
    “Pearl and Vivian,” Delphie supplied in a hushed tone. “Pearl is the blond, Vivian the brunette.”
    “I’d set my sights on Pearl.” Kat leaned closer. “Vivian wouldn’t be worth your time. Word is she has already played the innocent for any number of men looking for a wife. She keeps turning herself out for the right amount of wealth. Took this job to find it.”
    “Information much appreciated. If you’ll excuse me.” Patrick tipped his hat and moved right on past Vivian to Pearl’s window.
    “I’ll never get used to that.” Delphine gathered Kat’s reports together. “You really don’t care that you are setting him on a new conquest?”
    “He is my friend. If we stop that aspect of our relationship for a short time or a long one, that won’t change.” Kat shrugged. “Nothing to be jealous of.”
    “Just making sure you’re still in your right mind. I don’t want you falling in love with the man out of turn.” Delphie nudged her. “Or worse, setting your sights on something like marriage.”
    “I wouldn’t dream of it, Delphie.” Kat winked and returned to her work. She had to admit that she was surprised that even now she felt no spark of jealousy that Patrick flirted with Pearl. Then again, that was probably well-suited to her situation.
    Kat tuned out the interaction several windows down and went about her business. When Patrick left a short while later, she offered him a parting wave. The rest of the afternoon passed quick enough, and she was on her way home after a parting hug to Delphine.
    As she approached the boarding house, her good mood began to fail. For standing outside was Miss Crumbly, and what Kat was convinced was her own trunk and satchel. Her heart rate picked up, and she jogged the final steps to the door. “Miss Crumbly.”
    “I don’t ask much of my boarders, Miss Wells.” Crumbly’s Irish accent grew thick in her fit of temper. “But I won’t have women such as you sullying the good name of my boarding house.”
    “Sullying? Miss Crumbly!” Katherine stepped closer. “What have I done?”
    “The way you come and go at all hours of the night and day. You’ve taken up with that rake, Patrick Warner. I have heard the gossip and talk of the unseemly ways you’re carrying on.” She lifted her chin. “I won’t have my boarding house associated with such things. I gave you fair warning last week when you returned before church and dared to attend services right after. You should be ashamed.”
    “I’m not ashamed.” Despite her terror at not having a place to live, Kat refused to give Crumbly the pleasure of seeing her tears. If nothing else, she was honest about not being ashamed. “I have no designs to marry, but I also have no wish to be a boring old spinster such as you. I’m proud of my life.”
    “Then be