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Aidan didn’t know what to do, so he went with his overriding impulse and grabbed Gallow by the lapels of his coat to push him against the wall. “She’s not going anywhere.”
“Didn’t you hear what I said? You don’t even know who she is!”
“You’re the fool,” Aidan said softly. “I’ve known her since she was a girl.” Despite his confusion, Aidan was supremely satisfied to see the man’s face pale at that. “You don’t get to tell me who Kate is. I know who she is.”
But his words were far more certain than his heart. His heart was holding on to Kate’s expression of horrified regret. “If you’re not her husband, then you have no right to be here. None. So get the hell out and never return.”
“She’s coming back with me.”
Aidan pulled the man closer, only to give himself the satisfaction of slamming him back into the wall. “She’ll never go back!”
“She has no choice. She may have killed my father, and she has to answer for that.”
Kate gasped. “I’ve told you what happened! Aidan, I had nothing to do with it.”
But Aidan didn’t need to hear that. He actually smiled at the audacity of the man’s lie. “You’re ridiculous. Whatever she’s done, it wasn’t that.” He cocked his head and stared into Gallow’s stone gray eyes. “Even you don’t believe that.” Something dark and liquid moved behind those eyes. “You don’t believe that,” Aidan repeated.
Gallow held his gaze and didn’t say a word.
“Kate, did he hurt you?”
“No,” she whispered.
Aidan slowly loosened his hold and stepped back. He dusted his hands off while Gallow tugged his coat into place. “Then go get his things. All of them.”
“Aidan.” Her hand touched his arm, then fluttered away. “He’ll tell everyone. The truth. And the lies. You should go. Your reputation and your family . . . You don’t need to be involved.”
“Go get his things. He won’t tell anyone anything.”
Gallow laughed, but Aidan watched Kate calmly until she’d turned up the stairway and he heard her steps ascend. Then he swung back to Gallow. “How did your father die?”
“He was poisoned.”
“By whom?”
“The authorities suspect Katherine. They meant to arrest her. I am the one who stopped them.”
“And what does she say?”
His eyes shifted to the side. His cheeks reddened. “She says he took the poison himself.”
“Did he?”
Gallow shrugged, his jaw so tight that Aidan could see the muscles straining beneath. “The authorities will have questions about it. That’s why she must return.”
The stairs creaked behind him. Kate set a small trunk on the floor and pushed it forward with her foot.
“Is that everything?”
She nodded.
Aidan picked up the trunk, strode to the door, and tossed the trunk outside. “Which ship has he booked passage on?”
“The Talisman,” she whispered. “It sails tomorrow night.”
“Wait here,” he said to Kate before gesturing for Gerard Gallow to step outside.
“Aidan . . .” She reached out as if she’d touch him, but Aidan pulled away. “What are you going to—”
