The Secret of Kolney Hatch Read Online Free PDF Page B

make sure she desired me as much as I desired her. I saw the hunger in her eyes.
    Then I made love to Claire.  
    The guilt surfaced immediately after it was over. I was ashamed and horrified that I had such little self-control over my desire for Claire. I could sense by her facial expression that she felt the same.
    “I’m so sorry, Claire,” was all I could say.
    “No,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Paul. I didn’t mean…I’m a married woman.”
    “We should find Richard,” I said indifferently, though inside I was in emotional turmoil.
    I had not meant to sound so insensitive. For a moment, Claire looked hurt as if she expected me to say something more. And then we were both silent as we quickly dressed, and I helped her with her coat. She turned to me.
    “Paul, I really am sorry. This is my doing.”
    But it wasn’t her fault. I was just as much to blame, and I told her this as I looked into her apologetic, blue eyes. I changed the subject then as I quickly guided Claire out of the drawing room. I thought I might feel less guilty if we were not in the room.
     “Listen, Claire,” I said as I attempted to keep my composure. “If Richard ever hurts you again, go straight to Oscar and tell him what’s happened. If you don’t feel right about telling him, then you must go to Hemsby. Eda will be there caring for her ill brother while I’m gone. It’s far, but safe. As far as what happened between you and me, we can never tell anyone, you understand? Especially Richard.”
    Claire nodded in agreement, and I just hoped she would keep her word, at least for now. “Come, I’ll take you home,” I said to Claire as we stepped out the front door.
    She shook her head. “Perhaps I should go…alone,” she said.
    “No. I’ll accompany you,” I replied. I did not know what condition Richard was in at the moment. I needed to find him to make sure he was okay and to make sure he would not hurt Claire again.
             I told Claire to wait inside the house while I attempted to hail a cab, but she refused to go back inside. We waited in the pouring rain for a few long minutes before a car finally stopped. Sopping wet, we sat in complete silence for the entire ride back to Richard’s home.
    When we entered the house, all was quiet. Richard was nowhere to be found. I could see Claire’s exhaustion by her ghostly white skin and the dark circles under her eyes.  
    “I’m sure he’s fine, Claire,” I said quietly.  
    As I stood in the front hall of Richard’s home, I could not help the mixture of anger and worry that consumed me. I knew that Richard would feel awful for what he had done, and yet I could not understand why he had committed such a vile act. Then I heard a rummaging at the front door, and finally the door opened. It was Richard. As he stumbled in, he tripped over the carpet. Drenched as he lay belly down on the carpet, he squinted up at me.
    “P…Paul, that you mate?” he asked, his speech severely slurred.
    I hurried to help him up.
    “Cot on the pine-ree, Paul,” he said to me attempting to point his finger back to the outside.
    “Okay, Richard,” I answered. He was barely coherent, the worst I had ever seen him. “I have you.”
    Claire no longer seemed frightened by Richard. Her folded arms and glowering eyes, coupled with her now rosy cheeks, gave away her fury.
    “I’ll help him to the couch,” I said sheepishly.
    “Or mah friend, or mah friend,” Richard kept repeating.
    I helped him onto the sofa in the drawing room. Seconds later, Richard was in a deep sleep.
    I looked at Claire. We were both quiet for a moment before I spoke.
    “I don’t believe he’s going to remember much about tonight Claire. That’s no excuse for his behavior…” I paused. “And I sincerely apologize for my own behavior. Please forgive me.”
    Claire said nothing, but then her eyes softened, and she hurried to hug me goodbye, at first formally as an acquaintance might. I