His Obsession by Ann B. Keller

the earl paid his respects to a despondent Lord Winslow
and descended the stairs. Kate quickly shouldered her duties as
hostess and escorted the earl into the front hall.
    “I’m sorry that my father couldn’t be here to
see you off, my lord,” she apologized.
    “No harm done, Lady Overton,” the earl
acknowledged. “This has not been a happy day for your family.”
    “No, it hasn’t.”
    “Will you be all right?” Richard softly
asked.
    Kate blinked in surprise. “Me? Yes, of
course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
    Richard smiled, pleased by her response.
    “You’re a brave woman.”
    “Thank you,” Kate murmured.
    “I trust that I may call on you again?”
Richard requested.
    Kate stared at the handsome man, unable to
believe her ears.
    “Yes,” Kate finally managed to say. “Your
visit would be most welcome.”
    The earl smiled, kissed the back of her right
hand and departed. For several minutes, Kate stared at the pale
skin his warm lips had touched. She felt as though she were poised
on the brink of something momentous, some event which would forever
change her life.
    As Edgar had predicted, when news of the
sinking of the Britannica finally leaked out, the creditors
began arriving at the Overtons’ front door. Edgar placated them
with the last of his ready cash and hastily sent them on their way.
Pity he couldn’t so easily dismiss his wife. Penelope cornered
Edgar in his study and steadfastly refused to leave until he
explained the full extent of their difficulties.
    “Well?” Penelope demanded.
    “Well, what?” Edgar quipped.
    “They were here for money, weren’t they,
Edgar? How much did you give them?” Penelope asked.
    “Enough.”
    “Edgar,” Penelope chided.
    “One hundred pounds each,” Overton finally
admitted.
    “It’s started, hasn’t it? Oh, dear,” Penelope
wearily sighed. “I knew – I just knew this would happen.”
    Penelope Overton sank into a chair and
clutched her brow in pain.
    “I had hoped that Lord Winslow could save us,
but apparently not. If he weds Helen, his father will disinherit
him, and they are so much in love, too. They will marry in spite of
everything. I’m certain of it,” Penelope mused aloud. “Then there’s
no other way out of our predicament?”
    Edgar glanced at his wife briefly, then began
to fidget in his chair. Penelope pinned him with an inquiring gaze,
but Edgar rose quickly, crossing the room to stand near the
fireplace.
    “We don’t even have enough to pay the
servants,” Edgar grimly explained.
    “Edgar?” Penelope prodded. “What do you
know?”
    “Hum?”
    Penelope frowned and crossed the room to
confront her husband. Edgar wouldn’t look at her, which made her
even more suspicious.
    “Don’t think you can fool me after all of
these years, Edgar Overton,” Penelope warned. “You couldn’t that
night twenty years ago and you certainly can’t now.”
    Even now, the memory was painful for Edgar
and he winced as horrible images once more flooded his brain. No
man should be forced to watch his love perish in a pool of her own
blood. Nevertheless, Edgar’s sweetheart, Melanie, had given him
Kate, who was the joy of his life.
    Penelope and Edgar had encountered a rough
patch in their relationship and Edgar had found solace in the arms
of Melanie Pope. The Drury Lane actress had been so happy when
she’d discovered an abandoned child on her doorstep. A note written
on expensive parchment had been included inside the baby’s basket.
It indicated that someday, the strange, hourglass shaped birthmark
on Kate’s hand would reveal the truth. Edgar was mystified, but
Melanie decided to keep the child anyway. A short time later,
Melanie determined that she was expecting a child herself - Edgar’s
child.
    For a while, Melanie was able to continue
working, but when the babe began to show, Edgar set her up in a
small house, with a cook and housekeeper to see to her needs. Edgar
and Melanie talked about the baby for hours. Edgar