‘Will you tell me more about the married man you had a liaison with?’ he asked, suddenly needing to know.
‘All right...’
Even though the question had clearly discomfited her, Hal was pleased that Kit wasn’t going to shy away from answering it.
‘I told you it was my twenty-first birthday and my friends had taken me to a club? Well, there was a restaurant upstairs, where we had a meal, and he was one of the waiters there. Anyway, he was very attentive to all of us, but for some reason he was extra-attentive to me. Towards the end of the evening, when he’d finished his shift, he came to find me. I’m afraid I’d had a little too much to drink in a bid to cheer myself up, because turning twenty-one and not having anyone who mattered in my life except my mum had made me feel rather low, and when he offered to take me home I let him.’
She glanced away for a moment, as if cautious about revealing too much and perhaps being judged for it.
‘Anyway, he helped me into the house, where I had a room upstairs. He—he started kissing me. I should have made him stop, but I was drunk and hardly knew what I was doing. I stupidly told him that I needed to lie down and he led me over to the bed.’ Ruefully shaking her head, Kit grimaced. ‘To cut a long story short, he had sex with me, and afterwards...just before he left...he told me he was married. He took great pleasure in telling me, I remember. That’s it...end of story. In truth, I had a lucky escape.’
‘And you didn’t report him to the police?’
‘Why? He just took what he thought was on offer. The whole fiasco was my fault. I did everything I shouldn’t have. I’d had too much to drink and I let a stranger take me home. The only sensible thing I managed to do that night was to insist he wore protection. Luckily he’d brought some with him. It obviously wasn’t the first time he’d taken advantage of a woman who really ought to have known better.’
Kit’s blue-eyed glance was unwaveringly direct.
‘You’re probably wondering why I acted so stupidly. The truth is I let my guard down that night because I was flattered by his attention. Sometimes we all want to be liked and admired, don’t we? That’s all that sorry episode was about—a very human need to be noticed by someone.’
‘But you let him take your virginity, Kit. That’s the saddest part of the story. I wish you could have given it to someone who saw it as the most precious gift a woman can give to a man.’ It grieved Hal more than he could possibly say that she hadn’t.
‘So do I.’ She fell silent for a moment. ‘Anyway, now I’ve shared my story, will you tell me about your mother, Hal?’
As painful as the topic was, if he wanted things to progress further with Kit then Hal knew he couldn’t avoid speaking about it any longer. Suddenly it was imperative that she grew to trust him—especially after what she’d just told him—and in order for her to do that he had to have the courage to open up to her about his past. Who knew? If he took the risk it might open the door to the possibility of them enjoying a genuine relationship. Hal at least had to try.
Holding her gaze across the table, he gave her a tentative smile. Did he really have the courage to be vulnerable enough to confess the wreckage of his past to this woman?
‘All right, then. I’ll tell you about her,’ he agreed.
Her eyes widening, Kit gently loosened her hand from his and sat back in her seat to give him her full attention.
‘My mother was very beautiful,’ he went on, his hand tunnelling restlessly through his hair for a moment. ‘And her bewitching looks drew men to her like bees to honey. My dad is a wealthy landowner, and even though he was mad about her when they first met and asked her to marry him his property and his estate always came first. She didn’t appear to mind that too much. She loved the fact that he was landed gentry as well as being rich, but she didn’t understand why he chose to work at all when he didn’t have to. If she’d troubled to find out, she would have soon learned that taking care of the estate and the people who worked for him to maintain it was a matter of fierce pride to him. The estate has been in the family since the sixteenth century, and my dad wasn’t going to be the one that saw it fall to rack and ruin, as he’d say. The charities he supported were also hugely important to him, and he’d hoped that my mother would see how being associated with them might help her. Given her PR background, he thought she might be able to help fundraise and organise events and might even enjoy it.