Alexis cleared her throat. “No, she wasn’t. She was the mistress, or kept woman, as some people might have said then, of the Duke of Branwick and Bowater.”

“You’re a duke’s daughter? That’s amazing. Was he a nice man?” Katie asked.

Alexis sighed. “He was a man of his time. Strict, and didn’t much like the fact I behaved and dressed like a boy. I had to dress up when he came on Friday and Saturday. He spent the rest of the week with his other family. His proper family.”

“He had a wife and other family?”

“Yes, Lady Branwick and his son, James.”

“You said your brother’s name with anger in your voice. Did you not like him? Did your father’s wife and your half-brother know about you and your mum?”

Alexis gave a rueful laugh. “Oh yes, I met James quite often, and he went out of his way to remind me that I was illegitimate.”

“That’s horrible. What a pig!”

Alexis opened up her bottle of water and took a mouthful. Telling her truth was hard, but Katie deserved it.

“I wasn’t upset for myself—I’ve always had a thick skin—but my mother had to put up with a lot of looks and gossip behind her back. But she adored my father for some reason and put up with that life.”

Katie moved closer. “I suppose love makes us do things we never imagined.”

Alexis gulped hard. It was as if Katie knew, but she couldn’t. “Yes, it does.”

This would have been a great chance to tell her about the attack and what really happened, but she bottled it.

“Anyway, most of the time Father left us alone, and my mum made sure I was well educated, and I had a father figure in my mother’s brother who taught me everything a girl wasn’t meant to learn. Sword fighting, shooting, hunting. It was in those moments that I felt mostly like the real me. My brother was jealous of me, I think. He wasn’t a natural fighter or hunter like I was, and it frustrated him if Father gave me praise. Then one day everything changed. My whole life turned on its head.”

“What happened?” Katie asked.

“Father died, and my brother inherited everything. My father had left a stipulation in his will that my brother James must take care of me and my mother, but he had a different idea about care than our father.”

Katie took Alexis’s hand and furrowed her eyebrows. “What did he do?”

“Cut us off without a penny.”

“Bastard,” Katie said angrily.