“The student was Archie from fifteen or so years ago.”
Delilah rolled her eyes.
“I asked the headmaster who the boy was.”
“And he told you the boy was a Windermere cousin from India,” she continued for him. Of course, she knew that. She’d been the one to put forward the falsehood in the first place.
He nodded. “I knew it instantly for a lie.”
She heaved a frustrated sigh. “Because, as a close friend of the family, you happened to be in a position to know there are no Windermere cousins in India.”
“I knew the boy for not a cousin, but a sister.”
A wry laugh escaped Delilah. “And not Amelia, of course.”
“You. Delilah. The daring sister.”
The sister he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off when they were in a room together.
He would keep that last bit to himself.
“So, I asked the headmaster where that group of students was going, and he happily informed me they would be debuting a play that very night and were presently on their way to the theater for practice, which happened to be the building we were to tour. It was a stroke of luck when a teacher claimed the headmaster’s attention. I wandered off on my own, hoping to get an idea of what you were up to.”
“To confront me,” she said, certain, the old hard glint returned to her eye.
Sebastian shook his head. “I’d decided it was none of my concern, but I was curious to see what jape you were up to. Backstage, I happened upon a group of students, but no Lady Delilah Windermere.”
“Why couldn’t you have simply left it there?” she asked, distress in her eyes, genuine pain and loss clear.
“Because I heard the students discussing someone.You.”
The time had arrived to tell her the full, hard truth.
“You were in danger.”
Chapter Seven
Delilah’s eyes sparkedwith disbelief. “Danger?At Eton College?” she scoffed, utterly dismissive. “Impossible.”
Sebastian understood he was toeing a narrow ledge. He would tip over and lose her if he didn’t explain himself. “One of them said,And she has no idea.”
Delilah’s brow gathered with disappointment. “That’s all?”
He’d done a much better job the thousand times he’d explained himself in his mind than he was doing in reality. “Then laughter.”
That wiped some of the scorn off her face. “What sort of laughter?” she asked, suspicious.
“The mean sort.”
“And you knew theshewas me.”
Sebastian nodded, feeling the course correct itself. “They knew the lordling Windermere from India was female, and I knew that you didn’t know. Further, I knew one thing more.”
“What’s that?”
“They had a plan for you during that night’s performance.”
It only took a beat of time for Delilah to ask, “To expose me?”
