“Thank you, sir,” Hugh said. “I do my best.”
“He has partnered with Donaldson Lee,” Matthew went on. “And they’ve built quite a law firm.”
“Who did you say?”Lord Barry said with a strange and unexpected change of tone.
“Donaldson Lee, a great lawyer in his own right.”
The older man’s nostrils flared, and his eyes bulged out. “Who!?”
“Donaldson Lee,” I said. “My father.”
“Your father!?” The light in his eyes grew dim and his cheeks red.
“Yes, sir.”
He glared at me, then shot a sharp and icy glance at Matthew.
“We need to talk,” he growled.
Stunned, I stood there watching the two men quickly leave the room. What had just happened?How had our warm exchange turned so suddenly into a cold exit?
ELEVEN
Darling
––––––––
IT WAS HARD TO UNDERSTANDand difficult to accept how Lord Barry’s sudden arrival at Barry Park affected me. I was a twelve-year-old, gawky little girl all over again. I was the outsider sent to live with a wealthy family friend.I may as well have been an uneducated and ill- mannered waif.
I stood there, frozen and unsure as I watched Matthew and Lord Barry leave the ballroom.I hesitated. I knew they would have so much to say to one another, but a part of me wanted to participate in that conversation.
After a heartbeat, more of a hesitation, I followed them out and down the hall. But their conversation was barely one at all. Lord Barry shouted out his order that the whole production vacate the property by morning.
“Father, you're being unreasonable.”
“And as lord and master of this dwelling, it is my prerogative to be so.”
