A grumble and a nod were his only response to her request. He walked ahead of her, turning as he made his way to his study. She stayed back as he pushed the doors open and walked in. She took a deep breath, allowing her nerves to flow out of her before she walked in. She hoped that she portrayed a calm she did not feel on the inside.
* * *
Morgan was upset. He tried to remain calm as he watched her stand outside the open door of his study as she took deep breaths as if to steady her nerves. He had tried his best to keep his emotions in check but he knew she could sense that something was wrong. What she did not know however was exactly what had gone wrong and what he had found out.
After the doubt that had been planted in his mind, Morgan had patiently waited for Arthur to return with his findings. He had hoped that the accusations of Lady Hamstone would be mere gossip with no inkling of truth to them, however, it had not taken long for Arthur to prove that the lady had indeed been saying the truth.
Miss Kendall. The name sounded all wrong in his mind as he thought of it. He had been struggling to reconcile himself to the truth that there was indeed no Miss Knight. There never had been. However, parts of him still could not believe it.
A glimmer of hope had risen in Morgan when he heard her call his name. Perhaps there was a perfectly good explanation to all of this. He shook his head, letting out a short laugh that startled her as she stared at him in confusion but he paid her no mind as he struggled to make sense of all he had found out.
Her father whom she claimed had died in an accident along with her mother, was still alive and well. Lord Linport, her father, was deep in debt as he struggled with his finances.
He was almost a recluse. The man had never been part of the ton, choosing to stay away from polite society. His wife had died two years ago and that seemed to have made him even more of a recluse and his debt had only increased since then.
Morgan supposed that was the reason he had heard nothing about the man and why she had managed to fool everyone. His grandmother, his sister, and him.
His hands clenched into fists at his back as he thought of his grandmother and sister who adored her and would be heartbroken when they learned of what she had done.
Had she done all of this because she knew that her father had gone into debt and she was trying to look for a way out of their poverty? His poor grandmother had taken her in thinking that she had found a perfect companion.
He had tried to come up with so many excuses for her as to why she had hidden her true identity from them but nothing made sense other than the fact that she had been trying to take advantage of his grandmother.
Another thought occurred to him as he watched her. Perhaps it was not his grandmother that she had been trying to get money from. Perhaps it was him. Had their stay here been planned?
The Dowager Duchess had always come to visit them alone, never bringing a companion of any sort. Perhaps she had realized that the only way to get his grandmother to bring her along was to go to extreme measures. Had she been responsible for burning the estate?
As he watched her suspiciously, he shook his head. No, he did not think that she was capable of that. Surely, even if she was doing all of these for money, she would not be so cruel as to burn his grandmother’s home. Perhaps her plan had only changed and she had only begun to focus on him after the fire.
He made a mental note to speak to his grandmother the next day. He would need to ask her if she had ever given Selina money and how much it was if so.
Morgan rubbed his chest unconsciously. Not long ago, he had been happy, looking at her with love as he tried to find a way to express his feelings to her and yet, here he was right now, looking at her, not with love but with anger and suspicion.
A sound on the door made him look up from the drawers he had just opened as she knocked lightly before finally walking in.
* * *
“I am sorry for having to keep you up. I just wanted to speak with you,” she said, moving closer.
“That is all right. I wanted to speak to you as well.” Morgan said as he retrieved his hands from the drawers. She glanced at the letter he dropped on the table before looking back at him, not thinking much of it. All she wanted was to tell him her truth so that she would not leave it hanging over her as it currently did.
“Here, take this,” he said as he shoved the letter into her hands.
Selina looked up from the letter in confusion. She opened her mouth to ask him but he shook his head at her, his eyes going to the letter in her grasp.
She looked at it again. Did he want her to read this? Was this what he wanted to talk to her about? She opened the letter and quickly began to read through it, eager to be done and get on with what she had to say before she lost her resolve.
Her eyes stopped their cursory glance as her stomach dropped when she realized what she was holding in her hand. She read through it again as the words written there filled her head. He knew. He already knew.
Selina looked up at him and tried to read his expression but his eyes betrayed nothing. Her hands shook as she struggled to come to terms with what was happening.
How long had he known? How could this have happened? He was supposed to find out from her so that she could explain to him properly what had happened.
Despite her inability to tell what he was thinking, she could see that he had already reached a conclusion on the matter. She wondered whether there was any chance that she would be able to show him that all of this was not as it seemed.
“Do you have an excuse for using us this way, Miss Kendall?” Morgan asked in an even tone.
Selina felt her heart begin to pound heavily in her chest as her eyes widened in dismay. She could see his fury now. He was no longer keeping it hidden from her now that she had read the letter. She struggled to breathe as her throat closed up. She was beginning to panic. This was not how it was supposed to go.
