“I am here, of course, to ask you how I can find Mary Forster.”
“That’s the only amusing thing you have said all morning, Your Grace.”
His sage-green eyes turned molten, his mouth tight with stifled outrage. “You refuse to reveal her location?”
“Reveal her location?I haven’t the slightest notion of her location. Why do you fathom she still lives? I myself have long assumed her dead.”
“My father believed she was alive. I have to think he knew, somehow, that she was living.”
“Not if he really wanted to leave his money away from your sister.”
“No. Thatis impossible.”
“Right now, that seems far fromimpossible, Your Grace. In fact, it seems likely.”
“Enough.”
Catherine saw his knuckles turn white on the worn armrests.
She scoffed. At his impertinence and his delusion. Really, his situation was hopeless. He just didn’t want to admit it.
“I believe he merely wanted your aunt to have the annuity.” His voice was rushed, heated, even as it strove for control. “He wanted to guarantee delivery. He knew that she lives. I am sure of it.”
Her chest tightened at the words. If Mary lived, she had chosen not to contact Catherine for seventeen years. Silence from the woman she had regarded as a mother was difficult to stomach. Her aunt had taught her about history, about ruins and significant natural landmarks, and how the knowledge of these things lay, first and foremost, with the people who lived amongst them. Mary had taught her that a cottager could have more knowledge than a king. In doing so, she had given her the purpose that had gotten her through the darkest moments of her life.
“Even if I accept that she is alive, why would I helpyoufind her? She clearly does not want to be found.”
“Of course,” he said, that flicker of confusion returning, “I would pay you.”
Her heart started pounding in her chest.
She picked an imaginary thread off her skirt and swallowed hard, thinking of how much she needed, how much money could fix her long list of problems.
Because, if he would pay her to aid him in such a ridiculous chase, she would have to at least consider accepting.
Catherine didnotwant to find her aunt. She didn’t want to confirm that Mary Forster hadn’t cared enough to send her so much as a note over the past seventeen years. Equally, she dreaded finding Mary in such degraded circumstances that the lack of contact would make all too much sense. And she certainly didn’t want to work with the man in front of her. Her enemy. And the only man with whom she had ever…She shook her head.Don’t think of it.
The truth was that scruples were luxuries. And she had been forced to give up luxuries long ago.
“How much were you planning onpayingme?”
He looked at her as if assessing her price. “Two thousand pounds.”
She stifled a gasp. It was a life-changing amount of money.
“Assuming that my aunt Mary still lives—”
“She does.”
“Assuming that my aunt Mary still lives, why would I betray my only living relation for a mere two thousand pounds? I may be poor, Your Grace, but I have my honor.”
“You aren’tbetrayingher. She can’t draw the damned annuity if I can’t find her. Although, in the event that she doesn’t want to accept it, I would expect you to convince her to be reasonable. If she can’t accept a small fortune for her own sake, maybe she would do it for yours.”
A cruel bubble of glee rose within her. She had a dual value to him, then.
“Why do you think she would refuse?”
“I have very little leverage where Mary Forster is concerned. While I hope she’ll be reasonable, I can’t make any assumptions. I need insurance.”
