Lucas gave direction to the carriage driver and handed her in, using a great deal of willpower not to repeat their actions from their last carriage ride.
***
The solicitor’s office was much larger and more tidy than Sperry’s. Several clerks worked in the front room, and one greeted them before promising to collect his employer. It was while they were waiting that they saw him—Mr. Frank Colbert came from a back room, holding several papers and not noticing their arrival.
Lucas tensed at the sight, but Lydia’s light hand atop his stopped him from confronting the man. Except then she froze in place, her head cocking in thought.
“What is it?” he asked, leaning close.
She nodded to Mr. Frank Colbert. “He called Lord Tarrington my uncle the night he took me. I thought it a slip of the tongue, but what if he knew?”
“Tarrington called Colbert a fortune hunter to my mother. He could only have been a fortune hunter if he knew of your forthcoming title. What if he confronted Tarrington with the information in an attempt to secure the barony for himself?”
The solicitor interrupted them then, pulling them back into his office, where he laid out the terms of Lord Tarrington’s will in no uncertain words. Lydia was a baroness. ShewasLord Tarrington’s niece. He had been her father’s brother.
When Lucas asked for more information, the solicitor explained, “Mr. Faraday chose to live away from the family, taking on his mother’s maiden name, as I understand it, my lord. He married outside the gentry, and that frustrated his father and brother, leading to a fairly permanent estrangement. But there was no getting around that in the will—Miss Faraday will inherit everything—the title, the estate, the money—everything.”
“That is probably why he tried so hard to marry me off,” Lydia said. “I doubt he trusted me with his estate—he wanted a man to manage it.”
Lucas scoffed at that. “I do not know if Lord Tarrington had met you, if he truly believed you could be managed.”
That earned him an amused look from Lydia, but then she turned to the solicitor. “Who else was aware of this?”
The man squinted at her. “I do not know what you mean.”
“Besides my uncle, would anyone have known I was set to inherit?”
The solicitor frowned. “Not that I am aware of. Some of my clerks work the files, but that is all.”
Lucas and Lydia exchanged a glance. Could that really have been Colbert’s reason in pursuing her? Had he been aware of her title? They may never know, but it was certainly a high possibility, one that made Lucas dislike the man even more. Lydia had far more to recommend herself than a barony.
“Thank you. I imagine we will be seeing you again soon,” Lydia said, brushing a hand down her skirt in preparation to rise.
The solicitor nodded, coming to his feet as Lydia did. “I will get everything in order for you.”
“Thank you again.”
Chapter 42
They left the establishment withoutseeing Colbert again. Much as she had questions for the man, she also didn’t feel she needed to have them all answered. For once in her life, the innately curious side of herself felt strangely satiated. There was a hollowness in the midst of her chest, not necessarily a painful or sad feeling, just hollow.
All that time she’d been under the care of her last living relative, and he’d never once told her. Had he cared so little for her that he did not even wish to claim the connection?
Somehow that did not make her feel bad for herself but rather for him. If what the solicitor said was true, Tarrington—her uncle—had pushed away the one person that ought to have been closest to him. His brother had followed his heart, and Tarrington had deemed that worth ruining their relationship over. It was sad. Horrible.
But not all parts of the man were terrible—she’d seen that. She’d seen the briefest glimpses of humanity in him. After all, he’d evidently forbidden Mr. Frank Colbert from courting her. Whether that was for some reason as ridiculous as not liking the man’s state of attire or something more serious, he had protected her.
So maybe he had cared in his own way. She had just never been his first priority.
While she could not find it in her to really mourn his loss, she did mourn the loss of the relationship they might have had.
Lucas was quiet as she processed it all, seeming to know that she needed the time in her own thoughts, but she glanced at him now, gratitude making her chest swell. She’d found someone who would forever make her a first priority. And in part, that was thanks to her uncle as well.
He noticed her watching him and stopped just outside on the walk. “Are you well?”
Lydia turned to him. “My mind is racing,” she admitted. “This changes everything and yet nothing at all. Despite the security it should give me to know this, I...” She glanced down. “Honestly, all I wish is to return to your home and tell your family we are to be married.” A broad smile painted its way across her face. “Is that horribly odd?”
“If it is, I do not wish to be normal.” He helped her into the carriage, settling by her side and barely refraining from kissing her smiling lips. “I think we ought to be married soon. As soon as your mourning allows.”
