“Please, sit.”
He obeyed and crossed his long legs. “You are all alone here, then?”
The question, along with the look he gave me, took me by surprise. “Uh, yes. I am. My aunt doesn’t keep a large staff since she travels so much, and tonight is the housekeeper’s half day,” I explained.
“And your son?”
“He is spending the night at my brother’s house.”
Lord Linden smiled again, but there was a gleam in his eye that rather reminded me of a lion. “I don’t know very many women who could survive an evening without their lady’s maid at their beck and call, let alone a full staff. Yet here you are.”
I managed a chuckle despite my nerves. “Well, I’ve never had a lady’s maid, my lord. The closest I came to that was when I still lived at home and my mother deigned to let her maid fix my hair.” And even that had been more trouble than it was worth. “Perhaps you need to expand your circle.”
Lord Linden let out a chuckle. “I amalwayslooking for ways to expand my circle, I assure you.”
I cast a glance at the door, but it remained closed. I didn’t much like the idea of flirting with this man, but I didn’t know how else to stall for time. I leaned towards him a little in my chair. “Yes, I have heard such things about you,” I said, attempting a coquettish smile.
It must have worked because he too leaned forward. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that you shouldn’t listen to everything you hear.”
Though I knew it was only meaningless banter, it still struck a nerve, given that he had freely spread gossip about Mr. Dorian. It also provided a nice opening to ask about the photograph, and I didn’t want to waste it. I could only hope that Miles had already arrived, or would very shortly. “Yes, about that,” I began. “There was something I learned about you recently that I wanted to discuss.”
The baron tilted his head in interest. “Oh?”
“I recently visited an old school friend, Cecelia Morton, though she has now become Cecelia Wentworth. I believe you knew her husband, Gerald, at Cambridge.”
Lord Linden took a sip and considered this. “The name sounds familiar,” he said vaguely.
“She said you were both members of a Hellenic club that participated in a dig one summer in Greece.”
“Oh. Yes. I do remember that.”
“I thought you might,” I said with a strained smile. “I bring it up because she happened to have a photograph of the members and wished to show it to me because my husband, Oliver, was also a participant.”
I held my breath as Lord Linden watched me, then his face fell, and he looked down. “Ah. I see.” Then he let out a sigh and met my gaze, a distinct look of remorse in his eyes. “You must have some questions then.”
I was so taken aback by his reaction that it was a moment before I managed to respond. “Yes, I do.”
“You must understand,” he began, “that I was taken completely by surprise the night we met. I hadn’t thought about Oliver in years.”
“All right,” I said slowly, beckoning him to say more.
Lord Linden dragged a hand through his hair. “And then I didn’t exactly want to admit to his widow that the two of us had once been adversaries,” he said with a sheepish look. “But still, it was wrong of me to lie.”
“You must have known that I would learn the truth eventually,” I pointed out.
“I wasn’t thinking very clearly,” he admitted. Then he suddenly moved from his chair to my side and grabbed my hands. “I’m so sorry. I hope this doesn’t change things between us.”
I tugged on my hands a little, but he only tightened his hold. “My lord, we barely know each other.”
“Yes, but I know what I feel. And I know you feel it too,” he continued.
I cast a glance at the door, well aware that his little declaration had an audience. “I am sorry if I gave you that impression, but—”
He chuckled again. “You invited me here and arranged for us to be alone. Forgive me, darling, but what else was I supposed to think?”
I turned back to him, now quite shocked. “Well, certainly not that!”
“There is no need for you to worry,” he began as he drew me against him. “I assure you that I am the very picture of discretion.”
