“Because you were looking for her last night at the dinner,” she reminded him. “I was just wondering if you’d found her.”
“No, I haven’t seen her. Who is the unexpected guest you mentioned?” He set his cup down to glare suspiciously at his sister. “It best not be Joanna Thorncroft.”
One disruptive American under his roof was more than enough.
What the devil would he do with two of them?
“As much as I would like to have our sister here–” Brynne began.
“Half-sister,” he interrupted.
She rolled her eyes. “You’ll have to meet Joanna eventually. Sister or half-sister, she is oursisterand I should like very much to have some kind of relationship with her, even if it is through letters sent across the Atlantic.”
“A letter wouldn’t be necessary. According to the Duke of Hanover, it seems Joanna has chosen to temporarily remain in London.”
“Why, that’s splendid!” Brynne cried. “You may not think so, West, but she and Evie never came here to do us harm. They wanted to find their family, and their mother’s ring. You cannot continue to fault them for that.”
“I don’t,” he admitted gruffly.
“You-you don’t?” she asked with marked surprise. “When did you come to that realization?”
After I kissed Evie and the sun shone brighter, the air tasted sweeter, and my heart started to beat again.
He grimaced into his coffee. “I may have reacted…rashly when I first discovered our father’s affair. I was angry with him, and I took that anger out on the Thorncrofts. Unfairly, it would appear.”
“I’ve always found anger to be easier than acceptance,” Brynne said quietly.
“Yes.” Now it was he who looked at his twin with surprise. “Precisely. Now that cooler heads have prevailed, I’ve reconsidered my original position.”
“Then wecanhost Joanna!” She clapped her hands. “How delightful. I’ll send a carriage to collect her straightaway.”
“No,” he snapped. “Absolutely not.”
By openly welcoming Joanna into his life and into his home, he’d be inadvertently extending the same invitation to Evie. And he wasn’t about to go through all the trouble of finding her a husband just to have her waltzing back into his life whenever the mood struck.
It was one thing to tell a child they couldn’t have candy and then put it up high on a shelf out of their reach. It was quite another to tell them it was forbidden and then dangle it right in front of their nose.
“Why?” Brynne inquired. “Joanna’s sister is here,andher cousin. I can think of no better time to welcome her to Hawkridge Manor.”
“Because…” As he couldn’t tell his twin the truth, he struggled to find another reasonable excuse for not welcoming Joanna to the estate with all haste. “Because she is working for the private detective Sterling hired to exonerate him of murder, and I wouldn’t want to distract her from such an important endeavor.”
“Surely she can spare afewdays,” Brynne argued.
“Even if she could, do you really believe this to be the best environment in which to host a warm family reunion?” he asked with a sardonic tilt of his mouth. “The speculation and gossip incited by the sudden arrival of our father’s illegitimate daughter would be all anyone spoke of for the duration of the house party. I doubt very much that Joanna would care to be the recipient of such attention.”
Brynne frowned. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Once the Season commences and we’re all in London, I will make it a point to extend an invitation.”
“And if she’s left England by then?”
“We’ll send a letter.”
Brynne raised her tea to her lips, then paused. “Your reluctance to have Joanna come to Hawkridge Mason wouldn’t have anything to do with theotherMiss Thorncroft, would it?”
“Nothing,” he lied. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason. Other than you’ve been exhibiting strange behavior ever since you and Evie arrived. If I didn’t know better…”
