Page 93 of Tempting Her Viscount

Chapter Thirty-One

That afternoon, Kit was reviewing his books when his butler came in to announce Graham had arrived. It might have been better, if Gray had waited for a response before barging in, but it wasn’t like Kit would turn him away.

Gray was welcome to visit, but if he suggested he and Kit go to the club that evening or out to meet people, Kit would refuse the offer.

While Kit wasn’t ready to start attending balls again, he wasn’t going to spend his evenings the way they once had. The way that ended with Kit sleeping on the floor in the hall at Penbrook House. Those days were over.

“Can I get you a drink?” Kit offered and stood to get it. When Gray replied with a, “No, thank you,” Kit knew something was wrong.

It could only be Celia. She was his only family. The only person Gray cared enough about to be upset and refuse an offered glass of whiskey for.

“What’s happened?” Kit asked immediately though he wasn’t certain he’d survive hearing the answer.

“I’m afraid I need to tell you something.”

“Is Celia all right?” he whispered.

Gray’s eyes went wide. “She’s fine. But I’m afraid I need to tell you the truth of something that happened years ago.”

Kit sat as Gray went on with a story about the night Gray’s father planned to marry Celia to Lord Hamlin. The night Kit had first offered to wed Celia. He’d wanted to take her to Scotland and marry her, but she’d chosen money over Kit.

Gray held out a yellowed letter with a brittle wax seal of a bird in flight on the back. It had not been opened and there was no address on the front.

“Go on. Read it. It is to you. I was supposed to give it to you years ago. The night I came to your house and told you what was happening.”

Kit opened it and read the words Celia had written to him that fateful night.

Dear Christopher,

I understand this letter may come as a surprise, as I have never corresponded with you before. However, I am facing a dire situation and desperately need your help.

My father plans to marry me to Lord Hamlin. I’ve never met the gentleman, my father has said he is quite pleasant, though I imagine all my father cares about is that the man is quite rich.

I do not want to marry him, and as such I’ve come to the point of this letter in which I must beg for your assistance. If you could see your way to marry me, then I would be spared the fate my father has chosen for me.

I understand you are very young and have not experienced all the world has to offer. But I promise to give you whatever freedoms you may have otherwise had without complaint.

If you could please consider my offer, it is all I can ask of you. And if your answer is no, we will always remain friends.

Yours,

Celia

“Christ, Gray. You had this letter all this time and never said anything?” Kit was ready to pummel his one-time friend. Except the man went on to explain the threat his father made to someone he’d once loved if Gray hadn’t complied with his father’s wishes.

Kit couldn’t help but think Gray might still love this mystery woman, though he wouldn’t expand on who it was, only to say, “She is now married, so it doesn’t matter.”

And for now, it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was what Gray said next.

“Celia admitted to being angry with you, all this time, because you weren’t there when she needed you. This is why she’s turned down your offers since.”

Kit knew well, he had not gotten over her refusal and while he’d come to love the woman, his heart was still raw from that night Gray had told him Celia wouldn’t marry him.

“But I didn’t refuse her,” he pointed out.

“Yes. I’ve since remedied the misunderstanding so she knows of your offer back then.”

“That means…” Kit sat and stared at his hands. “She might consider me now that she has this information?” He couldn’t hide the hope in his voice. Perhaps his chance to marry the woman he loved was not yet over.