Page 23 of The Lyon Deception

“Lady Prudence,” he said. “And Lady Harriet.” Suddenly, he cast a wild glance about the room. “Is Cat here?” He looked as if he expected Cat to rise up from behind the sofa and begin to abuse him.

“No, she isn’t, but we are,” Harriet informed him. She had regained her calm and her eyes bored into his. “Why have you been lying to her? To us? You are the Master, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” He sat down heavily in one of the chairs, his handsome face quite pale, and blurted out, “I’ve been lying because if she knew who I really am, she would hate me and most likely never speak to me again. I don’t want that.”

Prudence grinned in delight. “You love her!” she cried. “I knew it!”

Harriet frowned. “Do you love her? You are going about it in a very strange manner.”

Mr. Sutherland did not deny it. He looked shattered, and Prudence might have been sorry for him if it were not for who he was. “From the moment I first saw her, I knew she was the one for me. I know I should have told her right then who I was, but she told me her story, about losing her home and my grandfather’s part in it, and I knew if I did tell her she would hate me. So I lied, and then I lied again, and that lie has kept on growing and growing. It has become unbearable.”

Harriet’s frown made her look much older. “So when the Black Widow suggested Cat marry the Master . . . marry you . . . you were happy with that?”

He looked as if he might burst with joy, only the next moment to sink into despair. “I do want to marry her. Not just because of how I feel about her, but because I want to help her. I don’t agree with what my grandfather is doing to her family. But when she finds out the truth, she will hate me. How could she not? She won’t speak to me ever again. I won’t be able to explain to her, and even if I do she won’t believe me. Don’t you see, it will be the end of all my hopes and dreams!”

He seemed to have lost all emotional restraint, Prudence thought, but she supposed he could be forgiven in the circumstances.

“You still need to talk to her,” Prudence said angrily. “Tell her the truth. This will only get worse the longer it goes on. Imagine if you actually married Cat and then you told her?” She shuddered. “Imagine if her brothers and her father found out? You would have to flee to the Continent, and even then—”

“Wait a moment,” Harriet interrupted. “Did you say you want to help her?”

“I do want to help her! But you do not know my grandfather. He is a bully. He never listens to anyone, especially me.”

Harriet’s frown grew. “That is rather pathetic,” she said severely. “Are you a man or a mouse?”

He gave a crack of despairing laughter. “It seems I am the worst kind of cowering mouse when it comes to the old man.”

“I don’t believe that,” Prudence spoke up. “You helped us with the carriage. You didn’t have to do that. Especially when you knew who we were. But you did it.”

“I did, didn’t I? But there have been so many lies.” He groaned.

“Then now is the time for you to tell the truth. To lay everything before Cat. She will be angry, of course she will be, but she will work through it. If you really want to help her, to make this right, then she will have to swallow that anger.”

Mr. Sutherland . . . the Master appeared almost hopeful. “I will call upon her immediately,” he said.

“Oh, don’t do that,” Harriet hastened to say. “She has just had some bad news. The court has thrown out her family’s case against your grandfather.”

He stood up. “Good God, have they! Well she needs me more than ever now, doesn’t she?”

“And she is returning home in a week,” Prudence added. “Or less.”

They watched the cowardly mouse before them grow and transform before their eyes into a hero. “I will go to her,” he said. “I will tell her the truth and beg her to let me help her.”

“Hmm,” Harriet said quietly. Her eyes sparkled. “I may have a better idea.”

Chapter Thirteen

There was a cool breeze coming off the river, and Cat huddled into her cloak as she climbed out of the hackney. She could smell the murky Thames as well as the myriad smells from the streets around it. Laughter came from the door into the Lyon’s Den, and the occasional flare of light as someone opened the door and then closed it again.

All day, she had been dreading coming here, and yet she knew she had no choice. The burden of saving her family and her home was weighing on her young shoulders. It was time she repaid the debt to her parents for their love and care of her, and if this was the only way she could do it, then so be it.

Cat moved forward with a determined stride as the familiar tall figure of a man appeared through the fog before her. Titan, that was his name.

“Lady Catriona,” he said in his deep and raspy voice. His face was a shadow among the shadows, but she was glad to see him all the same. “Mrs. Dove-Lyon is ready to see you, if you will come this way.”

“Thank you.” She found her own voice.

Soon, Cat was once more following a maid down corridors and up staircases. This time she hardly noticed, she was so deep in her own thoughts. She might have made up her mind that marrying the Master was the only way out of this, but there was still a long way to go. He must agree to save Bonnyrigg first, perhaps sign it over to her as part of their wedding contract. She was prepared to be that suitable wife his grandfather wanted for him, she would be obedient and everything else he required, she would sacrifice herself at the altar, if he would do this for her. But if he refused . . .