Page 29 of The Lyon Deception

“So you lied?” the earl prompted him.

“Because she had told me why she was seeking the Master, and I knew if I told her who I was, then she would hate me. I would lose my one chance for her to get to know me and to perhaps like me for myself rather than hate me for my name.”

His hands were sweating. He wiped them surreptitiously on his jacket. They were still observing him but he thought the countess had softened a little, and her husband was almost smiling. As for Cat . . . He shot her another sideways glance. She was looking down at her hands, which were folded in her lap, and her auburn hair shielded her expression.

So be it, he thought pessimistically. She will reject me now, and I will leave and never return. It is over.

“The marriage settlement is very generous,” the earl said.

Sinclair looked up in surprise. Did that mean this wasn’t over after all?

“It is only what Cat . . . what her family deserves,” he answered. “This has been sprung on them without warning, and the loan wasn’t theirs to begin with. My grandfather took advantage of the situation.”

“Very true,” the earl drawled. “Your feelings on the matter are appreciated, sir. However, Lord Armytage may not agree with you.”

Sinclair rubbed his hands over his face. He knew his curls were sticking up all over the place despite his efforts to flatten them down with pomade. “You’re right,” he said. “He may not be happy, but it is up to me to persuade him.”

“Is he on his way south?” the countess enquired. “We may be able to join our voices with yours.”

That was unexpected and at the same time reassuring. “I have written to him, and so has Mrs. Dove-Lyon, but as yet we have had no reply. His silence does seem strange. My grandfather has always been quick to tell me what I am doing wrong.”

“Then I think we will need to go to Lord Armytage rather than waiting for him to come to us,” the earl announced. “Because my niece cannot marry you unless we clarify his part in the settlement.”

“I understand.” And he did. It all hinged on how much his grandfather wanted Sinclair to marry Cat. What he was willing to give up to achieve it.

“Even then,” the countess interjected with a stern note in her voice, “she will not marry you unless it is her wish to do so.”

Cat stirred. “Aunt Jennie,” she protested, “it is my wish.”

Now it was Cat’s turn to be stared at. Sinclair felt his worried frown soften into a joyous smile. “Is it your wish?” he asked her softly. “Really?”

She turned to look at him as if he were a scatterbrain. “I want to save my home and my family, so of course it is my wish!”

Well, that put him in his place!

“We should set out as soon as possible,” the earl interrupted. “We will travel to Bonnyrigg first, and then Cat can stay there, and you and I will travel on to your grandfather’s home.”

“No!” Cat jumped in. “I will come with you. I might be able to help. In any case, I want to see this man. I want to—”

“I think it would be better if you didn’t assault him,” the countess said dryly.

Sinclair laughed. He hadn’t meant to, but the thought of Cat throwing punches at his grandfather’s dour face was suddenly far funnier than it should have been.

Cat looked at him surprise, and then her lips were twitching too. Her blue eyes sparkled, and he wanted nothing more than to reach out and take her hand in his and bring it to his lips.

“Did you really fall instantly in love with me?” she said, looking as if she couldn’t bring herself to believe it, and yet she wanted to.

“Yes, I did. My mother used to tell me it was the same for her when she first laid eyes on my father. She just knew. When my grandfather disapproved of her choice, they ran off together to London.”

“Very romantic,” the countess murmured, and cleared her throat, “but hardly practical.”

Her husband took her hand in his. “I don’t think we were particularly practical either,” he reminded her. “Before your sister Luna married Maxwell, I received a tear-stained letter begging me to run off with you. Do you remember?”

She smiled. “I remember. I wrote it because you were going to marry that horrible woman for her money.”

“I wasn’t,” he retorted. “She spread that rumor. And my father. I would have run off with you in a heartbeat, Jennie, rather than do that.”

They gazed into each other’s eyes in a most affecting manner. Sinclair heard Cat sigh. Then the earl cleared his throat, and his wife straightened her sleeves, and it was back to business.