that fact there would be nothing she could do to keep him from taking her sister’s child.
Even though he was just an infant, little George was now the Earl of Atherton. He’d inherited the title from his father. He was next in line to be the Marquess of Trentridge. There was no court in the land that would side with Lia if the Marquess of Trentridge tried to take the babe away from her.
Lia rose from her chair and paced the room. No matter the choices she gave herself, none of them protected the babe from the marquess. The man standing before her was the only man capable of protecting her sister’s child.
“Very well, my lord.”
Lia felt as though a heavy weight had descended on her and had pressed the air from her body.
“My lady,” he said as she continued her nervous pacing. “There are several other matters I need to discuss with you. In private. Perhaps in the garden?”
Lia turned her gaze to her aunt who nodded her approval for Lia to join Lord Atherton in the garden. Lia dreaded the thought of being alone with him. The more they conversed, the greater her chances were that she would reveal something that would cause him to question what she told him. The greater her chances of revealing even the smallest detail that might give him cause to question her claim that she was the baby’s mother.
Yet, what choice did she have?
Without acknowledging him, she walked to the glass doors that led to the terrace, then descended the three steps that led to a cultured, walled garden. The night was perfect, a beautiful summer’s evening.
Lia had always been fond of the out-of-doors. Of all manner of flowering plants. The garden was rich with blooming shrubs and flowers of all kinds. She and her sister had spent many hours sharing the swing that hung from the garden’s central shade tree when they’d come to stay with Aunt Mildred for Jannie’s confinement.
Janice had shared whispered details of her time with Lord Atherton, and how and where they met. She’d told Lia of the exact moment she knew she loved her blond earl. Lia was sure she knew as much about their relationship as there was to know.
“Where did you meet my brother?” he asked.
“At university, my lord. My father is a professor at Cambridge and Evan and I met at a musicale. We happened to sit next to each other and we struck up a conversation that I found engaging. Your brother was one of the most interesting men I had ever met.”
“Did you ever hear him play the pianoforte?”
Lia smiled and lifted her gaze. She remembered how Janice talked about the man she loved and how much she admired everything he did. “His music was as charming as he was himself.” Each time she thought of Janice’s description of her husband’s musical skill, she wished that she herself could have heard him play.
“Yes,” Lord Atherton said on a sigh.
“Do you share that same gift, my lord?”
“Alas, no, I do not. I play tolerably well until I’m put up against an eight-year old. Then, I’m found quite wanting. To be bluntly honest, there weren’t many things I could do equally as well as Evan.”
Lia stopped. “Are those your father’s words, my lord, or your own?”
His eyes narrowed and the darkness in his gaze caused her a moment’s pause. “And what, pray tell, do you know of my father?”
“Only what Evan told me, but that was enough to know you were constantly the recipient of all manner of criticism. You were also at loggerheads with your father on a daily basis. Which is why you went out on your own at such an early age.” Lia prayed she’d remembered that part right.
“I think if my brother were here at this moment I might rebuke him for his openness when discussing me.”
Lia lowered her gaze, relieved to know she had, after all, remembered correctly. “Evan and I shared everything, my lord. I think he wanted me to know everything about him. It was as if he knew he wouldn’t be here to watch his son grow to manhood and he wanted someone to be able to tell him everything there was to know about him.”
“How long did you know each other before you married?”
“Nearly a year.”
“Where were you married?”
“In Scotland. It was quite simple to arrange it there.”
“Were you carrying his son before you married?”
Lia paused in her circuit around the shade tree. What