Devil in Disguise (The Ravenels #7) - Lisa Kleypas Page 0,87
wouldn’t dream of disagreeing with you.”
“You used to be a better liar than this,” Westcliff commented, now starting to look concerned. “Who is this man, and what has he been doing to my daughter? Is he still here?”
Mercifully, they were interrupted by Evie’s voice. “Good morning, my lord.”
Westcliff’s expression softened as Evie came into the room, looking fresh and beautiful in a daffodil-yellow dress.
“What a l-lovely surprise to find you here,” Evie exclaimed, beaming. She rose on her toes to press her cheek against his.
“Forgive the intrusion, my dear,” Westcliff said, his dark eyes smiling down at her.
“It’s nothing of the sort, you’re family.”
“I didn’t expect to find you here,” Westcliff commented. “Have you returned early from Paris, or does my memory fail me?”
Evie laughed. “Your memory never fails, my lord. I am indeed back early.”
“How are Sir George and Lady Sylvia?” Westcliff asked.
“Settling in nicely.” Evie would have said more, but Sebastian touched her elbow lightly. She turned to him with a questioning glance.
“Lillian’s here, darling,” he told her. “Running through the house unsupervised.” Meaningfully he added, “She’s looking for Merritt.”
He saw from the slight widening of Evie’s eyes that she understood. “I’ll go find her,” she suggested brightly. “We’ll all breakfast together.”
Lillian’s voice came from the doorway. “Capital idea! I’m famished.”
She cut a dashing figure in a scarlet traveling dress and black cloak, with a plumed red hat set at a jaunty tilt on her head. Even after having given birth to six children, Lillian was still slender and coltish, with the same high spirits and confident stride she’d had as a young woman.
Evie and Lillian hurried to each other and embraced warmly. The two of them, along with Lillian’s sister Daisy Swift, and the vivacious Annabelle Hunt, had begun a lifelong friendship more than three decades ago. They had all been downtrodden wallflowers, consigned to sitting in a row at the side of a ballroom while everyone else danced. But instead of competing for male attention, they had made a compact to help each other. And throughout the years, they had championed and saved each other, time and again.
“Did you find Merritt?” Westcliff asked as Lillian came to the breakfast table with Evie.
Lillian replied with brisk cheerfulness, even as tell-tale banners of bright pink ran across her cheekbones. “Yes, she was in bed. Sleeping. Very soundly. Alone, of course. She’ll come down soon.”
Holy hell, Sebastian thought grimly. He was positive she’d seen Keir with Merritt. No doubt in some spectacularly compromising position.
However, as a devoted and loyal mother, Lillian would keep her mouth shut. She might criticize one of her children in private, but never in public. She would go to any lengths to protect them.
“I was just asking Kingston,” Westcliff told Lillian, “about Merritt’s business client, Mr. MacRae.”
“Is he still here?” Lillian asked, a little too innocently.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” Sebastian replied smoothly. He seated Evie at the table, while Westcliff did the same for his own wife.
As Lillian settled into her chair, she darted a look at Sebastian that said: You do not have long to live. He pretended not to notice.
Westcliff sat next to Lillian and rested a hand on the table, drumming his fingers lightly. “Why did Merritt bring MacRae here to recuperate from his injuries?” he asked Sebastian. “I would have expected her to take him to Stony Cross Park.”
“It was at my request.”
“Oh?” Westcliff studied him closely. “What connection do you have to him?”
Sebastian smiled slightly, reflecting that of all the things he’d ever broken, lost, or left by the wayside, he was grateful to have kept this man’s friendship. Something about Westcliff’s steady, logical presence made any problem seem manageable.
“Marcus,” he said quietly. They never usually went by first names, but for some reason it slipped out. “This has to do with that matter I told you about last year. The one involving Lady Ormonde.”
Westcliff reacted with a quick double blink. “This is him?”
Lillian shook her head in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ll explain,” Sebastian said. As he tried to think of how to start, Evie’s slim hand crept to his, their fingers weaving together. He looked down at their joined hands and stroked his thumb across a golden freckle on her wrist. “First,” he said, “let me remind everyone that in my youth, I was by no means the angel I am now.”
Lillian’s mouth twisted. “Believe me, Kingston … no one’s forgotten.”
Chapter 29
SEBASTIAN EXPLAINED HOW HE’D found out about the existence of an illegitimate son, and