Free An Heir of Deception by Beverley Kendall Page B

fearing the grave repercussions of something like that becoming public.
    Your brother need not know.
    She’d said nothing of Alex but that had been inferred.
    No, her sister was right. Mrs. Henley would never have told a soul. Had she wanted to ruin them, she’d have done so long ago.
    Katie finally looked up and flashed a tight smile. “She was a good woman. She asked about you many times before she died.”
    Charlotte felt a pinch in her heart. It had been clear Mrs. Henley, seventy if she was a day, with fine, weathered skin and diminutive in stature, had formed a very strong bond with their mother.
    Mrs. Henley had spoken of her in the fondest of terms, tearing up when she spoke of her death and when she’d lost track of her and Katie’s whereabouts. When she had found them after a year of searching, they were living with the nanny and nursemaid their father had hired to care for them until they could be shipped off to boarding school.
    Their mother had been like a daughter to her and hence the connection she felt to them.
    “I’m sorry she’s gone,” Charlotte said and truly meant it.
    With a small nod, Katie commenced drinking her tea. The silence following was stark with so many questions Charlotte dare not ask, at least not yet for it would only fuel questions she herself could not answer.
    “You must go and speak to Alex—today,” Katie announced after a time.
    This Charlotte knew. It’s what was creating butterflies in her stomach and making her heart feel as if it were lodged in her throat. Her only response was a slow nod.
    “You must tell him the truth,” Katie continued, now looking at her direct.
    The truth. Now that was a scary prospect and something Charlotte had considered only briefly after meeting Mrs. Henley. The letter had taken care of that unruly compulsion. How could she when the truth had the power to destroy lives if it fell into the wrong hands? Worse than that, should there be anything worse, the truth would make him look at her differently. It had made her look at herself differently since the day she’d learned of it. How could it not fail to do the same to Alex?
    “I need to explain.”
    “If you lie to him, he will know.”
    That Charlotte also knew, which would only make him hate her more. Oh God, she could see she had no choice in this. She had to tell him the truth.
    Days before, her sole concern had been her sister. Since the moment Lucas had told her, she’d made countless bargains with God to spare Katie’s life. She’d been so scared, heartsick with it. Now she knew an entirely different kind of fear but one she felt just as acutely.

    Charlotte arrived at Gretchen Manor an hour later and after spending two minutes in the foyer while the footman ascertained if his lord was in to visitors, she was finally led into the drawing room to await him there.
    The manor house was smaller than her brother’s but her entire residence could likely fit into three of the rooms with room to spare. The drawing room held two tan sofas, a settee, one rather lofty winged-back chair and a chaise lounge, which looked incongruously feminine amid furniture somber and square. Everything in the room suited Alex from the oil painting that hung like an island in the middle of an endless sea of wall, to the redwood center table and the oblong brown rug.
    Charlotte had elected to wear her most flattering day dress, pale pink in color with a ruched neckline and an unadorned satin skirt. Amid tasseled gold and brown cushions, she was the brightest thing in the room.
    She’d come here to bare her soul, as it were. However, when Alex arrived a full ten minutes later, his tight jaw, cold, gray eyes and thin-lipped expression did not invite her to remove her gloves—which she’d already done—much less bare her soul.
    Nonetheless, her stomach went into a free fall and her equilibrium was duly tested. She imagined it would take time for her to see him again and not feel so completely undone. Like