A Study In Seduction(91)

“You had no idea?” he asked.

A lump clogged her throat. She shook her head. She’d apparently had no idea about anything. No idea that everyone she loved, her entire family, had been lying about her. Had been lying to her.

The emptiness in her chest widened to a gaping chasm. She stared at the surface of the globe, the engraved stars delicate against the thick glass.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

“I feared you’d stop writing if I did,” Dr. Cole replied. “And I confess I didn’t think you’d believe me.” He paused. “Would you have?”

Jane shook her head again. Of course not. Of course she wouldn’t have believed such an absurd thing. Papa was her father, not some stranger she’d been corresponding with for several months whose name she hadn’t even known until a few weeks ago.

Except that he was. Every bone-deep instinct told her that he was. Even though his name wasn’t on the birth certificate, she knew this man was her father. She could even see the resemblance in the shape of his face, the color of his eyes. Like hers.

This man was her father, and Lydia—Lydia—was her mother. The knowledge jumbled in her brain all over again, as riotous as a storm-tossed ocean.

She wondered if Lydia had ever planned to reveal the truth. If anyone had planned to. Or if they’d just expected to keep her in the center of a huge lie.

“Why didn’t you contact Lydia first?” she asked.

“I knew she wouldn’t want to see me,” Dr. Cole replied. “We didn’t part under the most… agreeable of circumstances.” He shrugged. “I wanted to get to know you, and for you to know me, without her influence. I suspect she has nothing kind to say about me.”

“Do you have anything kind to say about her?”

Dr. Cole reached across the globe, placing his long-fingered hand atop hers where it rested on the glass. His palm was warm, comforting. She tried to imagine what he might have been like as a father—but couldn’t.

“Lydia is brilliant,” he said. “She always was. I was surprised to learn from a colleague that she had all but disappeared from academia in the last decade. Her former mathematics tutors were astonished at her aptitude, even as a child. She was a prodigy. I was honored to have her as my student.”

An unexpected sting of tears blurred Jane’s vision. She knew that about Lydia, knew she possessed an unmatched intellect. She knew Lydia had so much to offer with her solutions and proofs and equations.

She knew Lydia could have changed the world… if she hadn’t disappeared from academia, if she hadn’t given up her public pursuit of mathematics.

Dr. Cole’s hand tightened on hers. Too tight. She tried to squirm her hand from his grasp.

“At any rate, I consider it fortunate that you found the document,” he continued. “Perhaps it’s no coincidence that you found it just before Lydia is to be married. Maybe the truth was meant to come out now that she will no longer be living with you.”

A thin but hard line of steel edged his words. Jane gave him a wary glance. He was still smiling, but something hardened behind his eyes like the first coating of frost on a window. A shiver ran down her back.

She managed to pull her hand away from his. “I’m sorry, but it’s late. I’m expected back.”

“Of course. May I see the document before you go?”

Jane pulled the paper from her pocket and unfolded it, staring at the mixture of printed French and swirled handwriting. “I don’t know very much French, but there is only one name listed as parentage. Lydia Kellaway. No profession is given for her, though her age is listed as seize… she was….”

Jane shook her head to rid herself of the reminder that Lydia had been only five years older than Jane was now when she had a child.

“The address is in Lyons,” she continued. “Both my father—Sir Henry—and my grandmother signed as witnesses.”

“Interesting.” He’d moved a little closer to her, his hand still resting on the vast surface of the globe. “Let me see if I can help you determine any further information. I’m fluent in French, you know.”

He stretched out a hand. Jane started to extend the document, then stopped. She drew it back to her, holding it against her chest.

“Actually, I… I really don’t need to know any more at the moment. It’s time I spoke to Lydia about everything.”