A Lady by Midnight (Spindle Cove #3)(86)

That would be an awkward situation.

“If I’d only known about you,” he said, staring out the window. “We had other properties from my mother’s side. Foreign land holdings, mostly. In India, the West Indies. But then Bennett went to view them, and he came back . . . changed. I sold all the land at a loss years ago, wanting nothing more to do with plantations or slaving. The land here in England was more than enough, I thought.”

“You thought right,” Kate said. “You did right. And you needn’t fear. I won’t abandon you. We’ll find some way. Can’t I just refuse the inheritance, or give it all back?”

He smiled. “It’s not that easy, I’m afraid.”

“What if I went away?” This might be the answer to both their problems. She could go to America with Thorne, and Evan would remain the head of the family. “I could leave the country. Or stay here in Spindle Cove. No one needs to know I exist.”

“I will know you exist. We all know, and it wouldn’t be right. Kate, I want to secure my siblings’ future, but I refuse to destroy our souls in the process. We can’t simply deny your existence. To do so would be to deny your parents’ love for each other, to deny their love for you. You can’t want that.”

No. She supposed she didn’t.

“We wouldn’t want that, either,” Evan went on. “And what’s more, Kate, the solicitors know about you. Legal proceedings have been set in motion. If you were to disappear now . . . we’d have to wait seven years with everything tied up in court, and then petition to have you declared dead.” He made a grimace. “So please don’t think of it.”

“But it’s just so unfair,” she said. “You’ve been so generous and welcoming to me, and now you must pay this terrible price.”

“You are the one who has suffered unjustly,” he argued. “Never think otherwise.”

“Did you know all along? Even when you first came to find me, did you know that I could be taking the entire fortune?”

He nodded. “I suspected.”

“But you came to find me anyway. With no hesitation.”

“Yes, of course.” His intelligent brow lifted. “Family above everything. That’s the Gramercy way.”

He was so very decent and good, and under different circumstances, she should have been overjoyed to marry a man like him. But she was in love with Samuel. She was committed to Samuel. She’d been intimate with Samuel. There was no way she could marry Evan now.

He took her hand. “Kate, if you’ll marry me, I swear—I will devote everything to giving you the life you deserve. The life you always deserved. And together, we will help our family.” He gave her a half-joking smile. “If you won’t have me, I’ll be forced to pursue some obnoxious heiress with social-climbing parents.”

But would he be able to find social-climbing parents who’d eagerly support unconventional Harry, or decrepit Aunt Marmoset, or Bennett, off wandering the Hindu Kush? And poor Lark, losing her dowry just months from her debut.

Kate cast a desperate glance out the carriage window as they pulled up in the Summerfield drive. This was intolerable. To have found her family after all this time, to feel so loved and accepted by them . . . only to destroy their lives and happiness?

“So,” he said, preparing to exit the carriage, “which will it be? At midnight, will I be introducing you as Lady Kate? Or may I introduce you as the future Lady Gramercy?”

“Evan, I—”

“You need some time,” he finished for her. “Of course, I understand. I’ll come find you before the midnight set.”

And then he was out of the carriage and extending his hand to help her alight, and there was no privacy to discuss it any longer. Before them, the golden candlelit splendor of the Summerfield great hall beckoned. They were being watched by many sets of curious eyes.

“Smile,” he whispered, offering his arm. “And be happy. This is your night.”

As she entered the Summerfield ballroom, Kate scanned every corner and alcove of the hall. Her heart skipped every time she caught a flash of red. There was one militiaman she was particularly hoping, against all odds, to see.

She didn’t find him, but she found the next best thing.

“Kate!”

“It’s us. Over here.”

She whirled on the heel of her slipper, heartened by the familiar voices.

“Susanna. Minerva. Oh, it’s so good to see you.” She embraced her friends warmly. Until Susanna’s arms went around her, Kate couldn’t have realized how desperately she needed a hug.

She could use some friendly advice, as well.

“I’d no idea you’d be here.” She looked from one friend to the other—Susanna, now Lady Rycliff, with her flame-red hair and freckles, and Minerva, the darker, bespectacled middle Highwood sister, recently married to Lord Payne.

“We all came down from London together,” Susanna said. “Papa was growing desperate to see his first grandchild.”

Minerva added, “And I knew I couldn’t deprive Mama of her new son-in-law much longer, either. But in truth, it was our husbands who suggested we make the trip.”

“Truly?” Kate asked, incredulous. “Lord Rycliff and Lord Payne wanted to come? To Spindle Cove?”