Page 24 of Enchanted By the Lyon
Silently she made her way across the room and took her seat. A servant came behind her pushing a trolley with tea and cakes. “Thank you, Mary. That will be all. Please close the door behind you,” Cassandra said as she began pouring tea and offering Lucius a cup.
He would have preferred something stronger but he took the tea and placed it on a small table near at hand. He waited, thinking Saxton’s wife would enter shortly, but when she didn’t, he realized he’d be alone with Cassandra. “No chaperone today?” he asked feeling slightly uncomfortable. He wasn’t certain he could trust himself being alone with her.
She raised her cup to her those perfect lips he remembered kissing and took a sip of her tea before answering. “Since you made an arrangement with Mrs. Dove-Lyon to right the wrongs of my past with my brother-in-law, I assumed I was safe with you. Has that changed?”
He frowned. “Of course not.”
“Then I see no reason to have another person here listening to me while I bring up the uncomfortable memories of my past,” she explained softly.
Oh. Now he was more than slightly uncomfortable. “Cassandra… I—”
“You asked for this meeting, Lord Blackthorn, and I am here. However, as you yourself but recently declared as to what is between us, this is a business meeting. Nothing more. I believe we should keep the formalities between us.” She took another sip of her tea and waited for him to continue.
Lucius observed her for several moments wondering if he had completely snuffed out the light in her eyes that he observed at their past meetings. There was nothing in her features that told him that she cared for him now… that is, if she had truly cared for him in the first place. But somehow, he couldn’t reconcile himself to the idea she was one of those women who claimed love when only interested in his title. Cassandra was different, somehow. Still, perhaps it was for the best that she no longer appeared to love him. And yet, he still regretted that he was the cause of the change in this now somehow cold and distant woman before him.
He leaned forward and took one of her hands. “I’m sorry.”
Her brow rose in question to his apology while she quickly pulled her hand away. “For what, my lord? You made your intentions known as to what you desired from me. I refused your offer. There is nothing further to discuss onthatmatter. If this is the only reason why you are here, then you have delivered your apology and we can let the matter rest.”
He frowned at her words. “You know that isn’t the only reason why I’m here, Cassandra…” She seemed about to protest his use of her given name so he corrected himself. “I mean, Mrs. Vaughn.”
“Then let us get on with this meeting, shall we? There is no sense in delaying the process of you moving on with your life after you learn what you need from mine. Thatiswhy you are here, isn’t it? To discover what you can of my marriage so you can fulfill your debt to Mrs. Dove-Lyon?”
Lucius nodded. What more could he do at this point but to adhere to the consequences of his actions and let Cassandra move on with her life? She had refused his offer to become his mistress. He should never have made the suggestion in the first place. A huge mistake on his part but maybe it was indeed for the best. He didn’t wish to marry anyone at the moment but as he stared into her green eyes as she waited for his answer, regret once again consumed him. He had been a fool and he had no business meddling in the fact she wished to marry someone of standing.
Ideas of what it would be like to be married to a woman like Cassandra suddenly flooded his mind. They weren’t unpleasant. In fact, they were…compelling.
He came out of the images of what could be if he only wished his life to go in a different direction. He gave her a brief nod as he came to the realization that he had no place in her life. “Tell me what you know of your brother-in-law, Mrs. Vaughn, and hopefully I can learn the truth of what that man did to you,” he said sitting back into his chair.
And as Cassandra began to retell her life of her first marriage, Lucius began to see the young woman who had fallen in love and lost everything because of it. She may have gone through hell but in the end, she was a better woman because of it.
Chapter Fourteen
Cassandra tried tolook anywhere in the room except at Lucius. Her attempts to remain cool and indifferent to him appeared on the surface to have worked but inside she was a complete mess. How would she ever get through the ordeal of these meetings when she was still hopelessly in love with a man who only saw her as an object of desire? She would never be good enough to marry in his eyes. So why did she continue to harbor feelings that would never be reciprocated?
She had been foolish to even begin to fall in love with him while knowing nothing of the man himself. His was a handsome face that had caught her attention while at the Lyon’s Den but she never really learned anything about what made Lucius the way he was. Why was he so against marriage when even he knew he must one day pick a bride? His standoffish demeanor should have pushed back any lady who had ideas of capturing this man’s heart. Even her own friends had warned her against him. She should have heeded their advice but once they had told Cassandra of their concerns, it had already been too late. She was in love with him and her feelings couldn’t be turned off so quickly.
“Barlow basically tossed you out of your own house, leaving you nothing and with nowhere to go?” Lucius inquired, breaking her out of her thoughts.
Cassandra shivered in remembrance of standing on the front steps of her townhouse with only the small bag of clothes that Barlow had allowed her. She wasn’t even certain what had been inside, for he had had her things packed while they had been in the front parlor.
“What else could I do? As I stated previously, I was young and had no one to go to for advice,” she answered watching her hands shake as she attempted to reach for her teacup. “My parents were dead and I was an only child. Any distant relatives I may have had were never a part of my life.”
“So, the rogue left you to fend for yourself on the streets,” he fumed as he stood and began to pace the room. “No woman should suffer such an outcome. The man should be called out.”
“I… managed,” she finally declared. “I may not be proud of what I needed to do in order to survive, but hopefully I can redeem myself in the eyes of Society one day.”
“There was no reason you should have been redeeming yourself at all, Cassandra,” he fumed, running his fingers through his black hair. “You were a baron’s daughter and while he was not necessarily someone higher in rank, you were still considered nobility.”
“And a disowned daughter for marrying a man with no title,” she said wiping a tear from her eye. “I always regretted not being able to tell my mother and father how sorry I was before they were killed.”
Lucius stopped his pacing and returned to his seat. “They were killed?”
Cassandra nodded before heaving a sigh. “Yes, although I never talked about it with anyone. I supposed it was commonknowledge in the ton. My father was a baron, after all. And no one ever asked, so… I just haven’t talked about it.”
She was right. If he was the type of man who paid attention to gossip and such things, he might have known this already, Lucius chided himself. Obviously, she still felt the loss keenly. He lowered his voice and asked, “How did they die?”
“A robbery gone wrong. Apparently they were on their way to our home in the country when a highwayman stopped their carriage,” she whispered. “All I was able to learn is that they were shot, along with their driver. No one survived.”
