Page 31 of Read To Me, Lyon

“Were you with another man?”

Her eyes went wide. “Of course not!”

Oliver believed her. Why did her words soothe his fractured heart? Deep down he knew why; the thought of another touching her filled him with a hurt that seemed unfathomable to overcome. But what else could it be? He pushed off the wall with his hand and stepped back. “Are you in danger?”

Kitty hesitated and then shook her head. Alarm filled him, knowing something was amiss.

“Does this have something to do with why you sought out Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s assistance?”

Kitty’s eyes became watery. “Yes.” She swallowed visibly, then whispered, “I need to share something with you.”

“What is it?”

“Oliver—”

The door of the study opened with a bang, and Julia rushed in. “Hanson said you returned. Is Peter well?”

His mother and Hazel stood behind her. The interruption rendered him speechless. He stepped away from Kitty.

Julia drew her brows together in alarm. “Oliver?”

Finally, he shook his head. “He’s fine. Carrington is taking care of him, and they will be back in the city by the end of the week.”

“I’m so glad to hear that,” his mother said. Julia nodded but said nothing. Hazel glanced around at all of them. “Is something amiss? Are you feeling worse, Kitty?”

Kitty flushed but didn’t answer. Instead, she looked at him, her expression somehow frantic.

It wasn’t only him to whom she’d been lying, apparently. Although he wasn’t sure she’d actually lied to him; she just hadn’t told him what she’d been doing, and with whom. He raised an eyebrow at his wife and said, “Kitty told me she is doing much better.”

Hazel beamed at her. “Well, you missed a lovely ball. I danced with several lords. I’m smitten with them all.”

His mother’s gaze bounced back and forth between him and Kitty. “Did we interrupt something?”

Oliver and Kitty stared at one another. She glanced nervously at his mother, his sister, and Hazel. A surge of protectiveness flared in him. Oliver shook his head. “No.”

His mother looked at them skeptically and then told Julia and Hazel, “Let’s go to the kitchen and get a treat before bed.”

The girls darted off, rushing towards the back of the townhouse. His mother smiled. “I’m glad you are home, Oliver.”

Once she was gone, he turned back to Kitty, who now paced back and forth, probably, he assumed, so he couldn’t trap her against the wall again. “I want you to know. It isn’t a man. I would never. I love you and only you, Oliver.”

“But you would keep something from me.”

Her lower lip trembled. “It means a great deal to me.”

His heart cracked more at her words. Whatever this was, his wife thought it was better not to share it with him.

“What is it?” he demanded again.

“The bookshop…my printing press and publishing house…it has another stream of revenue besides the books you’ve seen there.”

His brows drew together in confusion. What was she talking about? “What do you mean?” Were there more pirate books?

Kitty walked to the sideboard and poured a brandy. She took a large sip. He stared at her. This was a night of many firsts. Oliver had never seen his wife drink brandy and didn’t expect her to do so with such ease.

Apparently fortified by liquid courage, she straightened her shoulders then and said, “Most of the revenue my family makes is from the printing and selling of illicit books.”

Illicit books? He blinked, and then her meaning dawned upon him, and it became clear. That was why she’d had the how-to sex book in her room!