Page 17 of Secret Dynasty

Interest swelled inside me, and I couldn’t help wondering if he actually recognized it. Did he know about the hospital stay? Did he know why Kerrigan was there? It took every ounce of self-control I had to keep myself from asking those questions. The more questions I asked, the more attention I would draw to my plans. For now, no one but Eliza needed to know what I was up to. Plus, he was probably just covering for his snobbery by acting like he didn’t care if she took it.

“Maybe you can see that a car takes Eliza to the train station,” I suggested.

“That’s not necessary,” Eliza jumped in.

“Of course, it will only take a moment.” Giles pulled his mobile out of his pocket and dialed the number. Eliza watched, clearly impressed as he ordered a driver to immediately bring a car to the front-drive. When he ended the call, he looked at her. “Would you like help with your bags?”

“I got this,” she said quickly, her eyes darting over to me. I didn’t have to tell her that that bag couldn’t be let out of her sight. It was our best chance at finding out the truth about me and Kerrigan.

“Some people carry their own bags,” I informed him.

“I really should go. I’m going to miss my train,” Eliza said. She reached over and gave me another quick hug. “Call me.”

“And you’ll be back in two weeks,” I asked her.

“And miss being a bridesmaid,” she said wickedly. “Believe me, I’ll be here.”

“Oh,” Giles said in a strained voice. “You’ll be joining the wedding party?”

“Yes,” I said, “with the date moving up, I was lucky she had availability.”

Eliza bit back a snort of laughter and waved as she darted out of the bedroom.

“Do you really think that’s wise?” His eyes followed her out the door.

“I’m being forced to get married in two weeks. I think you can let me have this one,” I said, lifting my chin and tearing him to argue with me.

Giles paused long enough to consider and seemed to think better of debating the issue. “I have the funeral information for you. Spencer is requesting that you arrive half of an hour early to be prepped and pass through security.”

“Security?” I took the sheet of paper from him. “If they’re worried someone’s going to kill the guest of honor, I have news for them.”

His lips turned down as if he found the joke distasteful, but he didn’t say anything. “Given Lord Byrd’s stature within Parliament as well as his relationship with the monarchy, there will be a number of high profile guests in attendance to pay their respects. It’s all on the sheet.”

I scanned the paper and found my mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”

“You’re marrying into a very important family,” he reminded me, his words tinged with warning.

“So everyone keeps telling me,” I said as I stared at the list. There was a time when I wouldn’t have expected to be in the same city as these people. Now they were coming to attend a funeral for my intended family.

“There’s something else,” Giles said. He cleared his throat before reaching into the breast pocket of his jacket and withdrawing a few small books.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“These are your private diaries,” he said, not bothering to look up from the books.

“My private diaries?” I repeated. Why was he just giving them to me? He’d been keen to pass on any of Kerrigan’s personal possessions when I arrived at Willoughby Place, so that I could pass as her. These would have been useful. Instead, he’d kept them to himself.

“You kept them hidden,” he said. “I knew about them and when… Well, I thought I should hold onto them for you. I assume whatever you wrote in them you wished to remain private.”

“Thank you.” My mouth was dry as I took them from him. Part of me longed to open the covers, wondering what I might find inside. The rest of me wanted to shove them back into a closet under stacks and stacks of bags and clothes and pretend they never existed. But I couldn’t pretend they didn’t exist any more than I could pretend that I wasn’t in this situation now. “I’ll look at them after the funeral.”

He cleared his throat. “That would be wise.”

Before I could press him on his mysterious answer, the door to my quarters opened and Iris peeked in.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said with a cautious smile. “Eliza just said goodbye. I wanted to check in with you.”

It seemed everyone wanted to make amends or whatever this awkward attempt at conversation was now.