Page 36
Twelve
“I
beg your pardon?” Beatrice’s eyes widened, and she paled, her freckles standing out in stark contrast against her ivory skin. “One and twenty? Not five and twenty?”
Though his news had visibly rocked her, she stood strong and confident.
So much strength and determination.
Cassius admired her all the more because of her stalwartness.
He couldn’t refrain from giving her shoulders a comforting squeeze, then stepped away before he threw caution to the wind and drew her into his arms as he longed to do. “You’ve been able to claim your inheritance all this time. The solicitors have sent multiple correspondences to you asking why you have not done so.”
“Correspondences, my uncle intercepted, no doubt.” Bitterness at her uncle’s duplicity leached into her whispered response.
“There’s more.” Despite Cassius’s common sense telling him to tread carefully, to not touch her again, he tilted her chin upward with his forefinger.
“I’m not sure my constitution can handle any more shocks today, Cassius,” she quipped, although her low tone held a note of sincerity and guardedness.
“This news will please you. You’re not inheriting twenty thousand pounds. Your trust funds were invested wisely, and you have more than fifty-five thousand pounds, Beatrice.”
Gasping, she slapped a palm over her mouth, her eyes enormous with disbelief.
“You are a wealthy woman. Furthermore, your husband does not gain control when you marry. The monies remain yours.” Father had double-checked those unusual stipulations. “Your grandmother was a clever woman, for if you died before claiming your inheritance, the funds would’ve passed to a charity to care for unfortunate women like your mother.”
The dowager had ensured her son would not get the funds, but why?
Because she’d loved her daughter, despite the scandal surrounding her?
Because she knew what a scapegrace her son was?
“I d-don’t understand.” Looking utterly dazed, Beatrice shook her head. “Why would Uncle Cedric lie to me? He could have been rid of me last year. Why hide the truth from me?”
“That is what I mean to find out.”
Cassius traced his thumb over her jaw.
Petal soft.
She stood, transfixed.
Would the rest of her be as velvety smooth?
He couldn’t tear his focus from her plump lips. Just inches away, they beckoned to him like cool water to a parched man in the desert.
One kiss.
What could one kiss hurt?
Bollocks, man.
Cease your infernal romantic speculation.
He cleared his throat, deliberately breaking the spell. “Tell me about your uncle’s finances.”
Beatrice blinked as if awakened from a daze, then wrinkled her nose like an adorable bunny.
“I honestly don’t know anything about them. He’s stingy about some things, but not anything that has to do with keeping up appearances. Nevertheless, he makes me pay for my wardrobe and the care of my animals with a small allowance from my trust fund.”
