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behind him with the door wide open, waiting for instruction.
    Sir Thomas sighed and sat heavily again, looking past him briefly. “That’ll be all, John,” he said to his secretary.
    â€œAnd we don’t wish to be disturbed,” Colin added without glancing over his shoulder.
    Sir Thomas almost smiled. “No, we don’t wish to be disturbed.”
    â€œVery well, sir,” Blaine replied matter-of-factly before closing the door behind him.
    Colin never moved his eyes from the older man, his mentor, who sat across from him now, watching him in return. Sir Thomas’s office—indescribably small and cramped, cluttered with stacks of paperwork and overflowing shelves of dust-covered books and odd trinkets—felt unusually stuffy and cold today, the windows closed because of a lingering drizzle and chill in the air. But Colin paid no attention aside from a passing notice. His mind stayed focused on getting to the truth.
    â€œWell?” he prodded, keeping his gaze fixed on the man.
    Sir Thomas relaxed a little and fussed with the tie at his thick neck, then perched his elbows on the wooden armrests, his fingers interlocked in front of his chest. “Actually, I’m surprised you didn’t confront me at home yesterday,” he said casually.
    That blasé reply irritated him, and he stretched one leg out, folding his arms across his chest. “I considered it, but decided I wanted to collect my thoughts first.”
    â€œAh. I see.”
    He snorted. “No, you don’t.” After wiping one palm harshly down his face, he added, “Do you have any idea what trouble you’ve caused me?”
    The older man’s brows rose innocently. “Trouble? You wanted to meet Lottie English. I made that possible.”
    Colin shook his head, closing his eyes briefly before gazing back at the man. “You could have told me her identity. As it was, you left me unprepared.”
    â€œUnprepared for what?”
    â€œUnprepared for what? For her, for Christ’s sake,” he replied harshly.
    Sir Thomas continued to watch him closely for a moment, then leaned forward, still clutching his hands together as he placed them on the desktop. “What exactly happened that’s got you so riled up, Colin?”
    Although Sir Thomas was technically his employer, the man also remained his inferior by title, and almost never used his Christian name. Doing so now surprised him almost as much as it made his irritation worse.
    No longer able to sit still, he rose abruptly and shoved his hands in the pockets of his rain-dampened topcoat as he walked to the window, peering out to the grayness of early afternoon.
    â€œShe’s cornered me,” he said soberly.
    Sir Thomas chuckled, and he flipped his head around to stare the man down.
    â€œIt isn’t funny. The woman wants to marry me, for God’s sake, and she’s using her…Lottie English persona to entice me into it.”
    â€œ Entice you?”
    â€œYes, entice me.”
    Silence reigned for a moment or two and he looked back outside, seeing nothing as the rain picked up once more, splattering the glass and blurring his vision.
    Finally, Sir Thomas said, “You don’t have to marry anyone not of your choosing. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that, your grace. So what’s the real problem?”
    Colin rubbed his eyes. “I’m not ready to encumber myself like that yet.”
    â€œYes, you’ve made that perfectly clear,” Sir Thomas replied. “To everybody, I should think.”
    He ignored the second part of that comment. “I don’t want to marry someone I don’t even know. Especially a plain girl who plays the piano better than I do.”
    â€œEverybody plays the piano better than you do—”
    â€œThat’s not the point.”
    â€œâ€”and she’s not all that plain, either.”
    He grunted. “She’s