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“Plan? What…” Frederick could not even finish the question, for he understood completely what his friend meant.

“You, Frederick. You are the plan. She becomes your grandmother’s companion through what appears chance but is anything but. She bides her time, waiting until you two meet—heck, she might have set the fire that burned down your grandmother’s estate in the first place! And now that she is here, she is free to trick you into a marriage, secure her fortune, and then snatch it right out from under you.”

“No… that is… that is impossible.”

“I have looked into this Lord Edgerton,” George continued, “and believe me, from what people say, nothing is beneath him. I do not want to sully Miss Dowding—Dunn’s, name. I do not want to throw allegations at her, but it fits. She is using you, Frederick. She and her father are using you.”

“No…” He felt the anger rising.

“Think about it,” he continued. “Really think. Your initial attraction to her was by design. She knew the type of man who you were, that you would like a little fire to stoke the flames of attraction.”

“No… she did not…” He felt the fury brimming.

“And even Isabella, she has been using her to get to you.”

“I can’t believe that she would…” He felt himself beginning to shake as the reality settled in a way he could not deny.

“Everything she has done, sadly, has been to tempt you. To trick you. To use you?—”

“Enough!” Frederick roared finally, jumping from his chair, bearing down on his friend as if he meant to tear his throat out with his own two hands. “I will not sit here and listen to this… this slander! The things you say, you have no proof! You have no… no idea as to what you speak! Lies! They are all lies!” Spittle flew from his mouth as might have fire, were it possible.

George did not look phased. Or fearful. He stayed seated, meeting Frederick’s angered glare, perhaps the only man in the free world who could do such a thing. “I am just the messenger,” he said.

“You have no proof! And I refuse to believe anything you have said!”

“That is up to you,” George agreed. “But please,please, do not ignore what I have told you here today. She is Miss Dunn; that is fact, Frederick. Why she has lied to you…” He sighed. “…you must find out.”

Frederick’s body was still shaking. His heart raced, and his breathing roared. He could not believe what he was being told! He refused. After all that he and Miss Dowding—for that was still how he thought of her—had been through, there was no way. Only…

Why lie? Why hide who she was? And yes, he told himself that she was the one who seemed hesitant to move in with him, butwhat if it was an act, a longer part of the con? She knew him as well as any and might have known that her denial would only tempt him further. Was she playing him? Could she do such a thing?

“I have to go,” George said suddenly. “I have been away from home for two days, and I feel that you might need some time to think.”

Still standing, Frederick looked past George to the closed door. “Yes,” he said absently. “Perhaps that is for the best.”

George nodded once and turned to leave. When he reached the door, however, about to open it, Frederick had a thought. Yes, he could be subtle about this, and he could poke and pry and try and learn the truth in his own time. But that was never his way. He had been made to look like a fool, and it was time to find out why.

“George,” he called after his friend, “on your way out, might you do me one last favor?”

George frowned. “Anything.”

“Seek out Miss Dowding for me, will you? And send her to me. It is time that she and I had a little chat.”

“Of course…” George bit into his lip, again that sense of worry building. “And good luck, Frederick, with whatever happens.”

He left after that, giving Frederick some time to think. Sitting back down, his foot tapped, his arms shook, his body ran hot such that he could barely sit still. No idea what he was going to say. No idea how he was going to say it. He knew one thing to be true: by the time that Miss Dowding left this study, he would know the truth.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

By the time that Miss Dowding appeared in the open doorway, Frederick had managed to calm down considerably. It had been hard to do, but he had forced himself, sensing that calm was needed for what was about to happen… at least for now.

She smiled at the sight of him, her eyes flashing as she stepped into the study and closed the door behind her… and then locked it. The sound of that lock clicking had Frederick’s chest tightening and his blood running hot for an entirely different reason to what one might think.

“Before supper?” Miss Dowding smirked as she walked into the study, a look in her eyes that he recognized only too well. “How scandalous. Not that I am complaining, of course…” She licked her lips suggestively.

Of course, that was the reason she thought that Frederick had sent for her. Why else would he do such a thing? This past week, the two had snuck around this manor like a couple of teenagersin the throes of their very first romance. Unable to keep their hands off each other, they had sought solace when they could, often finding excuses to be alone so that they might devour the other in ways they had both come to relish.

And every time they had been alone, literally every single time, it had been the same.