She sighed. “How disappointing.”
He wouldn’t have been human if the teasing glimmer in her eyeshadn’t made him smile at least a little. But when another feminine voice spoke behind him, his smile vanished.
“Darling Simon, at last!”
He knew that voice as well as he knew his own, but it wasn’t possible. He looked over his shoulder, thinking his ears were playing tricks on him, but one look at the round, laughing face, golden hair, and big brown eyes of the girl behind him, and he knew his hearing was perfectly sound.
“What the devil?” he muttered, turning to stare at her, appalled.
“Thank goodness I saw you across the lobby,” she said, pressing a hand to her chest with another laugh as Ricardo came up beside her, out of breath. “I’ve been waiting for ages, and no one seemed to know where you’d gone. And Mr. Esteban here,” she added, gesturing to the man beside her, “was terribly reluctant to give me a room.”
“I’m sorry, my lord,” Ricardo interjected. “I wasn’t sure what to do with her, to be honest. Without you here, and her being an unchaperoned young lady, it didn’t seem right to just give her a room, if you understand me. And your valet didn’t know what to do with her, either. So we decided to wait for your return so you could decide what to do. I hope that wasn’t wrong?”
“No, no,” Simon assured him at once. “You did the right thing.”
Looking relieved, Ricardo gave a nod. “Shall I have a room prepared for her?”
“Put her in a suite,” he replied. “Have a maid put her things in one of the bedrooms, and have my valet move my things into the other.”
Ricardo departed, but before Simon could return his attention to the more serious problem at hand, Delia moved forward to stand beside him, giving a little cough. “Perhaps,” she murmured to him, “you ought to introduce me to your friend?”
“She’s not my friend,” he replied with a long-suffering sigh. “She is my sister.”
“Sister?” Delia smiled, looking delighted and not at all surprised. “How lovely.”
Both women turned to him expectantly, and he was forced to give in to the inevitable. “Lady Stratham, allow me to present my sister, Cassandra. Cassie, this is the Countess of Stratham.”
“Countess?” Cassie echoed, clearly impressed. “Heavens.”
“How do you do, Miss Hayden?” Delia held out her hand. “I’m delighted to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Have you?” Cassie laughed as they shook hands. “None of it good, if the look on my brother’s face at this moment is any indication. But,” she went on before he could reenter the conversation, “I’m glad he is making friends here in London.”
“She’s not my friend, either,” he cut in, but as he spoke, he realized how rude that sounded, and he quickly added, “We work together.”
“He’s my boss,” Delia said, leaning closer to Cassie in a confidential manner that made Simon decidedly uneasy. “He’s very good at it. Being bossy, I mean.”
Cassie rolled her eyes. “Don’t I know it,” she agreed with feeling.
Simon was in no mood for this sort of banter. “Cassandra Jane Hayden,” he said incisively, “what in God’s name are you doing here?”
“Uh-oh,” Delia murmured. “He just used your middle name.”
Cassie nodded, grimacing. “I think I might be in serious trouble.”
“You are indeed,” he muttered, feeling decidedly grim. “Now answer my question.”
“I came to see you, of course. When you didn’t reply to my letter, I got worried.”
“Letter? What letter? The last one I received from you arrived only three days ago.”
“Three days? But it’s been a fortnight since I sent it. I waited and waited, but you never replied.”
“It must have been lost in the post then, because I only got it thispast Tuesday. Either way, it doesn’t matter. How did you get here? And why are you unchaperoned? Where is Mrs. Morrisey?”
“She’s at Ivywild, of course. Don’t worry,” she added as he groaned. “I left her a note. As to how I got here, I came by train. How else? I thought—” She broke off, giving him a look of injured innocence that didn’t fool him for a second. “I thought you’d be happy to see me. Haven’t you missed me?”
Beside him, Delia made a choked sound of smothered laughter, and he shot her a warning look. She immediately pressed her lips together to hide her smile, but her eyes were still alight with mischief. “Are you in town long, Miss Hayden?” she asked, turning her attention to Cassie.
