‘You got married?’ Edward managed at last, his expression little short of thunderous. ‘For me?’
‘No,’ she lied, far more smoothly than she might have thought possible.
‘For me,’ he confirmed in sheer disgust. ‘Not one of those lecherous old sops Father kept pushing you to marry, just so his own debts could be expunged?’
‘No.’
‘Not Louis Rockman?’ Edward’s face twisted. ‘After what he tried to do to you as a kid?’
‘No.’ Oti couldn’t suppress a shudder at the thought. ‘He’s a successful businessman. And he’s...nice.’
And there was no reason at all for her to feel quite so guarded.
‘But he’s still paying Father off, isn’t he?’ Edward demanded harshly.
‘Yes, but this time I made him promise to pay for this surgery.’
Her brother snorted. ‘He’ll never honour it. You know that.’
‘He’ll have to—it’s written into the contract,’ she lied.
‘So you see,’ she continued loftily, ‘everyone wins. I can’t be married off twice.’
Her father might try it, of course, but once Edward had undergone the surgery, the old Earl would have no more leverage over her.
‘And at least this way it’s someone with whom I can actually stand to be in the same room,’ she continued when Edward still didn’t reply.
It was supposed to be an explanation that would placate her brother but, even as she said the words, Oti realised there was a grain of truth in it.
A memory
of Lukas in the cathedral, and that kiss, lit up her brain as heat flushed through her.
Okay, more than a grain, then.
‘Who is it?’ Edward demanded abruptly, his eyes raking over her face. ‘Which of his cronies did he force you to marry, Oats?’
She fought to compose herself.
‘Lukas Woods.’
He stared at her for such a long moment that she wasn’t sure if he’d actually heard her. And then he spluttered with disbelief, ‘Lukas Woods?’
‘He’s...’
‘You can’t be serious, Oats?’
Well, at least he wasn’t back to calling her Octavia, which meant he couldn’t be that mad. Now that she considered it, he didn’t look even half as cross as she might have expected.
‘Have you ever met him?’ She wasn’t sure what made her ask the question, but she hadn’t really expected it to be true.
‘I have, actually. Yes. A couple of times, several years ago. Once at a business event, and once at the racetrack.’
‘Lukas races cars, like you?’ she asked, before catching herself. ‘Like you used to do.’
‘No, he was more into the mechanics side. He liked to build them, and just raced to see how they performed. He told me one of his first jobs was for a car mechanic when he was a kid, and in his spare time he used to go to the scrapyard and he used what he could find to build old engines. I guess when his company took off he kept it going as a hobby.’
But a serious hobby, by the sound of it. Just like Edward’s racing used to be.