Return of the Viscount by Gayle Callen Page A

neck, like a touchstone that helped orient her.
    He needed to focus his mind back on his mission. “Will Lord Appertan be affected by what happened here tonight? Or will he take it in stride like a child who always wants what he wants?”
    He saw her back stiffen, even as she turned away to pour herself a glass of water. Her hands still shook, and he yearned to hold her.
    â€œYou don’t understand him,” she said softly. “He has seen too much death at too young an age.”
    Michael frowned. “Your mother didn’t die all that many years ago.”
    â€œNo, but Oliver’s twin, the first heir, was only ten when he died.”
    Startled, Michael stared at her somber profile. “I did not know you had another brother. How did he die?”
    â€œAn accident, in India.”
    He wanted more details but did not press her. There were things he didn’t choose to discuss either. Yet it surprised him that her father had not confided in him.
    â€œOliver was close to Gabriel, and when he died, Oliver . . . changed. My mother became even more possessive of him, and my father thought it was time Oliver went to Eton, to . . . get away. In some ways, I think my father should have waited a year, given Oliver time to grieve. He thought the change would do him good.” She glanced at him with faint amusement. “I think that is a male trait. A woman will usually let herself experience the grief until it lessens, while a man wants to forget it.”
    But she wasn’t letting go of the grief, he saw that now. The sadness he’d sensed wasn’t just about her father, but the deaths of her family one by one. She didn’t want to control so much as to protect. She nourished a deep love for them, and the only one she had left was Appertan.
    â€œIt doesn’t mean a man forgets the tragedy itself,” he said.
    â€œOliver’s behavior is his own reaction to everything that’s happened,” she continued, “his own kind of grief.”
    Michael arched a brow. “So selfishness and immaturity should be excused?”
    She frowned at him. “He’s only twenty.” She held up a hand before he could speak. “And I know what you were doing at twenty, a man’s work in the army. But . . . Oliver isn’t you.”
    â€œYou are being too lenient with him,” Michael said in a sober voice. “You expect nothing of him, so he gives you nothing.”
    â€œHe is still practically a boy,” she insisted.
    He realized she was going to continue to protect her brother because of the death of Appertan’s twin. She was a woman of many layers, and, for the first time in his life, he wanted to see beneath, to find out everything about her.
    â€œAppertan is your brother,” he answered, giving her a brief bow. “You know him best. I’ll take my leave.”
    And he walked out of her room before he did or said something he’d regret.

Chapter 6
    I t had taken a long time for Cecilia to fall asleep. In the morning, she felt fuzzy and drowsy going through the estate ledgers, startling easily whenever someone knocked at the study door. She kept hoping Oliver would come apologize for what had happened, but he didn’t—of course, he probably wasn’t awake yet. He’d come home in the wee hours, according to Talbot.
    Cecilia’s mood only worsened during luncheon. Lord Blackthorne joined them for the meal, and he was watching her every time she glanced his way, as if he thought she would break down. Oliver coolly asked to speak with her afterward, and Lord Blackthorne left, signaling to the footmen as he went to shut the doors for their privacy. Oliver glowered at her when they were alone.
    She sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to get an apology for his friend’s behavior the previous night. “Is something wrong, Oliver?”
    â€œI permit you to do as you wish with the estate,” he