Read Online Dear Impostor by Nicole Byrd - Free Book Online

on her recent
engagement. She hurried into the drawing room, of half a mind to tell the
butler to say that she was not at home.
              But when their aged butler,
Jowers, puffed his way up the staircase and opened the door to the drawing
room, she had no time to deny herself because the caller was right behind.
              “Psyche!” her cousin Percy said,
his face already flushed with strong emotion. “I must speak with you!”
              Wonderful, just what she needed to
make an already inauspicious morning even worse. Psyche took firm hold of her
patience; she would surely need it.
              “Percy, this is not a good time.”
              Her cousin didn’t seem to hear. He
stormed into the room, pulling off his hat and gloves and almost thrusting them
at the butler, who bowed and left the room. “I’ve been at my club, talked to
everyone I could find, and no one–I mean, no one, Psyche–has heard of this
Tarrington title. How do we know this fellow’s who he says he is?”
              “Oh, Percy, don’t be ridiculous.” Psyche
found that her hands had tightened into fists; she made a conscious effort to
relax; she must not reveal her own alarm that Percy was already checking on her
story. “He told you himself that it was an obscure title.”
              “But a marquis, Psyche,” Percy
insisted. “Marquises don’t sprout on every hedgerow, y’know!”
              “Of course, not, but–”
              “I think–” he interrupted, but she
raised her voice and tried again.
              “Percy, this is none of your
affair. It’s my life and my business. I must insist that you stop this
interference and allow me to be the one to–”
              “Not my affair?” Percy glared, his
slightly-protruding eyes opening even wider than usual. “Certainly it is. If
your male relatives are not the ones to protect you–protect a female from her
weaker wit and too-sensitive emotions, who would? It’s for your own good,
Psyche. Just ask my father.”
              She had no wish to bring Uncle
Wilfred into this, even more than he already was. “My uncle should respect my
wishes.”
              And yet she knew how likely that
was! Percy ignored the statement as unworthy even of answer. He continued to
pace up and down on the carpet, his too-tight shoes squeaking a little, then
Percy turned quickly to confront her. “There’s something smoky here, and I want
some answers! I must speak to him myself, man to man. What is his direction?”
              “I don’t know,” Psyche said before
she thought, then put one hand to her lips, aghast at her slip.
              “You don’t know? What do you mean?
Don’t the fellow have a townhouse in London?” Percy’s frown deepened.
              “No, I mean, I told you, he has
been living abroad..”
              “Smoky itself! Why would an
Englishman leave his own country, except to escape debts or a scandal,” Percy
said, with unexpected shrewdness. “He’s after your money, my girl. Didn’t I say
that already?”
              “No, he is not,” Psyche protested,
but her voice sounded shaky even to her own ears.
              “And if he has no residence of his
own, which hotel is he frequenting? He must have told you!”
              “Ah, he–he is staying here,” Psyche
said weakly. Her stomach clenched with nervousness, and she couldn’t think; she
felt more and more afraid that the charade would be exposed and all would be
lost.
              “Here?” Percy looked scandalized. “Aunt
Sophie allowed this?”
              “Of course, he is my fiancé,
Percy. And no one could question my aunt as a suitable chaperon.”
              Percy grunted. “Still, not quite
the thing. However, at least he’s to hand. I wish to speak to him.” He reached
for