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‘Please, Mr Linton!’
Why does she have to sound so damn desperate? And those big, sea-coloured eyes of hers! They look so helpless, and at the same time, so much like his.
‘Please.’ She took a step towards me.
I sank down in my chair, as if my desk would be enough to protect me from her desperate motherly feelings.
‘Mr Linton, I can see that you’re a man of feeling- ’
You’re wrong about that, Lady!
‘-and surely you can sympathize with me.’
Not if I want to keep my job, I can’t!
‘Why don’t you come back some other time?’ I suggested desperately. ‘He might not be so busy then.’
A sound escaped her throat. It was half-laugh, half-sob. ‘Another time? You have no idea of what you speak! Do you know how many times I’ve tried to see him since the catas- since he left home? That was after I found out he was still alive, of course! God! Mr Linton, I haven’t seen him in ten years! Please! Just please…’
Damn you Rikkard Ambrose! Damn you!
I swallowed, hard. ‘I’m sorry, my Lady, but he left explicit instructions. No one is to disturb him. And I believe that includes you.’
Her shoulders sagged.
‘Does my son hate me this much, then?’ she wanted to know, the pain evident in her voice. ‘What did he tell you to do with all my letters? Destroy them?’
Yes. He did.
‘No! No, he didn’t.’
Wait! What did you just say, Lilly?
‘He wouldn’t have any of them destroyed! He told me to keep them all safe.’
Stop lying! Stop lying right now! Tell her right now that you’ve been stockpiling them against his express orders!
But I had to give the poor woman something to cling on to, hadn’t I? I couldn’t just destroy every last bit of hope she had!
‘Here, you see?’ Bending down, I ripped open the lowest drawer of my desk and held up a whole pile of pink letters as evidence.
‘They’re unopened.’ Her voice was trembling. ‘He hasn’t read them?’
‘I think it’s too painful for him.’
Poppycock! Stop lying, Lilly!
‘The expression on his face when he looks at the letters is so tender and painful-’
…or maybe rather cold and disdainful? Stop lying right this minute!
‘-I can’t imagine the feelings that must be tearing through him.’
She closed her eyes again for a moment. Opening them once more, she stepped forward, and placed a hand over mine, lightly squeezing.
‘Thank you, Mr Linton. You are a good man.’
Not really. Trust me. I checked last time I took a bath.
