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“Of course,” she answered, as he made his way over to the desk and then reached for her hand. “That’s what friends are for.” She drew in a breath, feeling like a fraud. She was helping him, but she had another agenda in mind.
Her gaze slid to Mr. Fitzroy’s and she lifted her brows and then tilted her head toward the paper.
He stared back at her with a dark expression but made no move to come closer.
“You really are just an—”
“Kinross,” her brother said as he came up behind Kinross. “Unhand my sister so that I might greet her properly.”
Kinross let her go and she took her brother’s hands, kissing his cheek.
Then she looked at Mr. Fitzroy. He didn’t look back.
Kinross began talking about the service and his relief to have it over.
Clara shifted. “Now that you’re here, will the luncheon begin?”
“In a moment.” Kinross’s shoulders drooped.
“Are you all right?” she asked, stepping closer. However she felt about Kinross, she never wanted to see him in pain.
He shook his head. “I’ll have to speak in there and I don’t know what to say.”
“What do you mean?”
Kinross’s gaze met hers and for the first time in a long time, she saw the man behind the handsome face and the ready smile. He looked sad and vulnerable. “I have so many regrets.”
Her heart tugged. “If it were me, I’d say something like ‘we’ve come here to celebrate the life of a strong man and leader who taught me about being the earl I wish to be.’ It’s benign enough that people won’t know there were some lessons that he taught you about how not to conduct your business.”
“Thank you. That’s perfect.” He gave her a small smile as he looked down at the chart she was constructing. “You separated the Fitzsimmonses and Westons?”
“They had a falling out. It was in all the gossip columns.” She knew that because she’d been scanning the pages for Bushy Hero stories and was now up on the ton’s gossip. Funny how some use had come of all that infatuation. Her gaze traveled to Mr. Fitzroy’s. She’d learned something else from those articles too, there were other men who might catch her imagination.
But his brows lifted as his hand rested on the seating chart. “You would make an excellent countess, Angel.”
She took an inadvertent step back as her heart skipped several beats.
Ralph’s hand clenched against the side of his thigh. Clara would make an excellent countess. And despite his assertion on the journey here that he wasn’t good enough for her, Kinross was no shining light of a man either.
He was selfish and suspected of murdering his own father. Sure, Ralph was a social climber, but he’d worship a woman like Clara.
And then he blinked in surprise. Was he actually considering a future with a woman? Not just any woman—Clara.
“Go,” Clara whispered to Kinross. “Get your speech over with.”
“You’re coming too, aren’t you?” Kinross asked, moving closer to Clara. Ralph had the distinct urge to push the man back.
“I’ll be right there,” she answered. “And I’ll be right behind you when you speak.”
He gave a quick nod before he turned. Striding toward the door, Kinross looked back over his shoulder, gazing at Clara for a long moment before he walked out of the room.
“Clara,” her brother rasped, crossing his arms. “You’re going too far.”
“What do you mean?” she said, resting her hands on the desk as she looked down at the chart she’d been creating.
Ralph cleared his throat. Had the siblings forgotten he was here?
But Clara’s gaze met his and then she looked down at the list in front of her with a nod and back at him, her gaze wide as though she were trying to tell him something.
