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Of all the changes he’d undoubtedly undergone during the years he’d been away, the last one tore painfully at her heart

"So will you see to it?" she asked her brother

He’d risen from his chair behind his desk, poured himself a spot of brandy, and walked to theas soon as she’d ly odd

He turned slightly, his sapphire eyes hoh he noished to study her because he suspected she was not coht of it You want e for the two hundred pounds Father stipulated in his will that I pay you each "

"Precisely"

"Is she blacke I realize that I could siive her the money myself, but this seems more efficient, and she’ll be assured that she can always depend on it arriving at the first of the month" And her request served as an excuse to visit with Sterling, and perhaps to lure him back into Society The fact that Catherine needed an excuse said more about the strained state of their relationship than anything else He was her brother, for God’s sake, yet in the teeks since her e, she’d seen him not once But then, as far as she knew, neither had anyone else

"Father wanted you to have the funds so you’d have atold her

"I’land--"

"That does not guarantee your independence"

She knew the truth of that well enough Her desire to help the Duchess of Avendale escape froe had first led Catherine to Claybourne’s door

"I’m sorry, Catherine, but I don’t feel that I can alter Father’s terms, even at your request A time may arrive when you wish you had your ownthe money yourself if you have no need of it"

"Why are you being so stubborn about this request?" she asked "It’s my money to do with as I please"

"I don’t consider this a wiseafter your welfare and preventing you froer I’ anyone? It has come to my attention that you’ve been in London for at least four months Why did you not visit Father? Youup on me, are you?"

Not intentionally But since her friends had recently become those who occasionally flirted with the darker side of London, she so to understand what happened to the brother who gave ht as a child after Mother passed I’rateful"

"What the devil does that mean?"