Chapter 20

Cara met me in at the entrance to the estate before I’d even toed off my shoes. “Ma’am, Mr. Valady wants to speak with you immediately in the library.”

I grimaced. “Thanks, Cara. I was going to go search for him anyway. When did he arrive back here? Do you know?”

“He arrived before you left for your appointment, I believe.”

So he’d made a point to avoid me. Great. “Oh, well. We must’ve missed each other.” I turned to go upstairs, but I looked over my shoulder to add, “Can you bring up coffee and snacks in, say, an hour? We’ll probably need it.”

“Of course.” She bobbed a curtsy and hurried off. Despite my best efforts to tell all the employees here that they absolutely did not need to bow and curtsy, habits died hard. Olivier had seemed to instantly feel comfortable with the show of deference. He’d make a better owner of this grand estate than I would, that was for sure.

I walked up the stairs slowly. My body felt heavy, like all of the revelations had physically weighed it down. M