That was a risk, too, of course. Niall might decide to believe his sister instead, if she chose to brand Cecily a liar. But whom would Niall trust when his sister had so blatantly broken her word?
The door to the Hockensmith house on Welton swung open as she reached it. The new butler, one of several servants recently employed thanks to Mr. Hockensmith’s profitable partnership with Niall Munroe, bowed and took her coat.
“Miss Hockensmith,” he said with just the right note of deference, “there is a gentleman waiting to see you.”
“A gentleman?” She was both intrigued and annoyed; the man should know better than to admit a visitor when she was absent. “Who might that be?”
“Mr. Munroe. He arrived only a moment ago, and is waiting in the parlor.”
Fear and excitement swallowed up Cecily’s irritation. Niall had returned early, and might already know that
Athena was gone—but Cecily was prepared for that very contingency.
“Very well, Parton. Please inform him that I will be with him directly.” She hastened up the stairs to her room and made the necessary adjustments to hair and clothing, rehearsing her story as she did so.
She was quite clear-headed when she entered the parlor. Niall was on his feet, but he did not look particularly upset. Cecily released her breath and put on a look of grave concern.
“Mr. Munroe! I am so glad you have returned.”
He swung about to face her, and his neutral expression changed into a frown. “Miss Hockensmith? What is the matter?”
So. He could not have been home, or he would know. The servants would have told him at once. “Have you come directly from the station?” she asked, urging him to sit.
“Yes. I will not be in Denver long. I came only to ask—” His frown deepened. “Why? Is it Athena?”
“Oh, dear. I had so hoped to reach your hotel before you left Chicago, but the telegraph must not have been delivered. Naturally, as soon as I learned—”
“Learned what? Where is Athena?”
“She has gone to the ranch.” There. If he admired directness, he would appreciate hers more than ever now. “It is all my fault. Things had been going so well—Athena seemed quite settled and I was helping her with the ball. Then, three days ago, she made some remark about wishing to visit her friends from the circus, in spite of your instructions to the contrary.”
“She has gone to the ranch?” Niall repeated, as if he did not quite believe it. “How?”
Cecily composed her face into a mask of contrition and embarrassment. “I… I fear that she has hired some conveyance to take her there. She did not notify me or the servants—I only learned of this yesterday when your butler sent a message to inform me of her absence and the note she had left.” That, at least, was very close to the truth. She had played ignorant with the servants as well.
“I was so very sure I had talked her out of such an intemperate scheme,” she continued. “I used every method of persuasion, you can be sure. It simply did not occur to me that I should mistrust her when she said she felt overtired and preferred to spend the next few days in seclusion. She seems so fragile, and she has been working so hard that I feared for her health. I even offered to send the doctor, but she refused. Apparently she lied to her maid about where she was going.” She lifted her gaze in earnest appeal. “Oh, Mr. Munroe. I pray you can forgive me my terrible mistake.”
Her gamble paid off. If Niall had been prepared to blame her for dereliction, her stream of explanations and apologies had taken the first edge off his anger.
“No,” he said. “It is not your fault, Miss Hockensmith. I should not have expected you to succeed where I have failed.” He strode to the window and twitched back the curtains. “I should have anticipated this all along. My sister has changed greatly in the past few months, and I have refused to see it. She has become adept at deceit and manipulation.”