Whitmore clucked his tongue and shook his head, taking a sip from his brandy glass. “One wonders what was going through her mind. Did she think you’d never realize she’d lied?”

“God knows,” Sebastian replied. “I’d like to think she would have staged some sort of accident that would account for her plausibly losing the babe, but I can’t say I’ve never wondered if she would have tried to procure an actual child somehow. Makes me shudder to think of it. At any rate, you can see why I didn’t tell my wife that I had a plan to visit my former mistress to determine if she was lying about being pregnant with my child.”

Whitmore winced again and sucked in his breath. “Yes, I can’t imagine that would have gone over well in your household.”

Sebastian shook his head. “Of course, I had no intention of mentioning it to Veronica if it turned out to be nothing. Only when I returned home and she asked me where I had been, I replied that I’d been at the club. Which was true because I had met you there later.”

“But…?” Whitmore prodded, lifting both brows.

Sebastian expelled his breath. “But I didn’t know Melissa had a note delivered to Veronica the moment I’d left home, informing Veronica that I could be found in Melissa’s bedchamber that evening.”

Whitmore’s face crumpled into a deep frown. He shook his head. “Melissa is bold. I’ll give her that.”

“I had a much worse word for her in mind when I found out,” Sebastian said with a tight smile. “At any rate, I stepped directly into the trap Melissa had set. Veronica showed me the note and asked me to deny that I’d been at Melissa’s house. I could not. I tried to tell her that nothing had happened, but it was too late. I’d been caught in a lie and—”

“And my sister still hasn’t forgiven you,” Whitmore finished.

“Precisely,” Sebastian said. “Unfortunately,” he added with a grumble, “she’s refused to believe me all this time. She’s made her choice.”

“She never even listened to your explanation?” Whitmore asked.

“Oh, she listened all right. She listened and then promptly told me she didn’t believe me. That’s when I stopped trying to explain myself.”

“And that’s why you didn’t try to stop her when she left you?”

A thunderous look covered Sebastian’s face. “I wasn’t about to have a sham of a marriage with a woman who refused to trust me.”

“But you had lied to her?” Whitmore clarified. “And been caught in the lie?”

Sebastian’s nostrils flared, and he stamped his cue against the floor. “Yes, but—”

“No. No. Simply clarifying,” Whitmore replied, bending to take his next shot.

“She refused to give me the benefit of the doubt,” Sebastian said, wanting to grind his cue directly into the earth.

Whitmore scratched the back of his neck. “You must admit, the doubt looked extremely doubtful. What was she to think?”

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. “Whose side are you on, Whitmore?”