Mrs. Cox was not belittling Hoyt. It was just that there was such a big gap between Kyran and Hoyt. She had seen a lot of men in her life, and none of them was better than Kyran.

Deirdre chuckled and lowered her head. “But I’m sure Mr. Leigh is treating me as one of his friends.”

“Really? I don’t think so,” said Mrs. Cox. “You didn’t come back with Hoyt yesterday, so I asked him where you had been. He was kind of dejected while explaining the whole story to me. He looked very sad, and I’ve ne