Nigel’s features twisted coldly. “You have done nothing, my lord, except inherit our father’s holdings and titles, deny your blood ties to me, and ignore your relations.”
“And you have done nothing but shame the Summerlin name with your villainous acts and despicable horrors. Why in the hell should I acknowledge you?”
“I do not bear the Summerlin name. I bear the name of the man who raised me, my mother’s husband.”
Brian did not reply for a moment. With a long sigh, he turned from the cold hearth. “Your mother and my father loved each other, Nigel. My own mother was sickly and cold, and your mother’s husband was a beast of a man. The fact that our father sought comfort in your mother’s arms was not surprising, and neither is the fact that their relationship resulted in you. Yet you know full well why my father could not acknowledge you as his own.”
“Would not, you mean,” Nigel corrected with restrained bitterness. “He already had his heir. What would he do with a bastard son?”
Brian sat heavily opposite Nigel, the table not the only barrier between them. “To acknowledge you would have been to bring great scandal to two noble households, pure and simple. He could not risk it.”
Nigel suddenly brought his fists to bear on the oak table, a loud boom echoing against the vaulted ceiling. “He had to spare his own pride, Brian! He cared not what scandal would ravage the House of Warrington, only the House of Summerlin. He never gave a damn about me, only you.”
Brian gazed at his half-brother, two years younger than himself. His eyes were guarded, almost sad. They’d had this conversation before, a few times, and it always ended the same way. Nigel never did understand why William Summerlinrefused to acknowledge him as his son, and it cut him deeply. Therefore, his anger, his hurt, was directed against Brian.
“This is not about the Summerlins or the Warringtons, it’s about Colin’s betrothal,” Brian said softly, refocusing the subject. “As I said before, I cannot break Lady Ivy’s contract and furthermore, I do not understand why it is so important that I do. There are several eligible young ladies in the province.”
Nigel faltered for a brief moment, a peculiar ripple of emotion crossing his features. He did not want any other young ladies for Colin; he wanted a de Fluornoy. He wanted St. Cloven.
“They are not suitable for Colin. As the nephew of Baron Rothwell, surely he is entitled to a woman of equal standing.”
“The Lady Caroline Morford is available. Surely she is….”
“A trollop, unfit for my son.”
“And Lady Ivy, though compromised, is considered appropriate? You are not making sense.”
Nigel’s nostrils flared, a far cry from the relaxed man who had entered the room moments earlier. “Lady Ivy will marry Colin or a great many people will be privy to information only a select few know. I swear it.”
Brian stared at his half-brother. Again, he wondered why he hadn’t killed him before now, seeking the services of faceless assassins and having the man done in. And God only knew why he had spent his life avoiding his bastard blood. He thought, mayhap, if he ignored him, or humored him when so required, that Nigel would remain pacified. But much to his concern, it was increasingly apparent that Nigel would no longer play the game.
Nigel read the hesitation and, suddenly, he felt his advantage rise again. “I would wager to say that Alec doesn’t know that I am his uncle, or that Toby is my son. And I would also wager to say that Thia had no knowledge of her blood relations. CertainlyColin doesn’t know, for I have never found it necessary to tell him. I wonder how they would react to such knowledge?”
“After the initial shock, they would recover,” Brian replied steadily, although the very idea Nigel was suggesting was by far his greatest fear.
In truth, he had no idea how his children would react. And Toby; the lad had never been told who his real father was. How would he respond to the knowledge that dastardly Nigel Warrington was his true father? And, God forbid, what if he should demand to know the circumstances of his birth? How could Brian bring himself to tell the lad he was the result of a rape?
Nigel shifted on the hard bench, rising slowly against his protesting joints. Not only were his joints achier than usual, but his feet were swelling with the gout, and his one desire after this meeting was to retire until the evening meal.
“I shall give you a choice, then,” he said quietly. “You may choose your prospects. If you will not marry Colin to the Lady Ivy, then marry him to Thia. Surely your daughter has not found a suitor yet.”
Brian stiffened; he’d kill both Colin and Nigel himself before he would allow Thia to fall into their clutches. “That is not a fair choice, Nigel. Thia is not ready to wed.”
“She is seventeen years old and of marriageable age,” Nigel returned. “Ivy or Thia. Make your choice.”
Brian’s face darkened as he mulled over his options. To marry his daughter to the Warrington heir was out of the question; therefore, if he failed to pledge Ivy, he had no doubt that the entire province would be aware of ugly family secrets and the Summerlin name would be cast in disgrace.
The House of Summerlin had suffered the blow of Alec’s vow to lay down his arms, a scandal that rocked Edward’s court to the very foundation simply because Alec had been the bestknight in the realm at the tender age of twenty-one. Aye, Brian had withstood the dishonor of a son who was labeled a coward, and the Summerlin name still stood with its pride intact. But if Nigel’s dark secrets were to become common knowledge, then there would be no recovery for the distinguished Summerlins.
His jaw ticked as he realized he had one choice, as cowardly as that choice was. Dear God, sometimes he felt so unworthy to be labeled a man. For a fierce knight who had fought with his king and who had braved the searing sands of the Holy Land to battle the insurrectors, he was showing a tremendous lack of bravery against a solitary man. The one man who could ruin him.
“All right,” he whispered, his voice barely audible. “Allow me to explain my actions to Lady Ivy before you announce your victory to Colin.”
Nigel smiled, a sinister gesture. “How wise, dear brother. How generous.”
Brian couldn’t bring himself to look at him, the man who would make him appear most feeble and untrustworthy to those he cared for. He couldn’t imagine how Ali was going to react, or Alec for that matter. God, he hated himself.
Brian moved past Nigel, leaving the man smirking victoriously in his wake.
