*
Alec and Colinwere still standing in the solar, neither man having moved a muscle. Brian motioned sharply to his son.
“With me.”
Alec obediently followed his father up to the second floor, to a seldom used room usually reserved for reading or lounging. Alec watched his father with concern, for the man was visibly upset as he paced and scratched agitatedly.
“There is no easy way to say this, Alec. I have changed my mind regarding Ali and Ivy’s betrothal. The lady will wed Colin.”
“What?” Alec’s mouth opened in surprise. “But…. you cannot! You already gave Ali your word!”
“I made no such promise!” Brian shouted. “I simply sent him ahead for a lawyer, but I gave him no assurance that the marriage would indeed take place. After a most involved discussion with Nigel, I see that it is in Lady Ivy’s best interests to marry Colin and you will not question my decision.”
Alec’s face was a mask of astonishment. “Then if I may not question your decision, I will certainly question your sanity. Why in the hell would you change your mind?”
Brian’s chest was beginning to harbor the familiar ache that it did so often when he was upset or over-exerted. His hand moved to his sternum as if to massage away the pain. “I have my reasons, Alec,” he said quietly, his tone laced with defeat. “You will retrieve Lady Ivy and bring her to my bower. I will leave you to inform your wife and make it clear that I will not tolerate any confrontations from her. She seems to want to pry into affairs that do not concern her.”
Over his initial shock, Alec calmed dramatically and fixed his father with a heady glare. “I cannot promise that she will not come storming after you with a dirk in her hand and I furthermore would not blame her. If you expect me to control her, then you must give me a valid reason for your abrupt change of mind. And what about Ivy? Have you considered her feelings for one moment, dissolving her betrothal to Ali, then restoring it, now snatching it away once more? More than likely, she and her sister will both come after you with murder on their minds.”
Brian’s nostrils flared as the pain in his chest grew. “I cannot…. suffice it to say that I saw Nigel’s reasoning in the matter and it makes sense. As I explained to you before, Colin is heir to Wisseyham and in need of a viable consort. Lady Ivyis such a person. Can you not see the advantages of her being chatelaine of Wisseyham instead of playing her sister’s shadow at St. Cloven? It is a far more attractive offer for her to become mistress over her own manor.”
Alec could only stare at his father, dumbfounded at his reasoning. “She doesn’t care about any of that. Da, she is the first woman who has been able to tolerate the color of Ali’s skin and…. Christ, what are you going to tell him? He shall go mad!”
“I am not going to tell him anything,” Brian said quietly, his lips turning a faint shade of blue underneath his silver and black beard. “You and Olphampa are going to ride out and intercept him. If he is going to rage, let him do it in the open with only you and the wildlife to hear him. When he returns to Blackstone, it will be as a calm man resigned to do the bidding of his liege.”
Alec shook his head with disgust, refusing to believe that his father had gone back on his word. His father had always been a man of firm decisions and reason, not at all like the man of confusion in front of him. Alec was not only angered, he was puzzled to the core and he worried on Ivy’s reaction, not to mention Peyton’s.
Foremost, however, he was grieved for Ali. The man had been treated like dirt for most of his life, but never from his own. It would seem that even Brian was apt to follow the lead of others who had left their footprints on Ali’s pride.
Alec gazed at his father a moment, noting the pale color, the shaken state, and he knew exactly where the blame lay. Nigel Warrington must have done or said something terrible to cause Brian to refute a decision of this magnitude, but for the life of him, Alec could not reason what that action might have included. Alec refused to believe that Brian had changed his mind for the very reasons he listed.
The genesis of an idea suddenly sprang to Alec’s mind, the beginnings of something pronounced and deep. Were Alistanding in Alec’s position and the situation reversed, he knew exactly what Ali would have done without hesitation. And Alec knew without a doubt that he could not allow his friend to be devastated in such a cruel fashion. By a trusted friend, no less.
To hell with the consequences. Ali and Ivy were meant to be together, and Alec would do anything in his power to provide for that wish.
He eyed his father a moment as his plan took root and blossomed. Hopefully, his father would not read his mind as he had done so ably in the past. “Rest a moment, Da. Nigel has you worked up and you are already feeling ill. I shall take care of my wife and her sister until you can calm yourself.” Or at least until I can get Ivy a safe distance away from Blackstone.
Brian sank into the nearest chair, his hand still on his chest. “Bring Lady Ivy to me and I shall inform her myself. But…. give me a few moments, if you please. This day has taxed me sorely.”
Alec nodded, moving swiftly for the door as his father called to him once again. “I am sorry, Alec. I wish things were not as they appear to be.”
It was a queer statement and Alec eyed his father with puzzlement. “And how is that?”
Brian did not look at him. “That I am a weakling, a confused old man. I am not, you know. What I do, I do to preserve the sanctity of the Summerlin line.”
Alec’s eyebrows furrowed and his hand left the door latch, instead, moving back into the room towards his father. “And what, may I ask, does this decision have to do with the Summerlins?”
Brian shook his head faintly and slouched against the chair. “More than you know, lad. You must trust me on this. Lady Ivy must marry Colin.”
Alec’s grand scheme to whisk Ivy away was suddenly in peril of being crushed. What in the world did his father mean? “What would happen if she did not?”
Brian closed his eyes, laboring for breath. “Catastrophic things, Alec. Please do not ask me anymore.”
Alec was by his father’s side, kneeling beside the bear of a man. His sky-blue eyes were questioning. “I must. Has Nigel threatened you? What has he done?”
Brian peeped an eye open and observed his proud, strong son. The sight of Alec’s concerned face was almost the shove he needed to confess the sins of the past, but he stopped himself. He simply couldn’t bring himself to admit to his son that the Summerlins were less than perfect. That he was less than perfect.
He closed his eye. “Nothing, lad. Get on with my request.”
