“Now I’m dying to see something,”
“No one sees my work,” he insisted.
“Why?”
“Because it’s not very good. I’ve told you.”
“That’s a subjective measure.”
“It is objectively not very good. And it’s not false modesty. I’ve been reliably informed that they’re nothing special.”
“By whom? You just said no one sees your work.”
His eyes slipped shut as he tipped his head back, lip trapped between his teeth. Just as suddenly, all the tension escaped in a great sigh. It was completely ridiculous to find that as arousing as I did. But thoughts of other situations where he might release such an explosion of tightness came without bidding.
“My father. So you see, if my own father could find nothing worthy of praise within them, they are truly not anything worth viewing.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d wanted to throttle a dead man, but it was the first time that man wasn’tmyfather. “My father found nothing worthy of praise in Michael. Father allowed him to be mistreated by my mother and Hugh. And when my father died, Michael cleaned up the mess he left behind, far better than he could have managed on his own. Fathers don’t know everything.”
“What?”
“Father left the viscounty with nothing. We were weeks, perhaps days from losing it all. And in a few years, Michael brought it back to a thriving estate, all in Hugh’s name. When Hugh came of age, Michael handed it off without a word and built Wayland’s. Then Hugh, the heir, the true-born first son, ran it back into the ground. Tell me, was my father right?”
Xander’s brow furrowed, considering me. “I… I had no idea.”
“No one did. Once Hugh sorted up from down in the mess of ledgers, we had to borrow from Michael again. Hugh and I have been able to make some improvements to the estate, but it will still be some years before we can begin to repay him. Not that he will accept, of course.”
He’d never said as such, but Michael had an odd sort of pride. And as much as he enjoyed bankrupting the titled, he would never allow the loan to be repaid. He had created a separate account for me after Father died. It gave me the means to live independently, even after everything fell apart. I had no doubt he’d begun doing the same for little Henry and any other babies Grayson that came along.
“I can see now why a lady would prefer scandal with Wayland to a respectable life with me.”
It took a moment to grasp his meaning, but when I did, it was with a laugh.
“If I’m honest, you two might have suited each other. You may have been happy together, at least as happy as it is possible to be under such circumstances. But those two… Well, Hugh and Kate got on like oil and water when they first married. But Jules and Michael? They complement each other, make each other better. I’m sorry to say, but once he gave her a book it was only a matter of time.”
“I could’ve given her a book,” he murmured defensively under his breath.
“I should also apologize for my part in it.”
“What part?”
“In my defense, I urged her to consider carefully before choosing Michael. But… I can’t say that I encouraged her to choose you either. And I certainly provided moral support when she decided to take a torch to her old life.”
“Oh, so it is you I should blame for my humiliation?” he grumbled. In spite of the overtone, I could hear the smile beneath.
“I accept full responsibility for my part in it. But how could I be expected to encourage her to wed you? I was aflutter with boyish feelings. I couldn’t very well see you married to another.”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
“That I couldn’t see you wed to another? It would have been devastating. It will be devastating, one day.”
“Tom… This isn’t?—”
I couldn’t bear to hear him finish that sentence. To tell me that this—whatever it was—wasn’t worth being devastated over. “One thing I never understood. How did it come about? The engagement?”
His eyes slipped shut and he shook his head. “Oh, that. Only the worst thing I’ve ever done. Would you like a list of my other sins as well?”
“Honestly? Yes. I want to know anything you’ll tell me.”
