“Do you really believe that?”
“If I didn’t, then she wouldn’t be the one for him,” Rebecca said stoutly.
They both knew exactly what motivated Nicholas, though he wasn’t aware that they knew. To the world, Miriam was his mother, and the day she ended that pretense—as she often threatened to do—was the day he could stop living in dread of the revelation and become the pariah he was trying his best to become beforehand. He wanted to be thought wicked so as to become accustomed to the treatment he could expect if the truth came out.
“Someone ought to tell him that it probably wouldn’t matter much if the truth did come out,” Rebecca said. “No one would believe it anyhow, not after all these years.”
“Why don’t you tell him that?” Ellie asked, knowing the answer.
“Not me, my dear. Why don’t you?”
“Oh, no.” Eleanor shook her head emphatically. “He feels too strongly about it.” She sighed. “We’ve been over this a hundred times, Rebecca. And besides, he’s finally going to take a bride and settle down and have his own family.”
“So we hope,” Rebecca added. “But they haven’t got a yes out of him yet.”
“Your attitude is most puzzling, Nicholas,” Edward was saying inside the drawing room. “If I didn’t know for certain that you were a skirt man, I’d begin to wonder.”
Nicholas had to smile at that remark, coming from this staid lord. “My inclinations are decidedly female, sir.”
“Yet you don’t want my niece?”
Anthony spoke up harshly. “Look me in the eye when you answer, Montieth, for I’ve seen the mark you put on her.”
“What’s this?” Edward demanded.
“Relax, Eddie. Just something between the Viscount and myself. But what’s your answer, Montieth?”
Nicholas flushed darkly in anger. He felt cornered and didn’t like it at all. Had he really marked the girl? If so, what the bloody hell was she doing letting her uncle know about it? They said she wanted to marry him. Damnation, had she given Anthony the impression that their encounter was less than innocent? Was that why this youngest uncle was hell-bent on his blood?
“There is nothing wrong with your niece, my lords,” Nicholas said tightly, his amber eyes glowing with anger. “But then, you surely know that better than I.”
“Yes, it can be said without prejudice that she is desirable in every way. Still, we can’t resolve this.” Edward sighed here. “Jason isn’t going to like this at all. He is her legal guardian, you see.”
“Jason is going to tear him apart if there isn’t an engagement by the time he gets here,” Anthony said flatly. “Give it up, Eddie, and leave him to me. If Jason gets hold of him, there won’t be anything left.”
Nicholas sat down again and put his head in his hands as they went on arguing between themselves. He liked and respected Derek’s father, Jason Malory, had hunted with him at Haverston and spent long evenings with him over good brandy and good talk. He admired the way Jason ran Haverston and dealt with his people. The last thing he wanted was for Jason to be angry with him. But he couldn’t marry the girl, and he couldn’t tell them why.
Never before had the bitterness of his parentage hurt him quite so much. The truth was that he was a bastard. And any woman who became his wife would suffer the stigma of his bastardy. He would be ostracized if the truth came out. Hadn’t he seen it happen to Derek Malory, who was a known bastard? It was why he felt a closeness to Derek that he didn’t feel with his other friends.
Edward’s voice intruded on his thoughts. “I doubt Regina’s financial status would impress you, Nicholas, for your father’s wise investments and your own have made you a wealthy young man. Suffice it to say she is very well off. But…perhaps thiswillinterest you.”
Nicholas accepted the sheaf of papers that Edward brought out of his coat. Letters.Hisletters to the Earl of Penwich!
“How the devil do you come by these?” he demanded incredulously.
“They were forwarded to me just recently, as a matter of fact. The Earl is notorious for ignoring things that don’t interest him, and that piece of land you want doesn’t interest him.”
“Why you?”
“Because it belongs to a trust that I manage. It’s a nice little piece of land, with nearly a dozen tenants who all pay their rent regularly.”
“It’s a bloody large estate and you know it, and not nearly put to its full potential,” Nicholas retorted.
“I didn’t think you had such a fondness for land,” Edward remarked shrewdly. “After all, you don’t oversee Silverley.”
A muscle jerked in Nicholas’ jaw. Hell and fire! He stood a better chance against his old enemy Captain Hawke without a weapon than he did against these Malorys.
“Am I to understand I will never get my hands on that land if I don’t marry your niece?”
