‘Well?’ Sebastian demanded.
This time, Freddy sat unbidden. Crossing his legs, he flicked his ruffled cuffs and smiled in a manner that made Sebastian cringe.
‘That was a fine speech, cousin, quite worthy of dear Anthony,’ Freddy said.
‘I am not your cousin,’ Sebastian said between gritted teeth.
‘No indeed, you are shortly to become my brother,’ Freddie observed. ‘I’ve heard you out, Somerton, I think it is time you heard what I had to say.’
‘There is nothing I want to hear from you.’
Sebastian crossed to the window. He turned his back on Freddy and stared, without really seeing anything, out of the window.
‘Regardless of your wishes, I am certain society will be agog to hear that, as well as monstering my precious sister in your short time at Brantstone, you have also compromised the virtuous widow, Isabel.’
Sebastian’s stomach lurched, and he reached for the window ledge to steady himself. ‘What new concoction of yours is this nonsense?’
Behind him, Freddy laughed. More a high-pitched giggle worthy of Fanny.
‘Ah now, this I don’t have to invent. I have the evidence ofmy own eyes. You and your precious Isabel forgot that a house has eyes and I just happened to be looking from my window and saw you rolling in the hay with the lovely Lady Somerton like a pair of randy farm hands. I can produce two witnesses to the fact. My man and his sister were both with me at the time.’
A cold chill ran down Sebastian’s spine. Did Freddy mean those few snatched moments by the lake? Nothing had happened, but to the casual observer ...
The jolt hit Sebastian as hard as a physical blow beneath the ribs. He felt the air leave his lungs as the enormity of what Freddy had said hit him. Even without the glimmer of truth around it, once Freddy’s evil tongue had spread the vile whispers, Isabel would be ruined. No respectable family would entrust their daughters to her school, and no man would risk her reputation to save her from a long and lonely widowhood. Sebastian, his own reputation tarnished beyond redemption, would be powerless to save her.
‘What do you want?’ he said between clenched teeth.
‘I want what your late cousin allowed me as the price of my silence.’
Sebastian turned to face him. ‘Would that be the one hundred pounds a month that Anthony was paying to someone?’
Freddy smirked. ‘You know about that? I think, in the circumstances, that should be increased to two hundred pounds a month and, of course, I would expect you to do honour by my sister as your wife.’
‘There is no money. Anthony left this estate destitute.’
‘Then you will just have to find it, Somerton. Anthony did. Dear Cousin Anthony, so generous to a fault.’
Sebastian resisted the urge to grab the man by the orderly folds of his neckcloth and throttle him. He steadied his breath and considered Freddy for a moment, trying to read the implacable face.
‘What did you have over Anthony?’
Freddy’s eyes widened. ‘Now that would be telling, CousinSebastian. Let’s just say he was enamoured of a friend of mine and made the mistake of writing him letters, which, unfortunately for Anthony, came into my possession.’
‘How?’
Freddy met Sebastian’s gaze with equanimity. ‘Sadly, my poor friend succumbed to consumption, but he left the letters as an insurance policy, you may say. You never know when such things will be useful.’
‘But Anthony’s dead. They can’t hurt him.’
‘No, but they could certainly hurt poor Isabel. Betrayed by one man and impugned by another. Time to reconsider, dear Cousin Sebastian?’
‘You are no more Anthony’s cousin than you are mine,’ Sebastian snarled. ‘I don’t know who you are, but I know one thing for certain: you and your sister are imposters. Not only have you inveigled your way into this house, but you have been systematically pilfering valuables from Brantstone since your arrival.’
Freddy raised an eyebrow. ‘And can you prove that?’
Sebastian had no tangible evidence, just Connie’s encounter with Fanny. He had ordered both Freddy and Fanny’s rooms searched but had found nothing.
‘Fanny was caught red-handed by my sister,’ he said.
