Jack stumbled into the house, and Brandt helped him to the settee in the parlor.
“I could murder the blackguard unseen and make it look like a robbery or an accident. I know how to cover my tracks. We may not have spent long with the Jayhawkers, but they taught us plenty.” Jack swirled the whiskey Brandt handed him.
“It ain’t wise. Your uncle’s a retired general. He must know a thing or two about combat.”
“I have youth on my side.”
“All right. Let’s say you kill him. What happens next? You won’t have your inheritance back, and you’ll be a cold-blooded murderer.”
“So what?” Jack said.
“So, you ain’t no cold-blooded killer, Jack. Ain’t it why we left Kansas for Nevada after such a short run with the Jayhawkers—too much dang senseless killing? Besides, you’d be letting him die an honorable man. People will mourn the great general, Sir Richard Astyr, knighted for his brave service. No one would know what he did. You’d turn a brute into a legend.”
Jack swallowed his whisky. “If I can’t murder him in his bed, I’ll have to kill him the civilized way.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ll dishonor his wife and force him into a duel. He won’t stand a chance against me. There’s only one person who’s a faster shot than me, and that’s you.”
“Duels ain’t legal here. If you kill him, you’ll hang.”
“I won’t kill him.” Jack stretched his body out on the settee. “I only wish to contribute to his war wound and turn him into a real eunuch.”
Brandt laughed. “Now you’re talking sense.”
Chapter Nine
…mutual fear bringsPeace,
Till the selfish lovesincrease
Then Cruelty knits asnare,
And spreads his baits withcare.
—William Blake,“The Human Abstract”
Sunlight flooded thedining room, but it did little to detract from the frosty silence that hovered between Ottilie and her aunt as they breakfasted together. The silence had begun after Lady Buntley’s ball. Lady Hudsyn was indignant and tight-lipped during the carriage ride home and had taken directly to her bed upon entering the house. Now, Ottilie could see her aunt itched to speak her mind, and she wondered how much longer she’d be able to restrain herself from doing so.
Ottilie plunged her silver teaspoon into the white flesh of her boiled egg and scooped out a bite. As soon as she spooned it into her mouth, Lady Hudsyn’s voice trilled in her ears.
“Am I to understand the only reason you agreed to attend the ball last night was to consort with that…novelist?” She spat out the wordnovelistas if it was synonymous withmurderer.
It was not the apology Ottilie hoped to hear. She swallowed her egg and dabbed her mouth with a serviette before replying, “Am I to understand the only reason you enjoined me to attend the ball last night was to further your plan to marry me to Lord Towne without my knowledge?”
Lady Hudsyn rose from her chair like an indignant peacock and strolled to the window. She stood with her back to Ottilie and gazed out at her resplendent garden. Ottilie understood her aunt’s behavior as a sign she refused to explain her actions and had reverted to silence once again. She was all too familiar with her aunt’s strategy of using silence as a means of attrition. But this time, she refused to be manipulated thus.
Ottilie put down her spoon. “I spend my summers in London because my family is important to me—that means you and Henry.” Her aunt kept her body turned to the window, but Ottilie persevered. “To think I didn’t even know I had a cousin or an aunt until Mama’s death a mere two years ago. It breaks my heart to know you destroyed your friendship with Mama because of silly expectations and traditions. All those years lost, Aunt! Is it really something you wish to repeat?”
Lady Hudsyn turned in slow motion to face her niece. “Therein lies the difference between us. You don’t recognize that being part of the peerage comes with responsibilities and sacrifices. In a family like ours, scandal affects generations. Your mama understood only too well how much. Yet, she chose to sacrifice her family. We never abandoned her.”
“Whatever happened between you, I don’t wish to repeat it,” Ottilie said.
“You are loyal in your love for your cousin, and I know he appreciates you,” her aunt said. “I want you to remember that I care as much for your happiness as I do for Henry’s. But my sister had a responsibility to honor and protect our family name. Instead, she tainted it forever with her scandalous behavior, and I am trying my best to minimize the damage she caused to our family’s reputation.” She lifted her chin, playing the role of martyr once again. “If you love your cousin, you will do the same.”
This argument was new to Ottilie. “In what scandalous behavior did Mama engage? Marrying outside one’s rank is hardly a scandal deserving of this much attention.”
Her aunt touched her forehead. “I’m afraid there’s more to the situation.”
