Her father’s answer was a sharp bark of laughter. “He wouldn’t have marriedyou, Cassandra. He has his pick of anyone in London. I was not worried but his interest did open some doors for me.”
Soren came up behind her as if worried by how erratic her father was beginning to sound. He started to say something but she reached back and squeezed his arm, silently asking him for a moment. Something was bubbling beneath the surface of her father’s ranting. She would have it all out in the open.
“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth about the money, Papa?”
“Because you didn’t need to know. Besides, what would people think of me once they learned what I’d done?”
She understood. He was a proud man. She started to tell him as much, but he talked right over her.
“Your grandfather Bingham never gave me any respect. He thought I wasn’t good enough for his daughter. That is why he wrote the will to favor you. But the moneyshouldhave beenmine. A wife’s money goes to her husband. And yet he hired lawyers who knew the tricks and he made a fool of me. He’s lucky I married his daughter. Most men wouldn’t want another’s leavings, especially when she’s carrying his bastard. But I gave you my name and I’ve treated you well. I’ve kept the secret.”
Now the world was not so certain. Or generous.
Breathing became difficult.
She had trouble accepting the words that had come out of her father’s mouth. They didn’t make sense. Was he saying he wasn’t her true father?
Soren placed strong, protective hands upon her shoulders, steadying her. “I believe that is enough, Holwell.”
Her father sneered in response. He looked to Mr. Brock and Mr. Lloyd and the bailiff, raising a hand as if to present Soren and Cassandra to them. “Can you believe this? Even after Penelope died on me, I did what was right. And look what it has earned for me? A faithless daughter who hops into the bed of my enemy.”
Soren lunged forward. Cassandra dug in her heels, to hold him back. She spoke, wanting, needing clarification. “You are not my father?”
The words said aloud answered many questions. In truth, they were not alike in looks, height, or temperament. And she’d never been able to please him, no matter how hard she tried...
MP Holwell lifted his chin in defiance. “I raised you, didn’t I?”
He had. He’d also kept her at an arm’s distance. He’d preferred her stepsisters over herself, and she’d never understood why. She’d thought the failing was hers. The only time he’d been happy with her was when her status as an heiress allowed them to attend the routs and parties of the titled and important. Otherwise, his abrasive personality would have shut him out.
“Isanyof the money left?” she asked.
He started to answer and then closed his mouth as if he was a sullen clam.
“All my life I’ve been praised for my good sense and intellect,” she said. “I don’t feel clever now. Why didn’t you tell me the truth, especially after my grandfather died? Why did you go on pretending?”
“You have my name. That is the truth.”
“But you lied about any feeling for me.”
“Of course I have some feeling for you.”
“Do you? You were actually relieved I ruined myself at the Duchess of Camberly’s, weren’t you? You and Helen were anxious to ship me off and keep me unmarried because then no one would question where the money had gone.”
“Well, the knowledge is out now.”
More accurate words had never been spoken.
Cassandra looked around the hall at their audience—Bevil stood with pen and ink and a dumbfounded expression on his face. Mr. Brock and Mr. Lloyd appeared to have been fascinated by the unfolding of the story. The bailiff looked as if he wished he could just leave.
And then there was her husband, who had thought this marriage would save his family home.
“Cass? Are you all right?” Soren spoke close to her ear.
She looked back at him and wanted to burst into tears, but she wouldn’t. She had to be strong. The sympathy she saw in his eyes was not good for her resolve.
Indeed, her knees felt wobbly as a complete understanding of what her father’s faithless actions would mean to her. She had no money. She had no father. Everything she had thought about herself was a lie.
“You took my mother’s sapphires.” Her voice was quiet, but inside she had a strong desire to scream.
