Chapter 16
Algenon spun where he stood. “Good heavens, Father. Are you trying to bring the whole house down on us?” He placed the quill in the holder and pretended to straighten the rest of the papers.
“Do not play dumb with me.” Heavy footfalls crossed the room. “It is time you put away all this childishness and offer for Miss Weston. The contracts are all drawn up, all that is left is for you to sign them.”
Algenon shifted the note he’d been writing under the stack of unused paper and began folding his missive to John. “I hardly know her, Father.”
“That is of no difference to me. I hardly knew your mother when we married and we got on just fine.”
Algenon’s jaw tightened. “Yes, but you had a choice whether or not to enter into your marriage.”
His father slammed a hand down on the paper Algenon was meticulously folding. “You should not speak of things you know little about.”
Algenon’s chest burned with indignation. “And whose fault is that? You never speak about her; never tell me stories other than that you met at a house party in Westmorland. It’s like she never existed, other than to complain that she died with what you believe would have been your precious second son.”
All the angry words he’d suppressed over the years tore at his throat, begging him to let them out.
His father’s face flamed bright red, his eyes bulging. “What use would it be to tell someone as impulsive and undisciplined as you? Knowing your heedless nature, you’d take anything I might tell you as permission to marry a stranger just for the sport of it. Just like—”
Algenon yanked the paper out from under his father’s hand and Lord Roberts’s mouth snapped shut.
Hurt at his father’s mistrust gave way to confusion over what he’d revealed, as Algenon addressed the letter. “You are making no sense. According to family records, you married Mother four weeks after the house party, and you had three weeks together there. That’s not exactly strangers.”
His father plucked the folded note out of his fingers and inspected the address. Frowning, he passed it to the footman waiting at the door. “Deliver this to Newhurst House.”
Then his attention turned to the writing desk as he searched the surface. “Why are you so stubborn, Roberts? After everything I have done for you, could you not be more grateful?”
Algenon clenched his teeth until his cheeks ached. “Everything you have done?” he bit out. “I have taken charge of most of your estates. I am the one in Parliament learning what this country needs. When you forget to protect your daughters from fortune hunters, it is me they run to.”
Lord Roberts spun to face him, standing so close Algenon felt his hot breath. “How dare you? I am trying to save you fromyourself and you continue to run headlong into trouble, just like him!”
Was the man going mad? He made no sense.
“Like who?” Algenon growled.
His father’s eyes widened and he stepped away, his attention again returning to the desk.
Algenon froze. His father knew. Somehow, he knew there was a second letter hidden somewhere. With two fingers, his father took hold of the bottom piece of paper and slid it out of the stack. The words smeared but were still identifiable.
His father glared at him. “Reckless.”
The one muttered word sliced through him. Hehadbeen reckless. Desperately reckless, but Javenia had given him hope with her queen of hearts. He’d been able to think of little else.
If she was willing to fight for their freedom, then he could too.
His father shook the paper. “Do you think I missed the way you placed yourself close to Miss Harris at the card party or the way you reached for her under the table?”
“It wasn’t—”
“Silence!” His father held up a hand. “Stay away from the Harris girl. I forbid it. No more of this silent flirting, no dancing”—he shook the letter in the air— “And absolutely no corresponding. One more misstep and I will announce Miss Harris’s downfall to the whole of London if I have to.”
“You’d ruin an innocent woman just to get your way?”
“Nonsense, she’s ruined already. Of course, it’s all her parents’ fault. If they’d reined in her headstrong ways and minded their own business, maybe it would never have happened. Lord Upton and his meddling wife deserve such slander. Heaven knows I’ve been far more generous to them by keeping this secret longer than they deserve.”
Algenon raised a fist in the air and shook it. “You—”
The door to the sitting room swung open, and Lord Falcross and Miss Weston stepped in.
