“Of course, she is to fight! That’s why she brought it to my attention. But I’m not going to hire men with guns. That’s absurd.”
He saw a flash of fury in her eyes, then she abruptly dropped her gaze to the ground as she bowed her head. “I apologize.”
She was acting like a servant again, and he stifled a curse of frustration. She was a foreigner to this land. He should not be so upset that her thoughts were not his own. But it gnawed at him, and he wasn’t even sure why.
“In China, do men take what they want with guns?”
“All over the world, men take what they want with guns.” Her gaze lifted for a brief moment. “I only sought to tell her that there was a way she could have guns, too.”
“She doesn’t need them,” he said vehemently. “Not in England.”
Li-Na remained silent long enough that he stopped and faced her directly. “I hate it when you swallow your own thoughts. It’s rude.”
She arched her brows in surprise, and no wonder. Keeping one’s thoughts to oneself wasn’t rude. Indeed, it was the only way to survive in polite society. But he wanted to know the truth of her, and so he pressed her.
“It’s not rude,” he hedged. “But I hate it nonetheless.”
She nodded slowly, and when she finally spoke, her words were hesitant. “Without guns, will the countess keep control of her children?”
He sighed. “She doesn’t have control of her children now. I am their natural guardian as her husband’s brother, but Lord Gordon—that’s Nessie’s father—means to change that.”
“A woman has no rights.”
He nodded. That was the way the law worked. A woman could not have legal responsibility for her children, and he now recognized how absurd that was. He turned, kicking a stone out of the path as they began walking again.
“Lord Gordon won’t use guns, but he’ll get Stefan anyway. The boy signed a paper. He didn’t know what it was. His grandfather asked him to sign, so he did.” He shook his head at the stupidity of allowing that to happen. He blamed himself, of course. He should have pushed the church court to do the paperwork right away, but he never guessed that Nessie’s father would claim guardianship.
“I don’t understand.”
He extended his arm to her to help her jump over a marshy section. “He’s twelve years old. He gets to choose his guardian. Apparently, his grandfather got him to sign a paper claiming he wanted him.”
“Can he sign a different paper?”
“Yes. And I will draw up the paperwork as soon as possible.” He grimaced. “That last thing that boy needs is Lord Gordon controlling his estates.”
“He is a bad man?”
Yes, absolutely.That was Daniel’s gut reaction, but the truth was much harder to parse. “He is arrogant. He thinks he knows best about everything and anyone who disagrees is cut from his circle without quarter.”
At Peder and Nessie’s wedding breakfast, he and Lord Gordon had disagreed about the so-called savages in India. Given that Daniel had actually visited India, he had assumed the older man would trust his judgement that the Indian people werenot“dirty animals.” He was wrong, and the disagreement had colored their relationship ever since. As in, they had never spoken to one another without the subject coming back up. His lordship constantly mocked Daniel as being hopelessly backward in his thinking.
“But I don’t know that he would be a bad guardian for Stefan,” he admitted. “And I agree with him that Stefan should go to school this fall.”
“And does Stefan’s mother have any say in her son’s life?”
“With me as guardian, she would.”
“Because you would give it to her. But you could change your mind or simply ignore her if you chose.”
Daniel winced. “Yes. That is the way the law is written.”
Li-Na shook her head. She didn’t even have to say a word for him to know what she was thinking. In a barbaric land, a woman with guns could defend her children. But England was a civilized land where such things weren’t tolerated. And so men took a woman’s children away without ever having to draw blood. All it took was a spy who twisted some facts, and a woman could be painted as unfit. Or worse, as a witch. It simply happened, and he had never thought about that before now.
“I will fight Lord Gordon in court. There is no need for Nessie to hire armed guards.”
“She said as much,” Li-Na commented. “Besides, you said the power is with the boy to determine who he wants and why.”
“The power is with the ecclesiastical court, but they will listen to the boy.” He hoped. Lord Gordon had many powerful friends who might rule in his favor despite whatever Stefan said.
