Page 29 of A Wallflower to Win the Viscount

‘And you are Viscount Westhaven’s neighbour,’ he asked, looking over his glasses at Primrose, then across to Lucian and back again.

‘Yes,’ she said, nodding vigorously.

Mr Carruthers raised his bushy grey eyebrows, and Lucian shuffled in his chair, a discomfited expression on his face.

‘I see,’ Mr Carruthers said, although what he could see Primrose had no idea. ‘And am I to assume you wish to challenge your cousin’s claim?’

Primrose continued nodding while Lucian replied with a decisive ‘Yes.’

‘Well, I suspect this will be straightforward,’ the solicitor said, folding up the letter. ‘It will just be a matter of looking into the deeds of your house, which I suspect will be in your name. If your house really was still part of the Stonely estate, then the new earl’s solicitor would no doubt have provided definitive proof of that and not have made these vague references. I also doubt your aunt’s solicitor would have allowed her to bequeath it to you in her will if it was not legally hers to do so. I suspect this is just an attempt by the earl to intimidate you into giving up what is rightfully yours.’

‘Yes, he’s always trying to do that,’ Primrose said, remembering all the times Jasper had made her life a misery when she was growing up and how he had made the Season particularly unpleasant for her. He was one of the few people in the world who could be relied on to act exactly as expected: mean-spirited and cruel.

‘However,’ the solicitor added and paused.

However? Primrose did not like the sound of that.

‘Even if we can prove the house is legally yours, if the earl refuses to yield, this might have to go to court.’

‘Yes, good.’ Primrose smiled, enjoying the thought of showing Cousin Jasper up in public so everyone could see just how awful he was.

‘I’m afraid that challenges to wills can often be a protracted legal process, and that might be an expensive undertaking.’

‘Oh.’

‘Do you have the funds for a long court case?’

‘No’ was the simple answer to that question. Aunt Clemmie had left her enough money to maintain her household and live a comfortable but frugal lifestyle, but not enough for protracted and expensive legal processes.

‘I suspect that is what the earl is relying on,’ Mr Carruthers said.

‘It is so unfair,’ Primrose said, her optimism deflating. Jasper would win again. Just as he had done on countless occasions when they were children, but this time the outcome would be far worse than her shedding childhood tears in response to his merciless teasing. ‘My poor animals. Where will they live if I become homeless?’

‘The cost of a court case is of no account,’ Lucian said, waving his hand in front of his face as if to make that insurmountable problem disappear. ‘I’ll pay any legal fees.’

Had Primrose heard correctly? She turned in her chair to look at Lucian, as did Mr Carruthers, his eyebrows once again raised.

‘You’d do that?’ Primrose gasped. ‘For me? For my animals?’

Again Lucian squirmed in his seat. ‘I can’t stand bullies. And your cousin is quite obviously a bully and a scoundrel.’

He pointed at the letter in the solicitor’s hand. ‘As the head of the Stonely family and your male relative, it is his duty to protect you. Instead, he is threatening to put you in an even more vulnerable position than you already are. It is unconscionable.’

‘Very good, my lord,’ Mr Carruthers said approvingly while Primrose continued to stare at Lucian in disbelief.

‘I shall make enquiries regarding the ownership of your home, Miss Fairburn,’ the solicitor continued. ‘And send a letter to the earl’s solicitor informing him that we will be challenging this claim. I shall also, informally, let it be known that Miss Fairburn has the financial backing of Viscount Westhaven, and he will be funding the case.’ He looked at Lucian over his glasses. ‘No matter what the expense?’

Lucian nodded.

‘I believe once that fact becomes known, if the Earl of Stonely is aware he has no legal right to challenge your ownership of the house, which I’m sure he is, then he will drop the claim rather than draining his fortune fighting a case he can’t win.’

With that statement, the discussion was over. It was all so easy. If you had money, you could win. Cousin Jasper thought Primrose had neither money nor power nor the ability to stand up to him. And unfortunately, he was right. But she had a wealthy, powerful man who was prepared to help her and put things to right, and that changed everything.

She was saved. She should be feeling joyous, as if she was floating on air. She should be tempted to sing and dance to show how happy she was.

So why wasn’t she?

She should also be feeling grateful to Lucian. He had saved her and the animals from a terrible fate.