Page 29 of A Viscount’s Reluctant Passion

Nash did release a snort of surprised laughter, but it was as much sympathetic as anything.

“I actually think that’s a wise plan, Chase. And, as a Duke, you can pretty much do as you wish – they may gossip, but they’ll never cut you. I salute you for having come so far, when all these years you’ve firmly declared that you’re not interested in marrying. I’ll keep an eye out for girls who might fit your requirements.”

“Don’t bother. It’s my challenge – I’ll meet it myself. But, tell me, what kept you at Blackwood Chase so long? Why didn’t you come and tell me your news sooner? You were never that close with James… and now that he’s happily married, he’s become a bit boring…”

Nash sipped his brandy. This was going to be interesting.

“Well, you’re right – there’s a tale to tell.”

“Out with it then.”

“In truth, it all started at the end of the Season, at the Belmonton Ball, when you were still ragging me about my interest in Miss Wormsley. But it turned out that my instinct was in the right place, when I came back to town, just for that Ball. For that night, something happened which set everything else in motion thereafter.”

“Oh? What?”

“Lord Walter Winterbourne trapped Miss Wormsley alone in the library, and tried to force himself upon her.”

“What! I’ve never liked the man, but I did not suspect him of being that much of an unprincipled cad. I may have the rightfully earned reputation of a rake, but I would never have considered something so beyond the pale.”

“Exactly. Purely by luck, because I was slinking off to hide myself from the irritations of the gossips – in the library…. – I happened upon them before he had gone too far. I hauled him off her, refrained from pummelling him to a pulp, and bought him off. It seemed that he was desperate for money, and was after her for the dowry. But that wasn’t the end of it.”

“Good God, what more did the man do? If a man has been bought off, he’s supposed to stay bought!”

“He didn’t. But I hadn’t expected him to. If he was that desperate for money, then I made the assumption that he was in deep. So I set Silverton to digging out Winterbourne’s debts, and buying them up. Which he did an admirable job of. But Winterbourne had been quiet, so I left things sit while we got this place, and all of the Montford estate matters, sorted out.”

“Wait a minute… you bought up all of his debts?”

“Yes. And Winterbourne was unaware of it. Let me get on with the tale. When I left here that morning, to go to Blackwood Chase, I had a sense of urgency – I thought it was just my wish to see Miss Wormsley again, to declare myself to her, but perhaps something else was at work. Unbeknownst to me, Winterbourne had appeared at Blackwood Chase a week or two before, and had been playing the adoring swain.”

“Why didn’t Blackwood just toss the bounder out on his ear?”

“Because he didn’t know that the incident at the Belmonton Ball had happened. Bea was so embarrassed by what she saw as her foolishness in letting him get her alone in the first place, that she hadn’t told her sister, or Blackwood. So she was trapped into being polite to the man, still too ashamed and embarrassed to tell her sister about the Ball. But it seems that he was growing impatient with her resisting his charm – can you imagine the hide of him, expecting that she would just forget that incident at the Ball, and accept him! – and that, again, serendipitously, I arrived exactly when needed. When my carriage pulled up at Blackwood chase, another carriage was just being put away. And I saw a flash of movement in the gardens – it was Winterbourne, hurrying away, as if with some purpose. I could not imagine that he had anything good in mind, so I hurried after him, wondering what he was doing there. He was well ahead of me, and I did not catch up to him until he had gone amongst the trees near the river. When I reached the clearing, he had Miss Wormsley in his grasp, and was bearing her down to the grass, even as he pulled her skirts up.”

Chase stared at him, as if unable to believe his words.

“He was what!? Not satisfied with having been rejected once, he was trying again – to take a woman against her will? The man must be mad.”

“I would agree with those sentiments. I pulled him off her, and she was quick to move away – but only after she delivered him a knee to his private parts, just as I laid him out cold. The gardeners, who had heard her scream, arrived just in time to see it all. They set to carrying him up to the house, and I turned back to Bea. And asked her to marry me, there and then.”

Chase laughed, and toasted Nash again.

“I admit, I always thought you the bookish type, the one who would be quiet and steady – never quite saw my young brother as the dashing heroic type. Seems I was wrong.”

“You weren’t wrong. I’m still me. I’d just never had a reason to do anything dramatic before.”

“So, she said ‘yes’. You dragged the reprobate up to the house, and in front of James, no doubt. But what then? It sounds as if, once back in society, the first thing he’d do is cast aspersions in the worst kind of gossip.”

“Exactly what I thought. So, after we’d explained all of this to James and Honour, we spoke to Winterbourne, who’d come to by then, to find himself bound and guarded in James’ parlour. I gave him the choice of utter financial ruination, complete with scandalous knowledge of that given to the ton, or him signing over all of his property to me – five decent small estates – and, upon him doing so, and signing an agreement, I paid his passage to the Americas, having given him some funds.”

“Given him some funds…?”

“Yes. He won’t be back for ten years, unless he inherits the Copland title. That should be sufficient to protect Bea’s reputation, and to protect any other girl he might have thought to try instead.”

“Admirable, admirable. But… let me come back to the key points here. First, you bought up all of his debts, then you also funded him to start a new life in the Americas?”

“Yes.”

Nash could not repress his grin. This was exactly the response he had expected. He waited. Chase muttered under his breath, then locked eyes with Nash.

“Just exactly what money did you do all of this with?”

Nash laughed aloud, and Chase glared at him.

“With the money I’ve made for me – which incidentally, is actually less than the money I’ve made for you - by careful investing, all these years while I’ve been telling you how tight we are for funds, lest you gamble the lot away. Never fear, it was barely a pittance, compared to what we’ve got.”

Chase gaped at him, then shut his mouth with a sudden snap.

“For that, you can damned well refill my glass, before you explain the meaning of it, in detail.”

“As you wish.”

Nash reached for the decanter, and refilled both of their glasses.

“Now, little brother, start from the beginning, and tell me the truth, for once. What has your genius mind achieved, whilst lying to my face for ten years or more?”

So Nash told him, and by the time he had finished, the decanter was empty, and they were both tired, but happy. Chase laughed hardest at Nash’s description of James Blackwood’s face, when Nash had told him how he’d been gulling Chase for years.

Now, it was time to crawl their way to bed. For tomorrow, Nash would show Chase the real account books, and set him on the path to his responsible new life, as a fabulously wealthy Duke of impeccable character.