Page 41
Something in his voice must’ve finally registered, for his mother’s rouged cheeks went pale.
Icy fury tunneling through him, he stared at her. It wasn’t healthy or normal to despise one’s parent. The Bible said to honor your mother and father. God help him, Fletcher had tried to. Aye, but the Good Book also said for fathers not to provoke their children to anger.
After glancing at the mantel clock, he approached the duchess. When he stood three feet away, he clasped his hands behind his back. Standing there, Fletcher willed his fury to ease. After several tense moments, he could at last speak without violently cursing, he smiled. A hard, merciless, uncompromising upward sweep of his lips.
She’d brought this on herself.
“Fletcher?” Uncertainty puckered her forehead.
“Ye have exactly two hours to pack. At that time, I am personally puttin’ ye in a coach, which will take ye to Aberdeen. There is a five-room cottage there that will be yer home until yer last breath. Ye may take one servant and one trunk with ye. And I do mean one. Defy me in this, and ye will no’ be permitted to take any.”
“Fletcher, darling.” She gave an artificial laugh, one hand fluttering near her throat. Panic glinted in her eyes. “Surely you jest.”
Och, so it is Fletcher now?
He couldn’t recall the last time she’d addressed him by his given name. Not since he’d been a wee laddie.
“Do I look like I’m jestin’?” He withdrew his timepiece from his pocket. “One hour and fifty-six minutes.”
Spluttering, her face a ghastly shade of grey beneath her cosmetics, she came unsteadily to her feet. “I understand you are upset and disappointed. But let’s discuss this sensibly.”
“Nae.” He pounded his fist into his open palm. “Ye are a self-centered, inconsiderate woman who only cares about yerself. It wasn’t enough that ye destroyed Father and deserted yer children. Ye’ve hurt someone I care about verra much. Someone who could make me happy. Someone who means far more to me than you ever have or ever could.”
He looked to the door Rayne had disappeared through.
“If Rayne is lost to me now because of yer malicious spite, I shall never, never forgive ye. Ever.”
