Dangerous to Kiss (36 page)

“Love?” Contempt blazed from the earl’s eyes and his lips were drawn back in a sneer. “What a sniveling cur you are! Pride in our heritage is what matters. Loyalty to our family name. This house and its contents are reputed to be the most enviable private palace in the whole of Europe, on a par with Windsor and Versailles.
And it is my doing! But that means nothing to a wastrel such as you.”

“You married my mother for her fortune and spent it on this house. You didn’t care what happened to her.”

“Your mother!” He spat the words as though they were tainted with poison. “It was a marriage I soon came to regret. I married beneath me. Your mother had no conception of her duty to the great family she had married into!”

Leathe’s voice cracked. “The great family she married into destroyed her. She was your victim, as Deb and I have been your victims. God have we not! We were young and helpless, and you took from us the one person who made life tolerable in this … this petrified mausoleum. At least I was able to escape you when I went away to school, but Deborah … Deborah-when I think of Albert, I could kill you.” He drew in a great shuddering breath. “But that’s too easy a revenge. No. I’m not going to kill you.”

“Kill me?” Belvidere laughed. “I’m trembling in my boots.” The silk in his voice became velvet. “Leathe, have a care. You can’t fight me and win. You never have; you never will. And do you know why, Leathe? Because you are your mother’s son. You’re a weakling and a wastrel, and that’s all you’ll ever be.”

Something shattered on the floor behind them, and both men spun round. Gray was on one knee, picking up the pieces of what had been an urn. At that moment, two armed footmen burst into the room and came to a sudden halt.

“Good Lord!” exclaimed Gray. “How careless of me.” He held out two jagged fragments to the earl. “This was Mycenaen, was it not? What a pity! I shall pay for it, of course.” He smiled sheepishly as he rose and joined father and son. “Or, if you like, you may regard it as a wedding present, you know, for Deborah and me.”

The footmen looked at their master, and receiving no direction, quietly withdrew.

Belvidere was as rigid as one of his own marble statues. He didn’t blink. He didn’t breathe. The eyes weren’t
dead. They were burning with a violent intensity, and Gray was satisfied that his message had been received and understood. A son might not have the stomach to take on his father, but there was nothing to stop the Earl of Kendal. And Gray knew where to hurt him. His precious collections. A less cautious man would have ordered his footmen to throw them out. Belvidere would want to know just how far they were prepared to go. Good. At last the earl was taking him seriously.

“If I were you, Belvidere,” said Gray, “I would pack my treasures away where thieves cannot break in. This place is a robbers’ paradise.”

That formidable control came into play. Belvidere unfroze, but he couldn’t quite steady his voice. “You think I’m foolish enough to leave my treasures unguarded? You saw what happened just now. Ask around, Kendal, and you will discover that every thief who has ever broken into my house has ended his life on the gallows.”

“Point taken,” murmured Gray. “Leathe, what do you suggest?”

“Fire,” answered Leathe at once. He had recovered his poise, and belatedly remembered the plan they had agreed on. “I always wanted to torch this place, and nothing has made me change my mind.”

“But Leathe,” protested Gray, “this is your ancestral home. The house is entailed on you. Fire would destroy everything, not only the collections.”

“Then I would rebuild it to my own taste.”

“What a pity I won’t be here to see it,” snapped the earl. Then to Gray, “What exactly do you want from me?”

There was no pretense at civility now. Gray was as grim-faced as the earl. “If you had managed to get Deborah in your clutches again, you soon would have taken steps to clear her of the charges against her. You had a plan of some sort. Use it. At the end of a week, two weeks at the most, I shall expect to hear that the matter has been settled.”

“And my collections?”

“Leathe?”

“Shall we say that the collections remain intact until Lord Belvidere dies, and on his death, a half share shall go to Elizabeth and a quarter share to Deborah and me? Our solicitors can draw up the agreement.”

“That’s very generous,” said Belvidere. He sounded bored. “But I fear I must decline. Your threats don’t frighten me.” His eyes fastened on Gray, and a murderous rage blazed in their depths. “You made a mistake coming here, tonight, threatening me in my own home. It’s a mistake you will live to regret.”

“Two weeks,” said Gray. “That’s all the time I will allow you. Fail me in this, and I’ll take everything away from you, piece by piece, down to the last porcelain button.

“A word of advice. Even now, you are under surveillance. Make one move toward Deborah or Leathe, and I shall hear of it.”

As they turned to leave, the earl addressed his son. “You take after your mother.”

Leathe said nothing.

“She was mad, Leathe. And her blood runs in your veins.”

The vicious words froze Leathe to the spot. Not so Gray. He stepped between father and son and calmly rammed his fist into Belvidere’s face, sending him hurtling to the floor. Legs splayed, hands fisted, Gray stood over him. The blood spurted from the earl’s nose and dripped onto his snowy-white cravat.

“That’s for Deborah,” said Gray. “Oh, not the past. Nothing short of a long, lingering death would suffice for how you abused your role as father and guardian of two innocent children. No, that was because you failed to ask after Deb’s welfare, expressed not one word of regret, nor an interest in how she has managed to survive in the last several years. My inclination is to call you out. You’re lucky that for Deborah’s sake, I want no more scandal.”

When the door closed on Gray and Leathe, Belvidere wiped the blood from his face with the back of his sleeve. He was so incensed, he was unaware of what he was doing. He didn’t cry out for servants to come and
assist him. The humiliation of being found like this was not to be borne.

He pulled himself to his knees, then to his feet, and supported himself on the back of a chair as he struggled to even his breathing. This was not over yet, he promised himself. He would see them both dead for the humiliation they had heaped on him, but he would make them suffer first. It might not happen tomorrow or the next day, but it
would
happen. He was a patient man. Then he would find Deborah and deal with her too.

Not a word was spoken between Gray and Leathe until they were in the carriage and making for the village of Windsor where they were to lodge for the night.

“Well,” said Leathe, breaking the silence, “if that was an example of how British diplomats conduct themselves at the negotiating table, it’s no wonder that we’re always at war. Striking a defenseless man!” He chuckled. “I was never more shocked in my life.”

“Are you still convinced your plan will work?” asked Leathe.

“I’m more convinced than ever. Those collections really are an obsession with your father.”

“You’re not really going to burn the house to the ground, are you?”

“Your father will never let it go that far. Trust me, Leathe. I know what I’m doing. Oh, would you mind if we spent tomorrow in town? There are some things I have to arrange.”

“Things to do with my father?”

Gray folded his arms across his chest. “I’m going to enjoy this,” he said.

“What are you going to do?”

“Mmm? Oh, negotiate, of course, in a way that your father will understand. That’s what diplomacy is all about, my boy.”

“Well, if that was an example of how British diplomats conduct themselves at the negotiating table, it’s no wonder that we’re always at war. Striking a defenseless
man!” He chuckled. “I was never more shocked in my life.” After a moment’s reflection, he went on in a more serious vein. “What did you think of him?”

Gray did not mince words. “Cruel. Vindictive. Contemptible. He really hates you and Deborah. I don’t think I fully understood that till now. And that part at the end about your mother, that insanity runs in your veins—he really knows how to twist the knife in you.”

“You … you don’t think there’s something in it?”

Gray turned his shrewd blue eyes on Leathe. “I can’t vouch for you, of course, but I know my Deb. I’m staking my future and my children’s future on my instincts. She’s saner than I am.”

Leath laughed and stretched out his long legs.

From this point, the conversation dwindled, and finally passed into a companionable silence that was not broken until they were almost at Windsor.

At that point, Gray said suddenly, “You have my permission to accompany Meg when she goes out riding, but on the clear understanding that she is chaperoned at all times.”

“What!”

“And when we return to town, you may drive her out in your curricle, but only in public places, Hyde Park, and so on.”

Leathe sat up straighter and Gray went on. “Should you happen to encounter her at balls and other such functions, you have my permission to invite her to dance, but mind, no more than the conventions allow. I suppose it’s all right if you take her into supper on the odd occasion. I shall confer with my mother on that point.” He paused. “This is not to say that I am giving you permission to pay your addresses to my sister. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir,” said Leathe.

“You have a reputation to live down, a character to establish. When I am satisfied that you have made progress, we shall speak again. Do you take my meaning, Leathe?”

“Perfectly. And might I say, sir, that I extend to you the same privileges with respect to Deb?”

It was meant as a joke and they both laughed, but Gray’s laugh was forced. He was beginning to understand Deborah’s antipathy to the institution of marriage, and the more he thought of it, the more his mood soured.

Gray returned to Channings to find everyone in a great state of agitation. Hart met him at the door and whisked him into a small waiting room.

“Has something happened to Gussie?” Gray asked.

“No, no, nothing like that. But I thought it best if I spoke to you first, before you meet with the ladies. They are rather upset by the incident.”

Gray stood with his feet apart, jerking his gloves through the fingers of one hand. “Go on. I’m listening.”

Hart spoke quickly. “There was a shooting accident. Well, not an accident exactly. More like a mishap. No one was hurt, that is, no one was wounded. However, Quentin had a bad shock. It’s brought on that chest complaint of his. Dr. Tait has already been to see him, and he says there’s no real harm done. No, really, Gray, I mean it. The boy is fine.”

“Then what did Tait mean when he said that no
real
harm was done.”

“We thought at first Quentin’s mind might be affected. He fainted, you see, and when he came to himself, he was babbling about France and someone pursuing him. However, whatever it was that disturbed him seems to have passed.”

“I see.” Gray turned this over in his mind, then said, “Tell me about the accident.”

“It
was
an accident. You can be sure of that, Gray,” said Hart, knowing what was going through Gray’s mind. “It happened early this morning. The boys and their tutor were out walking. Unfortunately, at the same time, our neighbor’s son, Matthew Derwent, and a party of friends were out grouse shooting. They had lost track of their surroundings and had strayed onto my land.”

“Just tell me what happened, Hart.”

“All the guns went off at once. Jason says it was quite an explosion. Even he was shocked. Quentin’s reaction, however, was extraordinary. He screamed at the top of his lungs. When Jervis, the tutor, took a step toward him, Quentin backed away, then took off like a hare. Jervis gave chase. When he caught up to him, Quentin fainted. As for young Derwent, I’ve never seen anyone in such a state. He blames himself. He was here for hours, waiting until Dr. Tait had examined Quentin and assured him that the boy had suffered no real harm.”

“I presume Deborah and Quentin are in his chamber now?” Gray was already striding for the door.

Hart hastened to catch up with him. “Yes. Deborah can’t be induced to leave him, and—” Gray was taking the stairs two at a time. Shaking his head, Hart went after him.

At the top of the stairs, Gray was met by his mother and sisters. “We thought we heard your voice,” said the dowager, and she reached up to press a kiss to his cheek.

As the ladies began to fire off questions at him, he raised both hands, palm up, silencing them. “I should have warned you that something like this might happen. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Look, Gussie, I haven’t eaten since breakfast. Would you mind arranging something for me? I should like to speak with all of you after I have spoken with Deborah. Why don’t you go down to the breakfast room and wait for me there?”

He entered Quentin’s chamber to find Deborah sitting on a chair on one side of the bed, and the tutor nervously pacing in front of the window. Gray then
looked at Quentin. He appeared to be sleeping, but when Deborah tried to disengage her hand from his clasp, his small hand tightened, holding her fast. The air was thick with vapor and the scent of herbs which came from a small copper pot that was steaming over the fire. In spite of the measures that had been taken to ease the tightness in Quentin’s chest, his breathing was rough and labored.