The Inheritance (15 page)

“If you must know, I’m looking for whoever it was that told my father I was a bastard,” he said in a quiet voice. “I want to know what evidence convinced my father that my mother was unfaithful to him.” Nicholas turned and faced Daisy. “Because, you see, as she lay dying, my mother told me that someone lied.” His lips curved in a bitter smile. “She claimed, poor woman, that I am my father’s son.”

“Oh.” Daisy sank into the nearest chair. “Oh, dear.”

Nicholas turned away from the stunned look on Daisy’s face and stared out the window. His throat felt swollen, and it hurt to swallow. He recalled the sound of his mother’s raspy voice as though it had just slithered over him.

“Why would someone lie to Lord Philip about something so important?” Daisy asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t a lie.”

“Then why would your mother claim otherwise as she lay dying?”

“I don’t know that, either.” He was aware suddenly of Daisy’s presence beside him. He hadn’t even been aware of her crossing the room. Which made him think maybe it was a good thing he was in England right now and not in Texas, where that sort of distraction might have gotten him killed.

She reached out a hand and laid it on his arm. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I don’t see how you can. You weren’t even born when it all happened.”

“But at some point you’ll have a list of people who were here, and you’ll want to meet them all, won’t you? I could host a party, the reception for our wedding would be perfect, don’t you think? It would give you a chance to speak to the most likely suspects.”

Nicholas sighed. “If someone was cool and calculating enough to pull off that sort of deception twenty-seven years ago, I can’t imagine him revealing himself to me at this point in time.”

“Maybe he made a mistake. Maybe he isn’t the only one who knows what he did. Maybe he bragged about it to someone,” Daisy said.

Nicholas turned to look at her. “I hadn’t thought of that. You may be right. All right, I’ll make sure you have the list of names when it’s available. We’ll invite everyone and see what comes out of the woodwork.”

“Would it make a difference?” Daisy asked. “I mean, if you really are the duke?” She flushed as she realized how that had sounded. “I mean, would you be more inclined to stay here if Severn is your birthright?”

Nicholas arched his brow in the way that reminded her so much of the old duke. “I won’t deny I have a lot of memories here. But it’s not where I belong. Not anymore.”

“Oh.” Daisy’s mind was already churning with ideas. There were many ways she could bring Nicholas’s past alive for him. There was the portrait gallery,
for one. And the attic was full of toys the boys must have played with. And she had Tony’s diary. That might bring back some memories for Nicholas. The duke had spent eight summers at Severn Manor. Daisy was going to remind him of every one of them. Nicholas might think he didn’t belong here anymore. But she was determined to prove otherwise to him.

At last Daisy saw some hope that her marriage to the duke didn’t have to end in the spring. She would make him fall in love with Severn all over again. Of course, it wouldn’t be a bad idea if he fell in love with her, as well.

Not that she intended to lose her heart. That was quite another proposition. She knew better than to put herself at risk in such a way. There were too many rough edges to the duke. She was liable to find herself torn apart if she tried to broach his defenses.

“When do you want to visit the tenants?” Daisy asked.

“Let’s try again tomorrow,” Nicholas said. “Right now I need to go check on my newest employee.”

At Daisy’s questioning look he explained, “I hired the young man who was caught in the mantrap.”

“That was very kind of you, Nicholas.”

“It wasn’t kind,” he contradicted, “it was the smart thing to do. He’ll serve me better this way than if I send him off to jail and have to feed his brothers and sisters while he’s gone.”

Daisy frowned. “Can’t you admit you care?”

“I learned a long time ago that caring is for fools and idiots.”

Before Daisy could make an appropriate rejoinder, they were interrupted by a sharp knock on the
door. Colin came in without waiting for permission. “Well, Pa? What did he say?”

“He said you can visit.”

Colin gave a whoop of exultation that was so loud it startled Daisy.

“Excuse me, Daisy,” Colin said with a charming grin that was going to be as lethal as his father’s someday. “I just got some good news, and I had to celebrate.”

Daisy turned to the duke. “There’s obviously someone you care for, Your Grace,” she said archly, as she looked from father to son. And if there was one chink in his armor, there was bound to be a way to create another.

“I’m glad for you, Colin,” she said. “I thought the earl was being unreasonable.”

“Thanks, Daisy. Can I go and see her now, Pa?”

“Awfully impatient, aren’t you, Colin?”

“I promised Lady Roanna I’d go riding with her today.” He gave his father a cheeky smile. “We were going to meet in secret, but now that won’t be necessary.”

Nicholas felt his heart give a warning thump. “Be careful, Colin. The earl said you could visit his daughter. He doesn’t intend for the relationship to go any further than that. Do you understand?”

A surprisingly stubborn look crossed Colin’s face and disappeared just as quickly.

“Don’t lose your heart to an English girl,” Nicholas warned. “Otherwise, you’re going to miss it when we head back home in the spring.”

“Don’t worry, Pa,” Colin said. “I know what I’m doing.”

He was gone an instant later, leaving Nicholas and Daisy alone once more.

“That sounds like a situation fraught with pitfalls for your son,” Daisy said.

“Don’t worry. If Colin starts to lose his head over the girl, I’ll set him straight.”

“What fatherly advice will you give him?” Daisy was chilled by the coldness in Nicholas’s eyes when he turned them on her.

“I’ll tell him what I’ve learned over the past twenty-seven years. Never trust a woman. She’ll betray you. Never let yourself love one. They’re not worth the heartache.”

“That’s awful!” Daisy said. “You can’t tell an impressionable young man something like that.”

“Watch me,” Nicholas said. “Now, if we’ve finished our business, I want to check on Hepplewhite.”

Nicholas was gone from the library a moment later, leaving Daisy behind with a great deal of food for thought.

“I had forgotten how wet England can be,” the duke said on the fifth morning he awoke to find the skies gray and a steady rain falling.

“Quite so, Your Grace,” Porter said as he moved about the room opening curtains, setting out shaving materials, and retrieving one of the newly tailored frock coats made for the duke over the past week.

“I suppose I’ve been spoiled living in Texas. When it rains, it pours, but then it’s dry again. This weather is a little daunting. Especially since it’s kept me from business all week. The duchess and I have made plans every day to visit the tenants, only to have them scrubbed by rain.”

“Quite so, Your Grace.”

Nicholas was restless. He didn’t like being confined by the weather. Of course, he and Daisy could have done their visiting in a carriage, rather than on horseback, but they would have ended up soaked simply getting in and out at each stop. It had seemed a better idea to wait for the rain to break. Nicholas had never imagined it would rain for five days without respite. When it finally stopped it was going to
take another day or so for the mud to dry enough to make travel possible with any kind of ease.

However, he had accomplished a great deal over the past five days from behind the desk in his library.

First, he had summoned Mr. Poole and informed him that there were to be no more mantraps on Severn land. He thought the man looked relieved as he agreed to retrieve and dismantle the traps that had been set.

“What do you want done with poachers, Your Grace?” Mr. Poole asked. “Once the mantraps are gone, they’ll be all over the place.”

“Ignore them.”

Mr. Poole’s jaw gaped. “But, Your Grace—”

The duke cut him off. “Any man who takes game to feed his family is welcome to it. Make it clear, Mr. Poole, that anyone who abuses the privilege will be treated as a thief and sent before the magistrate.”

“Very well, Your Grace.”

He called in the bailiff, Mr. Henderson, and asked for his evaluation of the new farming methods Daisy had instituted the previous year. Nicholas could tell right away from the things Henderson said that Daisy had met formidable opposition from the man at first. What he found amazing was that she had somehow manipulated the bailiff into doing what she wanted and then made a convert of him.

“I’m not saying Her Grace was right, and I’m not saying she was wrong in what she did,” Henderson said. “But we got the plowing and planting done in a whisker, and the winnowing and harrowing was fast as a snap. The harvest, well, who could have known it would rain? There’s good and bad luck, and no one can count on it.”

Nicholas had discussed with Henderson his plan to have the tenants plant new crops and saw immediately that the bailiff was as resistant to his “newfangled ideas” as he had been to Daisy’s.

“I’m not saying I don’t agree with Your Grace,” Henderson said. “But I’m not sure but what the tenants won’t revolt.”

“Perhaps I should call a meeting and explain the matter to them,” Nicholas suggested.

Henderson shook his head. “Begging your pardon, Your Grace, but that would be a waste of time.”

“Oh?”

“You see, everyone knows you’re only making changes so as to make Severn more profitable so you can sell it, Your Grace.” He shrugged. “Which of your tenants is going to want to make it easier for you to put them off land their families have farmed for generations?”

“I see what you mean, Henderson. Well, what would convince them to make the changes I want?”

“If Your Grace was to make some promise not to sell—”

“I can’t do that. Because I do plan to sell.” His eyes had narrowed and his mouth flattened. “I see I have no choice but to issue an ultimatum,” he said. “Make it clear to the tenants, Henderson, that anyone who won’t do as I say will be immediately evicted. Is that clear?”

Nicholas saw the fear in Henderson’s eyes and the resentment. But the bailiff answered, “Perfectly clear, Your Grace.”

Nicholas was confronted by Daisy later the same afternoon.

“You’re a fool, Your Grace,” she said.

Naturally, he had taken offense. “Pardon me, ma’am. I believe I misunderstood you.”

“You heard me,” she snapped. “How do you expect to get the tenants to cooperate when you threaten them with eviction? I never heard of anything so stupid in my life.”

“Stupid?” A slow flush was crawling up his throat.

“If it’s not stupidity, it must be ignorance,” Daisy said, her hands perched on her hips.

“Ignorance,” Nicholas repeated in a deadly voice. The blood had reached all the way to the tips of his ears. If Daisy had been watching for signs of a volcano about to erupt, she would have seen them on his face.

“Any idiot can see it’s going to take some diplomacy to accomplish your goals.” Daisy pursed her lips ruefully. “I suppose that’s why you’re marrying me.”

“You can solve the problem, ma’am?”

“It will be more difficult now that you’ve stirred things up,” Daisy said. “But I’ll manage somehow, I suppose.”

“Manage.” He was strangling on bile. And she apparently hadn’t the least idea he was upset. She was too busy pacing the library, throwing her hands around in agitated gestures to punctuate her thoughts.

“I’ll have to find a subtle way to rescind your ultimatum. It can be done when we make our visit to the tenants. If this damnable rain would only stop!”

She was staring out the library window, so she didn’t see his mouth drop at her announcement that she was going to undo what he had done.

“Daisy,” he said to get her attention.

She turned abruptly to face him. “Did you have something to say, Your Grace?”

He could see why Henderson hadn’t had a chance. Daisy looked perfectly innocent, as if she had no inkling of the enormity of her transgressions against him. He wanted to believe that he had done the right thing in giving the tenants an ultimatum and to fight for his point of view. But he remembered Phipps warning him that he wouldn’t get far without Daisy’s help. And if Daisy believed he had trod seriously amiss, and obviously she did, then it might behoove him to keep his mouth shut right now.

“You look beautiful today,” he said.

Daisy was caught completely off guard by his compliment. Her lids dropped to hide her startled eyes, and her hands twisted into nervous knots. “Uh … thank you,” she mumbled.

Nicholas was pleased to be the one in control once more. “Come here, Daisy,” he said in a husky voice.

“I have to go now, Your Grace.” She fled the library like a scalded cat.

Nicholas had the satisfaction of knowing he still had the upper hand in at least one area. He conceded the rest to Daisy. At least for the moment.

On the second rainy day he summoned a bootmaker from the town of Bagshot, who had a reputation for being clever with his hands.