Page 80 of The Unwanted Duchess

“Right here,” she stated. “Right now.”

“Very well. Your Grace, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Graham looked at Adam, and Samantha did the same. Surely, he did not mean…

“This is my home,” Graham replied sternly. “I shall not be told where I can and cannot go, and so I shall stay right here.”

“Then I shall take Samantha elsewhere.”

“You shall do no such thing. My wife is not to leave my sight when speaking to men of your sort.”

Samantha did not know what Graham meant by that, but she chose not to believe that he was referring to his status and titles, for they had only just discussed that.

“It is a family matter,” Adam explained, “and so I think it is best that Samantha and I keep it between the two of us.”

“Then you will not be able to discuss it. Samantha is my family now and not yours. In fact, I would have to point out that you have never been her family. You have only appeared to take a title for yourself.”

“I do not care for the title, and I never have. I cannot stand this place, if you must know, and I fully intend to return to Scotland once everything is in order, but I do have a sense of duty and as of right now, my duty is to my sisters. Samantha is, whether she likes it or not, my sister.”

“Your half-sister,” she corrected him.

“Connected by our father, and that is what I must speak to you about. Why is that so hard to understand?”

“Why can you not understand that you are unwanted?” Graham asked. “We cannot be any clearer. Either say what you must say or leave.”

“Is that what you want, Samantha?” he asked, and Samantha did not know what to say.

She did want him gone. She wanted to go back to what she was doing with the Duke and to forget that her father ever existed and that he had a son, but she also wanted to know what he had to say. For him to have arrived, there had to be a reason.

“Adam,” she sighed, “whatever you can say to me, you can say it to my husband. I shall only tell him myself, later. You might as well save the both of us some time and tell him now. Unless, that is, it is something that my husband cannot know in which case I want no part in it at all.”

Adam shifted from one foot to the other, clearly unsure of whether or not to speak. Graham stood at Samantha’s side, as if ready to protect her, even though she was certain that Adam had not come to cause her any harm.

She did have to admit, however, that it felt good to have him protecting her to begin with.

“Very well,” he sighed, “but I am asking you now not to shoot the messenger. I came as soon as I could, and it might not even mean anything anymore, but it has confused me if anything, and so I think it is best that you find out.”

Graham huffed, but he showed the man to a seat, and Samantha sent for a tea to be brought.

“Whenever you are ready,” she said, and her half-brother sighed.

“I do not know where to begin,” he said carefully, “though I suppose the very start of it all would be best.”

Adam had never much cared that he did not have a father. It had made little difference to his life, for those around him hardly saw theirs either. The only difference was that their fathers were working whereas Adam’s simply did not seem to exist at all.

But he had never allowed it to make a difference in his life. He had his mother, whom he adored, and that was all that mattered to him. He only dared to ask about his father once, and when his mother told him the story, he decided that that was all it was — a story and nothing more.

After all, what boy would believe that his father was a rich earl in London whilst he was in Scotland with not a penny to his name? His mother had seemed very serious when she told him the story of how they had fallen in love and married, but once she told himthat his father had two daughters that he had abandoned, so she had sent him away, he no longer believed her, especially when she told him that his father had left Scotland altogether.

To Adam, the thought of someone leaving Scotland was preposterous. Who in their right mind would ever leave?

He laughed at the memory as he traveled down to London. The journey was long, but he had affairs to get in order when he received word that his father was dead. As it transpired, he did indeed have a father in London, and he was indeed an earl. His mother had been telling the truth, and he was simply glad that while he did not believe her, he had never once accused her of lying to him.

He had expected a mountain of papers to organize, final debts to account for, and an incredibly short time to learn everything now that his father was deceased, and the titles were to be passed to him. What he had not expected, however, was a man that looked remarkably similar to him to appear in the grounds with his arms outstretched.

“My boy!” he called out to him. “At last, you are here!”

Adam reluctantly walked up to him and was pulled into an embrace. He tried to work out who the man was, for there had been no mention of an uncle. In fact, if there was an uncle, that would have been even better. He could have faked his demise and returned to Scotland, leaving the title in his uncle’s capable hands.

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