Page 389 of From Rakes to Riches

Lord Thurlow carefully set down his napkin and rose to his feet. “Victoria, I have several things to take care of in my study. Have a good afternoon.”

Victoria stared after him, then looked back at her mother, who calmly continued eating with an improved appetite.

“Mama, you know Lord Thurlow and his father are at odds. You did not need to tell him about our confrontation with the earl. You drove him away from his own dinner table.”

“You need to be protected, my dear, and I am grateful to be able to do it.”

Victoria felt a chill as she remembered the last several years. “But Mama?—”

“I promise you it will be all right, Victoria. He’ll learn to protect you, too. Just wait and see.”

9

David tried to concentrate on the letter he was writing to the secretary of foreign affairs, but he was interrupted by the door swinging open unannounced.

Nurse Carter, a tall, big-boned woman, pushed his father’s wheelchair into the room, and didn’t meet David’s gaze.

David sat back in his chair and tried to size up his father’s mood. The earl wore an air of satisfaction that was confusing.

“Father, once again you didn’t have luncheon with us. Rather rude of you, wasn’t it?”

The earl glanced over his shoulder. “Nurse Carter, you may leave us. Wait outside the door. I’ll call for you.”

When they were alone, the earl spent a moment studying David, as if he was waiting for something. David remained silent, much as he’d like to tell the earl what he thought of his treatment of Victoria. That would only make the old man’s hostility worse.

Confronting Lady Augusta had made David realize that now Victoria would be paying for his father’s sins, too, and that wasn’t fair.

“I imagine the girl came running to tell you what transpired between us,” the earl said.

David smiled without amusement. “Victoria is too good-natured for that. It was her mother who did the correct thing by telling me about your insulting behavior.”

“So the old battle-ax has some spirit. I’ve seen her skulking about the house. Got exactly what she wanted, didn’t she. A countess for a daughter.”

“A viscountess,” David said.

“Not for long, eh? Soon she’ll have it all.”

“Stop it.” David went to the window and stared out at the gardens, his hands clenched behind his back, looking for a measure of peace he usually never found with his father. “Every time we have an argument, you bring up your eventual death to wield against me. It never works.”

“Perhaps not, but it makes me feel better,” the earl said, his voice betraying an exhaustion he seldom showed anyone.

David turned to face him. “Why did you come to talk about this? I made apologies for you. Now you can do your part and leave Victoria alone.”

“If I insulted her, then at least you now know how I felt whenever you insulted my Colette.”

David stiffened, and his growing anger melted into the icy coldness that always lived within his heart. “I never insulted your mistress.”

“Not directly, but she knew how you felt. She cried about it. And now she’s dead, and you can’t apologize. You couldn’t even come to console me at her funeral.”

Closing his eyes, David pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He didn’t want to relive the months after his mother’s death, when his father had found a mistress and moved the crude woman right into the house, for all thetonto gawk at.

David kept his voice even. “If you can’t be civil to Victoria, then don’t leave your room when she’s about.”

His father stared at him, a bitter smile tilting the corner of his mouth. “Is she under your skin already? That was quick. Not wise to let a woman do that to you, boy. They just break your heart.”

“As if you speak from experience,” David scoffed.

He thought his father winced, but he didn’t want to believe it.

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