Page 71 of Romancing Daphne

Father seemed to recognize the barb, though he did not acknowledge it.“Can you view your mother’s penury with so much indifference?”

“Not indifference, Father. Resignation. I know better than to expect you to act in a way that places any importance on the well-being of your family. I can do nothing to stop you from punishing any of us.”

Father shifted again. If James hadn’t spent a lifetime watching the man,he might have almost thought his father had grown uncomfortable. Heknew better. Father was simply adjusting his attack.

“What of this family’s standing?” Father asked. “We will never be ableto hold our heads up in Society again.”

“You know perfectly well that aborted courtships seldom reflect badly onthe gentleman involved. This family stands at the mercy not of my actions but of Miss Lancaster’s and, more daunting still, the Duke of Kielder. HisGrace could destroy us with a word. I doubt he would hesitate at all to do so. He is the one you ought to be bargaining with, not me. You two formulatedthe original agreement after all.”

Father paled noticeably. “The duke does not make bargains. Everyone knows that.”

“Then perhaps you should go begging, on your knees, for mercy. Though it is my understanding he isn’t overly fond of that either.”

“No. That won’t be necessary. I can fix this.” Father nodded repeatedly. “I can fix this.”

“How—?”

Father held a hand up to cut him off. “I can’t fix it foryou.But I can make things right for me and for this title you do not deserve to inherit. I need not be brought down by your idiocy.”

James didn’t dare even guess what Father was planning now. “Good-bye, Father. Go save your precious standing. I have far more crucial things to worry about.” He turned on his heel and left the room, intending to put to rights the many things he’d done wrong of late. Refusing to allow Father to manipulate him into sacrificing his integrity once again was but one item on his list. Talking to Ben was another.

The butler approached James as he reached the foot of the stairs.

“You look concerned, Billingsley,” James said.

“Cook has declared that she cannot prepare the venison her ladyship has requested,” the butler explained. “The meat intended for this evening has gone off.”

“Can she not obtain another cut? Or simply prepare a different dish?”

“I could not say, my lord,” the butler replied.“She wished the matter settled by you.”

“No one else in the family is capable of seeing to this?” Why had he even asked the question? No one was ever capable of handling anything.

“Lady Techney directed the issue to you.”

Of course she did.“I will see to it.”

The butler seemed satisfied and left to see to his other duties. On his way to the kitchen, James encountered the gardener, who spoke at length about an aphid infestation. Moments after directing the gardener to do his best in dealing with the pests, James addressed the coachman’s concern over the need for a new axle on the traveling coach before the family returned to Lancashire. Then a footman gave James a letter from the gamekeeper at Techney Manor expressing concerns about poachers. This was Father’s estate, deuce take it, yet everything fell on James’s shoulders—James, who had been cut off by his father. James, who had been all but disinherited. He needed a respite, an ally. He’d had that for one brief moment, and he’d thrown it away. He’d lost Daphne’s friendship as well as her unfailingly calm head in the midst of trouble, her support and encouragement.

He pushed back his regrets, something he’d done almost constantly since her departure, and set his mind to discovering his brother’s very effective hiding place. After a moment’s contemplation, the answer became clear. The only place a gentleman could have any hope of avoiding company was inhis own bedchamber.

James knocked on Ben’s door. His business with his brother held greater sway than the crises of the staff.

Ben opened the door, nodding to James.

“Ben, I—” James’s eyes darted around the room, taking in the traveling trunk awaiting attention.“Are you leaving?”

Ben dropped a pair of cuff links into a drawstring bag and tossed it into a portmanteau.“In the morning.”

An open traveling case sat half full on the floor. Several shirts lay strewn across the bed.

“When did you make this decision?” Had he offended his brother somehow?

Ben carefully folded a shirt—he hadn’t the means to hire a valet to seeto his clothing.“When I received the invitation from Mr. Windover.”

Windover?“Miss Lancaster’s brother-in-law?”

Ben nodded, his eyes wide with obvious anticipation.“We’ve been corresponding ever since Miss Lancaster wrote to tell him of my situation. I received an invitation this morning to be a guest at his home. He offered to show me around his land and talk about investments and changes that might help me begin to turn around my own estate.”

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