Page 5 of The Devil Himself
Luc’s smile was razor sharp and false, and he ticked off another finger. “Three. Your father left everything to Owen toadminister. Daffyd and Arthur got an allowance. Your father determined that Owen was the only one he trusted of the three.”
Hearing that had him gritting his teeth, his jaw aching with the force of his molars grinding. Once again, he was confronted with the fact that he had been disowned, and that his hateful old bastard of a father had not thought about him at all, not even in his plans for death.
“Yes, well, how droll.” Rys strode to the door, opening it and gesturing through the portal. “As entertaining as this has been, I have no intention of helping you, so I suggest you take your leave.”
“Rys…”
“My answer is no. Goodnight, Fitzwilliam. I shall send an attendant to see you out.”
Instead of waiting for Luc to leave, Rys fled.
He couldn’t bear to be in the man’s presence, feeling the weight of his stare and his judgment, a moment longer.
Three
“He won’t help?” Hannah sat stiffly on the settee in the parlor, hands clenched in her lap.
“He says not.” Disappointed he might be, but not surprised. Rys had been ill-treated by his family, and no one could deny it. Perhaps only Luc and Hannah knew how much Owen had regretted their lost relationship in the past few years, but Owen had never acted on it, had he? Having a brother who ran one of the most notorious gaming hells in London was simply too scandalous for a reconciliation.
Owen hadn’t been able to move past that and reach out, and now it was too late.
His best friend’s widow made a low, distressed noise. “What am I going to do?”
“I shall help you,” Luc told her, trying for a gentle tone. “You know that.”
“I do.” She gave him a tremulous smile. “And I adore you for it. But you have your own affairs to attend to. Your own title and an heir to boot. I cannot expect you to spend all your time keeping me and Gareth safe.”
“Mmm.” That was true enough. Dammit. “Damien is at school, though, as you know. So I do have some time to committo you.” He missed his son like a sore tooth, but he was an heir to an earldom and would benefit from attending Eton and learning to deal with his peers. So off to school he had gone.
She chuckled. “You are very kind, Luc.”
“I am worried about you and about Gareth.”
She nodded, pulling at a wrinkle in her black bombazine skirts. Sadly, widow’s weeds washed her out, making her appear even more pale and tragic. “I am afraid to send him back to school.”
Luc pondered that. “You’re afraid of him being attacked while he’s there?”
“Yes. He’d be all alone.”
“He would be… But he would also be away from— from everything here.” One never knew who might be lurking, so he and Hannah tried to refrain from mentioning her brothers-in-law.
“I worry about that too.” She shook her head. “I worry about everything. Oh, Luc, I miss him.”
“I know. So do I.” He and Owen had not been as close in recent years as they had been as children and young bucks at university, but they had seen each other several times a month to play cards and have a brandy, and he had attended all of Hannah’s functions at the house. Owen had been a good friend.
“Perhaps I can engage a guard for him,” Luc said.
“To watch over him at school?”
“Yes.” He would have to find someone he could trust, which he had no idea how to do, since bribes were easy enough to accept, but surely it could be done. “Then he could be away from here and less of a temptation. It would be harder to get to him at Eton.”
“Then we should proceed with that. I’ve had Mr. Helstrom tighten down on the accounts, moving money about so there is less of it to access. I can pay a salary.”
“Then I shall try to engage someone as soon as possible.” He rose from the armchair he’d planted himself on. “As soon as I have someone, you can make the arrangements to send Gareth back to school.”
“Thank you, Luc. I do not know what I would do without you.”
“Neither do you need to know.” He smiled, even though he did not feel up to it, and sketched a bow. “You have a companion coming for the day?”
