Page 40 of The Lord Next Door
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 the ton to 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.
“Just do your duty and get me a grandchild,” the old man said.
“You’re making damn sure Victoria won’t ever let our child near you.”
His father froze, his glance wintry. “Is that a threat, David?”
“No, just a prediction.”
“The girl can’t already be carrying a child, is she? Is that why you married such a plain thing?”
David thought of Victoria pregnant with his child, and something deep inside him went cold. He stalked to the door. With his hand on the knob, he said over his shoulder, “Unlike you, I controlled myself.”
He didn’t wait to hear the reply, just opened the door and asked for Nurse Carter.
When his father had gone, David paced his study. His father had hurt Victoria—but so had he.
He hadn’t planned on hurting her. Yet he’d allowed his mistress into the house yesterday.
His father had brought home a mistress, too.
David felt disturbed to even consider that what had happened with Damaris and Victoria was in any way like his father bringing Colette to live with them.
Yet if anyone but Victoria had discovered Damaris in his home, it could easily have been a terrible scandal. How close had he come to being the center of controversy, instead of just the innocent son?
~oOo~
On the carriage ride to the Bannaster home, Victoria tried to quell her nervousness. She’d had luncheon with some of these people, but that didn’t make her feel better. Lord Thurlow had told her there would be eleven other couples—twenty-two people! Victoria assumed that Miss Lingard wouldn’t be there, because she wasn’t a railway director.
Victoria was still so bothered by the fact that her husband might run into his former mistress for business reasons.
