Page 75 of The Duke of Lies
Nonsense.Was that what her father thought of the way Rufus had treated Verity? Now she was shocked silent.
Her father blinked at Kit. “Ready, Rufus?”
Kit sent another glance toward her, and she nodded imperceptibly. He should go. To not go would only arouse her father’s suspicions, and she feared they were already aroused.
“I’ll be back soon,” Kit said, leaning down to brush a kiss against her temple.
She watched them go and tried to curb a sense of foreboding.
* * *
Expectation and apprehensioncurled through Kit as he followed Horatio from the ballroom. “Where are we going?”
Horatio looked over his shoulder with a pompous, tight-lipped smile. “To have a little talk—father to son.”
“You aren’t my father,” Kit said. Regardless of what the man’s relationship had been with Rufus, he would set new rules tonight. Starting with not upsetting Verity.
“Close enough since yours died. And then you lost Augustus, who was a bit of a surrogate, wasn’t he?” Horatio pushed open a door that led to a small sitting chamber. It was empty but moderately lit with a pair of wall sconces, a lantern, and a low fire in the grate. He held the door and gestured for Kit to precede him. “After you.”
Kit looked at him warily as he passed and went into the room. The sound of the lock clicking into place made Kit turn. “You’re locking the door?”
“I don’t think we want to be interrupted. Or overheard. I’m afraid I must speak to you of a rather sensitive matter.”
Kit’s shoulders bunched with tension. There’d been an undercurrent to their conversation in the ballroom—Kit mentioning criminals and Cuddy, and Horatio responding with Cuddy’s murder. Not death, but murder. Kit had already wondered about Horatio’s involvement with Cuddy’s embezzlement, and that grew into a full and weighty suspicion.
Horatio walked to the fireplace, where he seemed to study a figurine atop the mantelpiece. “First, let me say how pleased I am to see that you seem much changed with regard to my daughter. This is excellent, for I didn’t want to have to remind you of the importance of not embarrassing her as you did last time you were here. I won’t meddle in what you choose to do within your own home, but here in London you must behave appropriately. If you want to have affairs, be discreet. And for the love of God, don’t drink and gamble excessively.” He turned, and his nose wrinkled, as if he’d just stepped in horseshit. He looked like an arrogant prince with his embroidered coat, diamond stickpin nestled in the folds of his cravat, and the singular, but quite large, jewels he wore on each hand. How the hell did the second son of a baronet afford to dress like that?
Because he stole from a profitable estate.
“Second, and more importantly, now that you’ve returned, I’ll need you to reinstate the stipend you agreed to give me when you wed my daughter.”
Shit.What had Rufus agreed to? Had Horatio actually extorted him to marry Verity? It certainly sounded like it. Kit had to pretend he knew about it. “I’m not going to do that.”
Horatio frowned. “We had an agreement. I know things. Things you wouldn’t want made public.”
And there it was. “I also know you and Cuddy embezzled thousands from Beaumont Tower over the past six and a half years. And I have proof.”
The older man’s eyes narrowed to dark, beady points. “That’s unfortunate. I see we both have secrets we’d prefer to keep buried. I would argue, however, that yours are a bit more damning. You aren’t the Duke of Blackburn, and I can prove that too.”
Kit stalked toward him, stopping a few feet away when the man flinched. “How the hell can you do that? Unlessyouknow where he is.” Kit saw no point in trying to keep up the charade. They’d moved far past that. This man had other damaging information about Rufus that had nothing to do with Kit not being the duke. He could, it seemed, ensnare Kit as himself or as Rufus. Either way, he was damned.
“I don’t, but Cuddy determined you weren’t him, and, though our association has been brief, I concur. What I can’t understand is how you fooled my daughter. I thought she was smarter than that, but perhaps she’s just so relieved to have someone other than that blackguard, she doesn’t care. Can’t say I blame her.”
His casual discussion of Verity’s pain and suffering nearly drove Kit to hit him. “Whatever comes of this, you aren’t to speak of her. She detests you, and I can easily see why.”
Horatio drew back in offense, his lips parting. “She’s my daughter. Of course I’ll speak of her. But I’m glad you care enough to be protective.” He cocked his head to the side. “In fact, I can see you care for her greatly. So agree to the arrangement—it works well for both of us. You have my daughter, and I continue to live in the manner in which I deserve.”
“Deserve.” Kit spat the word. “You deserve to be drawn and quartered for sacrificing your daughter to meet your own ends. Even now, you’re willing to trade her to me—a stranger—for money. You don’t know who I am or what I’m capable of.”
“Murder, it seems,” he said softly. “Yes, I’m convinced you killed Cuddy, especially since you knew of our scheme. And I know precisely who you are. You look far too like Augustus Beaumont, and I’m aware he had a bastard hovering about somewhere.” He made Kit sound like an annoying insect. “Do you really want all of England to know Verity accepted the prior duke’s bastard son into her bed as a replacement for her missing husband?”
Unable to contain himself a moment longer, Kit lunged forward and gripped Horatio by his lapels. His fingers crushed the expensive fabric as he drew the man inches from his face. “How can you claim Verity’s happiness is important to you while threatening to ruin her life? You’re despicable.” Kit released him savagely, and Horatio stumbled backward until he smacked into the mantelpiece. If not for that protruding piece of wood, he might have fallen over the hearth and at least against the fire if not into it. Pity.
Horatio straightened, adjusting his clothing and smoothing his hands over his wrinkled coat. “Better behaved when it comes to my daughter, but also a brute, I see.” He cleared his throat and calmly looked Kit in the eye, seemingly unaffected by Kit’s barely leashed violence. “Your hands are tied here. Do you want to be the duke or not? Even without the prize of my daughter, you’re gaining a powerful title and, as you said, a profitable estate. I daresay you’ll barely miss the stipend you’ll send me.”
“Of course we’ll fucking miss it. How do you think I discovered the embezzlement? And rather quickly, I might add. There are many improvements that have been ignored and tenants who need assistance. But you don’t comprehend any of that because it doesn’t affect you. And stop calling her your daughter. She’s nothing to you.” How Kit longed to wipe the arrogance from the man’s gaze.
“She is, however, everything to you. What is it going to be?”
