Page 60 of Lord of Fortune
“Why did you send for me to come home? And Kersey too?”
His parents exchanged another look, the kind they always shared when they were worried about one or both of their children. And this worried Penn.
It was his father who spoke first. He angled his body toward Penn and gave him an earnest look followed by the slight curving of his lips. He seemed to be trying to impart a sense of supportive concern. Penn’s worry intensified.
“The Earl of Stratton has died.”
Penn exhaled. “I can’t imagine anyone will mourn him.”
“Gideon might—at least a little,” Mother said.
That was true. After his mother had left, Kersey had only had his father, such as he was. They’d developed a close relationship for a while, until Kersey had come to realize just how horrid his father was.
“Is that why you asked me to come?” Penn asked. “To be here for him?”
Father shifted uncomfortably, appearing as though he were sitting on sharp rocks and not a settee. “Not, uh, exactly.”
Mother stood from the settee and came around the low table where the tea tray sat. She knelt beside Penn’s chair and took his hand. The apprehension he’d just dispelled came roaring back.
Penn’s heart began to pound. He couldn’t imagine why they were acting like that. “What is this about?”
Father took a deep breath and looked Penn square in the eye. “The Earl of Stratton wasn’t just Gideon’s father. He was also yours.”
It was as if the world around him faded to gray. Penn wasn’t aware of his parents, of the chair beneath him, of the roof over his head. The face of his mother—the woman who’d given birth to him—floated before him. He saw the fear that had always lurked deep in her gaze, even beneath the love she’d had for him. He recalled the secrecy she’d incessantly employed in his youth, telling him to never give his name to strangers and not to talk to Quality at all if possible. The name Will drifted up from the recesses of his mind—she’d called him that a few times when he’d been very young. He remembered that Stratton’s first wife had disappeared and was found dead.
“His first wife didn’t die, did she?” Penn asked in a barely audible voice. In fact, he wondered if he’d actually spoken aloud.
“Not until later. After she brought you here. To me.” The anguish in his father’s voice did nothing to soothe the confusion and distress tumbling through Penn.
The room—and his parents’ concerned faces—came back into focus. “Why did she bring me here?” Penn was vaguely aware of his mother squeezing his hand.
“Because I was the only family she trusted. She wanted you to have your birthright some day—after Stratton was dead.”
Dread filled Penn’s soul. “What are you saying?”
“You’re the Earl of Stratton now.”
Hell no.Hellno. “I can’t be. No one even knows I exist. Kersey—Gideon—sure as hell doesn’t know.”
His father winced. “That’s true—about Gideon. However, the vicar who recorded your birth is very much aware, and he’s protected the legal proof of your birth for over thirty years. As directed by your mother, he’ll come forward now and provide the proof necessary for you to claim the title.”
Penn stood, dropping his mother’s hand and awkwardly stepping around her. “I don’t want it.”
An earl? What the fuck was he supposed to do with that? He hadn’t the slightest notion how to be an earl, nor did he want to be. A future of being tied to a title loomed before him like an executioner’s axe.
His father’s face was grim, his mother’s lined with sorrow. “You don’t have a choice.”
They’d lied to him for years. They’d allowed him to cultivate a life that had nothing to do with an earldom, knowing that someday it would come to an abrupt and necessary end.
“You didn’t think how this would affect me?” He hated how broken and angry he sounded, but he couldn’t help it. And he wouldn’t. They deserved his rage.
“I’ve thought of little else,” Father said, rising from the settee and helping his mother to stand.
She gave him a tentative smile. “Penn, we’ll work through this. It will be all right.”
“Tell that to Gideon when he arrives. I’m sure he’ll be just as thrilled as I am. You’ve ruined two lives today, and for what?”
His father’s features were a mix of regret and resolve. “For your birthright. Youarethe Earl of Stratton.”
