Page 81 of Lord of Fortune
On that despondent note, Amelia said good night and fled.
* * *
Penn watchedAmelia go with an ache in his heart. He longed to follow her, to hold her, to make certain she was safe. He sure as hell didn’t want to talk about the bloody earldom.
His father went to the sideboard and pulled out the whiskey bottle. “Who wants to join me?” Penn, Gideon? Port for you, my dear.” He poured her a glass of her favorite after-dinner drink and handed it to her.
“Yes, please,” Penn said.
“And for me.” Gideon made to stand, but Father waved him back down.
He poured the drinks and delivered a glass first to Penn and then to Gideon. “How did you hear of your father’s death?”
“The steward at Westerly Cross.” That had been Gideon’s mother’s father’s estate.
“So you’ve been staying at Hardy’s cottage?”
Gideon took a sip of whiskey and nodded.
Penn recalled that Hardy’s cottage was on the Westerly Cross estate and was where his parents had found the glass device that had been created to decipher the de Valery code. The estate had passed to the new baron. “Your cousin allows you to stay there?”
“Second cousin, and yes. My grandfather made a provision for it in his will. He wanted the cottage to belong to me, and the current baron has no quarrel with it.”
“I’m sorry you felt you had nowhere else to go,” Mother said softly. “You are always welcome here.”
Gideon’s eyes widened then. “Even after what I did to Cate?”
“She explained everything,” Mother said. “We understand what drove you, especially hearing what you said today about Foliot seeking you out. I can certainly grasp why you might respond to a father figure.”
Penn’s gut clenched. He’d always felt bad for Gideon, for the father he’d been stuck with. Penn had been far luckier with a man who wasn’t his father. And now to know the truth…
Father took a drink of whiskey and went to sit next to Gideon at the table. “There’s more to your father’s death than you know.”
Mother sat down on Gideon’s other side, and Penn remained standing. Apprehension tripped through him as he waited for his father to deliver the blow.
Gideon looked between them, his brow darkening. “This should be a happy occasion. I think we’re all pleased he’s dead.”
“You know of his first wife,” Father said slowly.
Gideon’s hand paused as he lifted the glass toward his mouth. “Yes.” He took a sip and set the tumbler back on the table.
“I met her a long time ago,” Father said. “She didn’t die—at least not when she was purported to. The report of her death was falsified so she could escape your father.”
“Can’t say I blame her for that. At least she didn’t abandon her son with him.” Derision dropped from his tone and burned the air like an acrid smoke.
“No, she took her son with her—in her belly. Then, years later, when she became ill, she gave him to me.” His sad gaze flicked to Penn, and in that moment, Penn forgave him. It had never been a question. He’d just needed his anger to wane. Rhys Bowen had done what he thought was right. In truth, he’d been dealt an impossible situation, and he’d done the best he could.
Gideon’s jaw twitched, and his eyes narrowed to steely slits. “What are you saying?”
“Penn is William Kersey, now the Earl of Stratton.”
Once again, Penn flinched at the name, hating the sound of it. That wasn’t who he was, who he wanted to be.
Gideon turned his gaze on Penn, his lip curling. “After all these years, you want to claim this title?”
Penn shook his head as his body twitched with distaste. “God no.I don’t want it. I left early this morning to try to find the vicar and destroy his proof.”
“I told you that’s where he went,” Mother said, looking at Father.
