Page 90 of A Wicked Kind of Husband

“It was a mistake,” Treyford snapped. “And the two of you have turned out all right, so I hardly see what you have to complain about.”

“Three,” said Isaac.

“Three what?”

“You have three sons from your not-marriage to our mother,” Joshua explained. “No wonder you have difficulty keeping track of your wives, when you can’t even keep track of your children.”

“Maybe you should hire a secretary to help him,” Isaac suggested. “Secretary In Charge of Reminding The Earl How Many Children And Wives He Has.”

“Excellent idea. Each morning at breakfast, the fellow will walk in and say, ‘This is your daily reminder that you are married and must not get married again.’”

“And that you have this number of children and please do not make any more unwanted children.”

“Pair of bloody wits, aren’t you?” Treyford said. “And I know there were three of you and the other one is in India, doing well for himself, and he cannot complain either.”

“What about Miriam?” asked Isaac. Again, Treyford looked blank. “You don’t even who that is, do you?” Isaac’s own color rose and he twirled his stick in the air. Tempers ran in the family, it seemed. “Our sister, your daughter. She’d be eighteen now and not one of us would recognize her on the street. If she’s even alive.”

Treyford twirled his own stick. “It was her mother’s decision to take her away. I had nothing to do with that.”

“Where are they, our mother and sister?”

“Isaac, let it rest,” Joshua said.

Too late.

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” the earl ranted. “Deborah was upset, she took the girl and left. She had money and all her jewels. What was I to do? The mistake had been made and the most important thing was to protect the title.”

“‘The mistake had been made’,” Isaac repeated, his face screwed up in disgust.

Money, bloody money. Joshua had more of his father in him than he realized, and certainly more than he wanted.

“You’ll never change, will you?” Joshua said quietly. “You’ll never understand what it was that you did.”

“You’re judging me? Me, your own father, and you with this sordid matter with Bolderwood.”

“Pack of lies,” Joshua said. “The witnesses have admitted to being paid for false testimony, a former secretary has confessed to stealing my personal letters, and over the next few days, I’ll secure alibis for all the so-called trysts. After which, Bolderwood will be laughed out of court and out of town. And everyone will know that he’s a liar, and they’ll also know that my own father would not speak in my defense.”

“Why should I? You don’t deserve that.”

“But my wife does. So why don’t you do something decent for once in your life and show the world where you stand?”

Treyford scowled at him, paced around, then came back and nudged Joshua’s chest with his walking stick. “If I speak up for you, tell all my circle that Bolderwood is lying to get money out of you—you and your wife will stay away from the countess and me. We want nothing to do with either of you.”

“My pleasure.”

“And get back to Birmingham where you belong. Good day.”

With that, the earl marched off.

Isaac stared after him. “He would have preferred to put us in a sack and drown us like kittens, wouldn’t he?” he said. “So much for family. Well, when I find Mother and Miriam, we’ll have a family again.”

Joshua winced. Poor, hopeful Isaac. “Forget about them,” he said. “Our family finished years ago. We have no mother, we have no sister—”

“And no brothers either.”

For a long moment, neither spoke, then Isaac turned back to the horse. “I guess I’ll go too. Get my own rooms. Get a horse and ride around Britain.”

Fine. Let him go again. Isaac had left before, he would leave again, and Joshua had lived happily without his brothers for half his life so he had no use for them now. Cassandra and her sisters would go back to Warwickshire, and Isaac would go off to wherever he wanted, and Joshua could get back to Birmingham where he belonged.

---