Say You Love Me (35 page)

“So you took it upon yourself to predict my feelings as well?” Derek said, shaking his head, then he threw his father an accusing look. “And you let her sway you with assumptions like that?”

Molly spoke up before Jason could. “I can be very persuasive, and I was adamant that you not know. But mostly, your father gave in to my insistence because he loves me. And, Derek, you already had your illegitimacy to deal with. I knew that wouldn’t be easy for you, and it wasn’t. But at least it had been assumed that you have noble blood on both sides. It would have been much worse if it was known who your mother really was.”

“You still could have told me. You could have kept it from the rest of the world if you
felt the need to, but you could have told
me
. I had a right to know. And the fact is, Molly, that I feel absolutely no shame in knowing you’re my mother. Your assumption was just that, an assumption. What I do feel, however, is rage that you have never
been
my mother, that you have dealt with me all these years, knowing I was your son, but you didn’t give me the same knowledge. You let me think you were no one to me. You let me think my mother was dead!”

He couldn’t go on. He got too choked up on his emotions, especially when he saw the tears forming in her eyes. He walked out of the room before he gave in to tears himself.

Jason gathered Molly in his arms, hearing her wail, “Oh, God, what have I done?” as she began to cry in earnest.

He asked himself the same question, but all he could say to her was, “Everyone makes mistakes when they’re young, Molly. This was one of ours. Give him some time to get used to the truth. Once he thinks about it, really thinks about it, he’ll realize that you
have
always been a mother to him, that you’ve been there to share all the aches and pains of his growing years, that you helped to raise him into the fine man he has become.”

51

“
I
wish I had been there to hear it,” Roslynn told
her husband as she handed Judith to him with an added, “Here, it’s your turn to walk her.”

“Hullo, sweetheart,” Tony said to his daughter as he gave her a loud kiss on the cheek. “Not feeling too good, are we?” Then he said to his wife, “Be glad you weren’t there. It was bloody embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing? Among family?” She snorted.

He raised a black brow at her. “And just what could you have added to it?”

He’d already recounted the entire discussion to her, but she still found it difficult to believe that Kelsey Langton wasn’t the lady she had appeared to be.

“I would have told your brother how old-fashioned his forbidding it was.”

Anthony grinned. “I hate to mention this, Ros, but Jason
is
old-fashioned.”

“So don’t mention it,” she retorted. “But what’s more important here, love or public opinion?”

“Is that a trick question?”

“This isn’t funny, Tony,” she admonished. “Love is more important and you know it. Or are you telling me that you wouldn’t have married me if I didn’t have a few earls and lairds in my family tree?”

“Do I have to answer that?”

“I’m going to be hitting you, mon, if you canna be serious,” she said, slipping into her Scots brogue.

He chuckled. “Not while I’m holding Judith you won’t—now, now,” he added when she started toward him. Then, in a grumble, he said, “Oh, very well, yes, I would have married you anyway, but,
fortunately
, I didn’t need to worry about your suitability. And besides, you’re forgetting that the girl was bought in a whorehouse auction.
That
, m’dear, goes a bit beyond mere public opinion.”

“Only a few people know about that,” she pointed out reasonably.

“You must be joking,” he replied. “As juicy a tidbit as that is? It’s probably made the complete rounds by now.”

Several rooms away, James and his wife were discussing the same subject as they lay curled together in bed. At least Georgina was trying to discuss it. James had other things on his mind just then, and his wandering hands left little doubt as to what.

“I don’t see what her lower-class upbringing has to do with anything. You married me, didn’t you?” Georgina reminded him. “And I
certainly don’t have a silly title attached to my name—well, at least I didn’t before I married you.”

“You’re an American, George. Makes a big bloody difference if you come from another country, which she don’t. She talks like a duchess, giving her nationality away with every word that comes out of her mouth. Besides, I’m not the one who has to produce the next generation or two of marquises. That, m’dear, falls on Derek’s shoulders. There was no need for me to ever marry, which as you know, I had no intention of doing—until you crawled into my bed.”

“I did no such thing,” she retorted. “As I recall, you
yanked
me into your bed.”

He chuckled, nuzzling her ear. “Is that what I did? Smart of me, if I do say so m’self.”

“Hmmm, yes—now, stop that! I’m having a serious discussion here.”

He sighed. “Yes, I noticed, more’s the pity.”

“Well, I want you to do something about this matter,” she insisted.

“Excellent idea, George,” he said, and positioned her for a very deep kiss.

She came up sputtering. “Not
that
matter—at least not yet,” she amended. “I’m talking about Jason’s attitude. It wouldn’t hurt for you to talk to him, to point out how unreasonable he is being.”

“Me? Give advice to one of the elders?” And he started laughing.

“It’s not funny.”

“Indeed it is. The elders are too set in their
ways. They don’t take advice, they give it. And Jason knows he has the right of it in this case. For that matter, so does the girl. She ain’t going to marry the lad, George, so this whole discussion is moot.”

“And what if her refusal is because she knows how his father feels about it?”

“Then she’s smart enough to know they wouldn’t have a happy marriage if they go against Jason’s wishes. Either way, there is no solution for them. So give it a rest. There ain’t a thing we can do for those two short of giving the chit a new identity, and even that can’t be done. That auction was too bloody public. If it were other than that, something might be worked out, but that ain’t the case.”

Georgina mumbled something under her breath. James grinned.

“You can’t solve everyone’s problems, dear girl. Some just ain’t solvable.”

“Why don’t you endeavor to make me forget that?” she suggested.

“Now, that I can do,” he said, and got back to the deep kissing.

And in the next wing over, Nicholas Eden was saying to his wife, “You know more about this than you’re letting on, don’t you?”

“A little,” Reggie admitted.

“And you’re not going to enlighten me as to what that is, are you?”

She shook her head at him. “I can’t. I had to promise I wouldn’t.”

“I hope you know this is very aggravating, Reggie,” he complained.

She nodded in complete agreement. “It’s more than that, it’s tragic. They
should
be allowed to marry. They love each other. And it’s going to drive me crazy if nothing can be done about this.”

He put his arms around her. “It’s not your problem, sweetheart.”

“Derek is more like a brother to me than a cousin. We were raised together, Nicholas.”

“I know, but there really isn’t anything you can do to help.”

“Well, you don’t think
that
is going to stop me from trying, do you?”

52

Most of the family gathered in the parlor for afternoon
tea the next day. The newlyweds were the only two so engrossed in each other that they barely noticed the strained atmosphere in the room. For the others, the conversation was stilted at best, everyone taking pains to not bring up Kelsey’s and Derek’s hopeless situation.

Derek and his father were very obviously not speaking to each other. This was assumed to be because of Jason’s stand on his son’s marriage. No one asked how their talk had gone after they left the dining room together the night before but it was pretty apparent that they still didn’t see eye to eye. In fact, Derek appeared angrier than he had then.

And then the butler showed up at the door with a visitor who didn’t wait to be announced, who pushed right past him, in fact. The woman was in her early forties and very handsome for her age, hinting that she had once been quite a beauty. And although she wasn’t very tall, she was quite sturdy in build,
and at the moment, her expression, her very stance, made her appear downright formidable. A dragon came to mind, one about to breathe a bit of fire.

“I’m looking for Derek Malory.”

Derek stood up and gave the woman a slight bow, though because of her sharp tone, he was a bit wary in admitting, “That would be me, madam.”

She turned to him and demanded, “Where have you got my niece hidden? And don’t lie to me. I know you’ve got her. My husband, that bounder, has made a complete confession to me. He got your name from that scoundrel who sold her to you when he picked up his blood money.”

Not a word was heard after that statement. Absolute silence.

And then Reggie chimed in, “Do sit down, my good woman. I’m sure Derek isn’t hiding your niece. In fact, I wouldn’t doubt that she’s not far from here.”

Elizabeth narrowed one eye on Regina. “Don’t I know you, young lady?”

“Yes, we met recently at your hotel. I was looking for Kelsey myself, and although you said you did have a niece by that name, I determined that the Kelsey I was looking for couldn’t possibly be related to you.” And then Reggie grinned, delighted that Kelsey’s aunt had finally learned the truth, which just might make a huge difference. “Looks like I was quite wrong, doesn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Elizabeth huffed.

Derek finally spoke up, frowning in confusion. “Just a minute. Am I to understand that you’re Kelsey Langton’s aunt?”

“Your understanding is perfect,” Elizabeth replied, scowling at him again.

“But I wasn’t aware that she had any relatives still living.”

“She doesn’t have many, but it’s quite irrelevant whether you knew or not.”

“Most of us here have met your niece, madam. And like Derek, we were unaware that she had any family to speak of. It might help if you introduce yourself,” Jason said.

“And just who might you be, sir?” Elizabeth asked him stiffly.

“I’m Derek’s father, Jason Malory.”

“Ah, good. You can ensure that your son cooperates in this matter. And I am Elizabeth Perry. That will mean nothing to you, of course, since I married down, means even less to me at the moment. However, my grandfather was the Duke of Wrighton, a title that has laid unclaimed and will continue to be unclaimed until Kelsey produces a son.”

“Good God!” That came from Anthony.

“She told me her mother was a governess!” Derek said incredulously.

“Hardly,” Elizabeth all but snorted. “Her mother, who was my only sister, died early this year of an unfortunate accident—after she shot her husband. You might have heard of that incident? Kelsey’s father was David Langton, the fourth Earl of Lanscastle.”

James started laughing. “Explains why she
looked, acted, and spoke like a lady, don’t it?”

His wife replied. “But this is delightful. She’s now quite suitable—”

“Not quite, George,” James cut in.

Roslynn added, “But much closer to being—”

“Not
even
close, sweetheart,” Anthony cut in.

Both wives frowned darkly at their respective husbands but were silent. They would, of course, have plenty to say later, when they had those respective husbands alone.

Reggie mused at that point, “I wonder why Kelsey didn’t mention this duke great-grandfather of hers when she told me all—well, most of this.”

“D’you mean to say that you were aware that she was the daughter of
that
Langton?” Derek frowned at his cousin. “And you didn’t bother to tell me?”

Regina squirmed uncomfortably, but tried to explain. “She made me promise, Derek. You don’t think I
liked
keeping such a big secret, do you? It was driving me mad, knowing the truth and not being able to add it to the, ah—discussion we had last night.”

Elizabeth looked at Regina a bit more kindly. If Kelsey had confided in her, when she hadn’t told her lover the truth, then she must like the girl.

So she explained to her, “Kelsey doesn’t know who her great-grandfather was, so she couldn’t have mentioned him to you. He died long before she was born, and my sister and I
decided not to burden her with the knowledge. The burden to produce the next Wrighton heir put too much of a strain on our mother, who only had daughters, and then on my sister and I when it was our turns. But now it is up to Kelsey, because I never had any children of my own, and my sister only had the two girls before she died.”

“Has it not occurred to you, Lady Elizabeth, that what your niece has done has damaged her chances for a good marriage?” Jason asked carefully.

“Certainly it has,” Elizabeth replied. “Which is why I would have shot my fool of a husband if I’d had a weapon handy when he confessed what he’d done.”

“What does he have to do with this?”

“Kelsey and her younger sister, Jean, came to live with my husband and me after the funeral, and that fool convinced her that we were going to be paupers, that the creditors were going to take my house away, that the only way to keep us off the streets was if she became some lord’s mistress, who would pay off Elliott’s debts.”

“Are you saying that wasn’t the case?”

“Certainly not—although my husband did actually believe it, and he
had
got himself deeply in debt without telling me. But when I married him—against my parents’ wishes, I might add—my mother settled a rather large sum of money on me, with the advice that I never let Elliott know about it, and to this day I never have. And speaking of which—” She
pulled a fat stack of money out of her reticule and approached Derek. “I believe this is the sum you—”