Miss Winthorpe's Elopement (Belston & Friends #1)(39)

It was some consolation to see that the card was impeccably done, for Adam had sent the invitations for the ball to the Winthorpe shop. And he had grudgingly added Hector’s name to the bottom of the guest list, as a good faith gesture. The man would not fit, but what could be done? Hector was family and they must both get used to it. But what the devil was he doing, coming to the house now?

Adam gave his permission to the servant and in a moment, Hector entered the room without making a bow, then stood too close to the desk, making every effort to tower over him.

Adam responded with his most frosty expression and said, ‘If you are searching for your sister, she is across the hall. But it is pointless to try, for she refuses visitors when she is at work.’

‘You have had no better luck with her than I did, I see, if she is shut up alone in a library. But I did not come for her. I wish to speak to you.’

‘State your business, then.’

‘It is about this, your Grace.’ There was no respect or subservience in the title, as the man slapped the invitation to the ball on the desk in front of him.

‘A written response of regrets would have been sufficient.’

‘Regrets? It is you, sir, who should have regrets.’

Adam stared back, angry, but curious. ‘And what precisely should I regret, Hector? Marrying your sister? For I find I have surprisingly few regrets where she is concerned.’

Hector sniffed in disapproval. ‘Because she has given you your way in all things, I suppose. And because you care naught for her happiness, you have no guilt of the fact. If you felt anything at all for her, you would know better than this.’

Adam stared down at the invitation, truly baffled now. ‘I fail to see what is so unusual about a small gathering to celebrate our nuptials.’

‘Small?’ Hector shook his head. ‘For you, perhaps. But for my sister, any gathering over two is a substantial crowd.’

‘That is ridiculous. I have noticed no problems.’ Which was a lie, but he could not give the man the upper hand so easily.

Hector let out a disgusted snort. ‘If you noticed no problems with my sister, it is because she is a proud woman, and does not wish to admit to them. Did you not think it strange that she wanted nothing more from you than a chance to lock herself in her study and read?’

‘Not overly,’ he lied again, thinking of his first suspicions of her.

‘Or that an argument over something so simple as a book would drive her to such extreme action as marrying a total stranger?’

There was nothing he could say that would cover the situation, and he certainly could not tell the whole truth, which reflected badly on the man’s sister as well as himself. ‘It has not proved a problem thus far.’ He turned the argument back upon its sender. ‘Do you think she chose unwisely?’ And then he waited for the apology that must surely come.

‘Yes, I do, if you mean to trot her out before your friends as some sort of vulgar joke.’

‘How dare you, sir!’

Hector continued to be unabashed by the situation. ‘It was too late, by the time she brought you to our home, to insist that you answer this question. But what are your intentions toward my sister, if not to make her the butt of your jokes?’

Adam smiled bitterly. ‘I do not mean to fritter away her fortune, as you were doing. You were keeping her unmarried and under your control so that you could pour her money into your business.’

The shot hit home, and he saw rage in Hector’s eyes. ‘I am not proud of the fact that the business is in trouble, sir. And I did, indeed, borrow the money from her trust without inquiring of her first. It was wrong of me, for certain. But I did not need to keep her unmarried to plunder her fortune. She did quite a fine job of scaring away any potential mates when she had her come-out. Her subsequent isolation was all her own doing. As of late, it had become quite out of hand. When I attempted to correct her on this, she lost her temper and went to Scotland. Apparently, she was looking for any fool that would have her. And she found you.’ Hector said the word as though his sister had crossed the border and picked up not a husband, but some exotic disease.

Adam refused to rise to the bait. ‘She can be rash, of course. But I fail to see what is so serious in her behaviour that would cause you to censure her or deny her simple purchases. It was wrong of you, just as was the theft of her money.’

‘What do you know of her social life before you married her?’

Adam tried to think of anything he could say that would make him sound like he was an active participant in his own marriage, who had taken the time to get to know his wife, either before of after the ceremony. At last he said, ‘Nothing. Other than her reasons for wishing to marry, and that she was interested in translating the classics, she has told me nothing at all.’

‘Did you not think it odd that she has had no visits from friends, congratulating her on her marriage?’

He had not questioned it. But of course, there should have been guests to the house. If it had been any other woman, her friends would have beaten a path to the door, eager to meet the peer and bask in the reflected glow of Penny’s rise in stature. ‘I thought perhaps she had cast them off as unworthy. Now that she is a duchess…’

He could not manage to finish the sentence. He had thought no such thing. It was impossible to imagine Penny, who had little interest in her title or anyone else’s, being capable of such cruelty to her friends.