Innocent in the Regency Ballroom. Christine Merrill

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      ‘You will do nothing of the kind. I have had more than enough of your nonsense. This is what comes of too much learning. Ideas. And telling jokes that are in no way funny. You will go to your room, and I will apologise to this gentleman, whoever he may be. And tomorrow, we will all go to the solicitors and straighten out the mess you have created.’

      This time, she did not even bother to count. ‘I will go to my room, Hector. To gather my clothing. From there, I mean to go to the library and the study, and empty them as well. And then I will be gone from this house and your presence. You have no power over me to stop it. And that, Hector, is what comes of not enough reading.’

      His face was growing red, and he was readying a response.

      And from behind her, she heard her husband, quietly clearing his throat. His voice was mildness and reason itself. ‘Perhaps, Penny, it would be best if you saw to your packing, while I speak to your brother.’

      She had the most curious feeling that he had issued a command, although it showed in neither his face nor his voice.

      She opened her mouth to object, and then remembered how effectively he had dealt with the bankers. If he wished her to leave the room, then perhaps there was a reason for it. It would serve no purpose, challenging him in front of her brother. That would only prove Hector’s point: that she had been foolish to marry in the first place. She blinked at Adam for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders and said, ‘Very well.’ And then she left the room, shutting the doors almost completely behind her.

      Then she turned back and put her ear to the crack.

      Her husband waited for a moment, giving her enough time to get to her room, she suspected. And then he waited even longer.

      When the silence became oppressive, Hector blurted, ‘Now see here, sir—’

      Adam responded, ‘The correct form of address when speaking to me is “your Grace”. Perhaps you did not know it, since you obviously have little acquaintance with the peerage. But since we are family now …’ disdain dripped from the last words ‘… you may call me Adam.’

      Hector snorted. ‘You cannot expect me to believe that Penny has been gone from the house less than a week, and has returned not only a married woman, but a duchess.’

      Adam said, ‘Your belief is not a requirement, Mr Winthorpe. The marriage exists. The bankers have been informed of it, and I have taken control of my wife’s inheritance.’

      This last seemed to give her brother pause, for he took a moment before letting out a weak laugh. ‘But you cannot wish to be married to my sister. She is a nothing. A nobody.’ There was another pause, and his tone changed. ‘Albeit, a very wealthy nobody. And that could not possibly have influenced your decision when seeking such a humble bride—’

      ‘Stop right there.’ Adam did not shout, but the command in the tone was no longer an implication. ‘I recommend that you pause to think before speaking further.’ His voice dropped to just above a whisper. ‘Here are the facts, and you would do well to remember them. Penelope is neither a nothing, nor a nobody. She is her Grace, the Duchess of Bellston. It will do you no good to hint that I am after her fortune, since she has gained as much, if not more, than I have by the union.’

      There was another long pause, to allow the facts to sink into the thick skull of her brother. And then Adam said, ‘But you have lost by her marriage, have you not? I’ve seen the books at the bank, and the withdrawals you have been making to keep your business afloat.’

      Hector sputtered, ‘I’ve done nothing of the kind. Those monies were for Penelope’s expenses.’

      ‘Then it shall not matter to you in the least that I am willing to take the management of the monies out of your hands. I can take care of my wife’s bills without your help. You need trouble yourself no further with the management of her funds, but devote the whole of your time to business.’ Her husband’s tone clearly said, ‘Dismissed.’

      Penny covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.

      But her brother refused to yield all. His voice rose to near a shout. ‘All right, then. Very well. She has married and you have taken her money, and her as well. I wish you luck, your Grace, for you will find her fractious nature, her impulsive temper and her unending stubbornness to be more curse than blessing. She may pack her clothes and leave immediately, if she is so eager to do it. But she shall leave the books where they are. I have no intention of allowing her to put the contents of the family library into trunks and carry them from the house.’

      Her husband seemed to consider on it, and then replied, with a neutral, ‘If she wishes it, then it shall be so.’

      Her brother shouted back, ‘But it will leave the shelves empty!’

      Adam responded quietly, ‘That should not present much of a problem. You are a book printer, are you not? Bring home something from work to fill the shelves. I doubt it matters much what the titles may be, if one has no intention of reading them.’

      If her brother recognised the insult to his intelligence, he let it pass without comment. ‘This has nothing to do with whether I wish to read the books in question.’

      ‘I thought not.’

      ‘It is the value of the things. Do you know how many pounds has been spent to furnish that room?’

      ‘Quite a few, I should think. She purchased many of those books herself, did she not?’

      ‘When I could not manage to stop her.’

      Adam’s voice was cool reason. ‘Then I see no reason that she need purchase them twice to stock the library in her new home. It is not as if she will be returning here to study.’

      And still her brother would not give up. ‘See here, you. You cannot think to take her from her family.’

      ‘That is generally what happens when one marries,’ Adam said, in a bored drawl. ‘There is something in the Bible about it, although I cannot say I remember the words. She is cleaving unto me, now. You have nothing to say in the matter of her future.’

      Penny could almost imagine the wave of his hand, as he dismissed her brother’s argument.

      ‘Only because you have stolen her from me,’ Hector snapped.

      ‘Stolen her?’ The duke laughed out loud. ‘How long have you known your sister, sir? Is there some chance that you are adopted, or that she is some changeling, recently added to your family? I have limited acquaintance with her, I’ll admit. But in that time I have learned enough to know that it would be exceptionally difficult to steal her from a place she wished to be, or to dissuade her from a path she had chosen for herself.’

      ‘But that does not mean that I will allow her to behave foolishly.’

      She was angry before she could even remember to count, and grabbed the door handle, ready to push her way back into the room and tell her brother that, after all that had been said and done, he had no right on earth to control her.

      But Adam cut in before she could move. ‘You have no authority over my wife. Penelope shall arrange for the transport of the library and the rest of her things to my townhouse. She shall do so at her own pace and in her own way. If I hear of any interference from you in the matter, if you place СКАЧАТЬ