Lord Deverill's Heir, Catherine Coulter [the best motivational books .TXT] 📗

simple. I don’t care for his attitudes in many areas. There is something wrong. He is not what he appears. I don’t approve of the easy way he has with Elsbeth or Arabella. I do know that Arabella quite detests him. What I wonder is why he is still here. Why don’t you simply ask him to leave Evesham Abbey?

You don’t need to kill him as Dr. Branyon thinks you would like to do.” He eyed her for a very long time, then said something that made her blink. “What makes you think Arabella detests him? That is a very strong word, Ann.”

All that and he had thought only of Arabella. “I know it’s true because I can see that not only does he repel her, she’s also afraid of him. I think she’s afraid that he will speak untruths about her to you. Has that happened?”

“No.”

“Ah, well, he might, at least Arabella thinks so. But what I don’t understand is what she believes he will say to you.”

“Has she told you this?”

“No, not really. But I am her mother. I understand her very well. It’s odd, but Elsbeth quite appreciates him. Several times when he has said something that is not quite the thing, she has defended him. Isn’t that strange?”

“Elsbeth defending her cousin? Perhaps it isn’t so very strange. They are first cousins. She’s an impressionable young girl—”

“Perhaps, but she is still nearly three years older than Arabella.”

“Well, but she is very innocent in the ways of the world. Perhaps she has some hero worship for the comte?”

“Why do you hate him, Justin?”

He rose quickly and walked to the sideboard. He poured himself some brandy and drank it down. “Leave it be, Ann,” he said at last. “Just leave it be. You don’t understand and it is not something I can speak to you about.”

“Oh, I quite understand. And I applaud your discretion, except in this case you are quite wrong. You have somehow come to believe that he and Arabella are lovers.”

He’d known it was coming, he’d known. So Arabella had cried on her mother’s shoulder to intervene. He should have expected it. There was an unpleasant sneer in his voice as he said, “Ah, has your daughter confided that to you, Ann? Has she told you that she hated marrying me so much that she took him as her lover even before we were married? Did she admit to you that ours is a mockery of a marriage? Did she beg you to use your influence with me?”

She could not believe the depth of the bitterness in his voice. She must go carefully here. There was so very much at stake. “Listen to me now, Justin. Arabella avoids me as much as she does you. She is bitterly unhappy. I also know that you hurt her on your wedding night. I saw her shredded nightgown and all the blood that following morning. She has said nothing to me, not a single word. You believe that she has begged me to intervene? Have you lost your wits? Arabella begging anyone?”

“I’m sorry. Of course that wouldn’t be in her character, but others things are, Ann. You mustn’t be blind to them just because she is your daughter.”

“What are you sorry for? Are you sorry that I had to learn that you had hurt my daughter?”

“I’m simply sorry that everything has happened as it has.” Jesus, he wanted to get out of here.

“Listen to me, you idiot, I am anything but blind when it comes to my daughter. What do you mean there are other things in her character? Tell me, Justin.”

“Very well. She deserves whatever I mete out to her, Ann. Please, just leave it alone. There has been too much between us and yet not nearly enough. There is nothing you can do. Suffice it to say that Arabella is his lover. Now, as for Gervaise de Trécassis, well, we will see. I don’t want him gone just yet. Paul is quite right. I would dearly love to kill him—not with a bullet and cleanly, but with my bare hands. No, he will remain a while longer. I have always believed that if there is a snake about, it is wise to keep your eye on him and not let him slither away only to sneak back and catch you unawares.”

“With your bare hands?”

“Yes, that would be pleasurable, but I cannot, at least not yet.”

“Why? And don’t give me more imagery about a damned snake slithering about!”

“All right, Ann, plain speaking. I must know who and what he is before I act. You are quite right. He is not what he seems. I will not let my anger at Arabella interfere with my plans. Yes, Ann, I should very much like to kill the man who seduced my wife. I daresay Paul Branyon would like to kill any man who seduced you.”

She just shook her head. “She didn’t take the comte as a lover. Wait. Are you saying she wasn’t a virgin on your wedding night?”

“Some discussion about Elsbeth,” he said, his voice as acid as his belly at that moment, and he drank down some more brandy. It burned all the way to his belly. “I should have known.”

“Yes, you should have.”

“Are you quite through?”

“Not at all. Well? Was Arabella a virgin on your wedding night?” He sighed. “She was a virgin.”

“Then what the devil are you talking about? Are you a complete idiot? Ah, I believe I shall shoot you!” Lady Ann jumped to her feet. For an instant, he thought she would attack him, but she stopped just short of him and laid her hand on his sleeve. “What?” she said again. “She was a virgin. She told you that he wasn’t her lover. What then?”

“Ann, you were a married lady. You know there are many ways to pleasure a man.”

She looked at him as if she would heave up her lunch. “Oh, no, surely Arabella would never do that. It’s horrible.