Heiress in Red Silk, Hunter, Madeline [good beach reads TXT] 📗

the duke died, and that he had left by the time it happened. He admitted that the two of them had a row. It did not help that he claimed to be in France then. Only he had returned for a few days.”

“Hopped a packet.”

“Yes. We learned about it on our own, but another member of the family also saw him in Town.”

“Felicity.”

Minerva’s gaze hardened. “She couldn’t wait to tell you, it seems.”

“Yet despite all that, it was determined to be an accident. Was that to protect him?”

“Not at all. Chase presented what he knew to the authorities. There were other possible culprits. I was one. He included all of us. They called it an accident anyway.”

“Wouldn’t Kevin’s father know if he had been in Town the actual day the duke died?”

Minerva hesitated. “I only tell you all this because you are considering such an important step. He was not at his family’s house in Town while he was back. There is no proof he was not at the estate that day.”

“Do you think he did this, Minerva? I need to know if you do.”

Minerva took her time thinking about that, her expression one of a person who had been cornered and didn’t like her position.

“He has a temper. I expect he would control it with a woman. Yet it flared with Philip that night at the dinner, so you have seen it. If the other cousins had not intervened, he would have done Philip serious harm,” she said. “And he is devoted to that project of his. It consumes him. The will had recently been changed to give the duke’s half of that enterprise to you. The will’s changes were not commonly known in the family, but Kevin may have learned of it and been angry. He said the row was over the money for that man he visited in Paris with you, but—” She let all that sit there, all but damning Kevin.

It would have been enough to convict most men. Normal men. Men who weren’t grandsons of dukes. For some reason, someone had decided not to accuse Kevin. But what if that someone changed his mind? She realized Kevin lived with that as a possibility. Whether innocent or guilty, that would be horrible.

Minerva reached over and took Rosamund’s hand. “You asked what I think. I don’t believe he was responsible. I have no facts to support my estimation, only my observations of people. I have met men who are capable of such things, and he is not one of them, in my opinion. However, the question is not if I think so, Rosamund. It is whether you do.”

She didn’t know what to think. The man who had comforted her after her meeting with Charles would not do such a thing. The man who stayed in his family home so his father would not be completely bereft of companionship would not either. But she had seen how his intensity could alter his whole manner, and how this invention had become the center of his world.

“I expect the family knows about your intention to become engaged,” Minerva said, lifting them out of the topic. “Be prepared.”

“I know they will not approve. That is why we are not engaged yet. So they can change his mind, if it is changeable.”

Minerva laughed. “Kevin bow to the family’s preferences? I don’t think so.”

“Possibly not. It was only fair to let them try.”

“If this marriage happens, it will be good for him. That is not a happy house he has lived in all these years. Chase told me that Kevin’s father never forgave him for the death of his mother. It had been a love match, it seems. Deeply passionate. The man was lost when she did not survive her lying-in. Devastated. The last duke stayed in the house for a month to make sure his brother did not do something rash. Then Kevin was raised there, with a father who barely acknowledged he was alive.”

Minerva’s explanation made Rosamund sad. Sad not only for Kevin, but for his father, who had escaped grief through eccentric pastimes instead of treasuring the child left behind with him. She thought it a tragic choice.

A love match, Minerva said. Deeply passionate. The man had been enthralled, and it left him mourning forever.

* * *

Kevin folded a sheet of paper and tucked it into his frock coat. He went down to the morning room for coffee and flipped through the mail waiting there. One of the letters joined the paper.

He was finishing his breakfast when he sensed a presence in the room. He looked up to find his father standing across the table from him.

“Are you going out?” his father asked.

“I am.”

“To see her?”

“Yes. We have business to discuss.”

“That’s a pretty word for it.”

“It is an accurate word. She is still my partner.”

His father caught the eye of the attending servant. The servant left.

“You have decided to disobey me, then.”

“We are past such things. I am almost thirty years old.”

“Old enough to scorn your family, it appears. Allow me to make it plain, lest you think your aunts spoke only for themselves. I forbid this marriage.”

Kevin stood and faced him over the polished wood surface. “I understand that. It is my decision, not yours, however.”

“So be it. If you have decided to make this marriage, all for the sake of your machines or whatever they are, if you are prepared to embarrass me in this way, I don’t want to see you. Do not come back today, or ever.”

The command summoned more relief than concern, although he experienced some of the latter for the man facing him now. His father’s expression appeared stern, but a lot of dismay reflected in his eyes too.

“As you wish. I’ll send for my things once I’m settled.”

His father looked surprised, as if he really had expected capitulation. Kevin collected his mail, then strode from the morning room.

* * *

I will call at two o’clock to take you to the bank.

The note