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“I’m the duke. You’d best remember that.” Daniel looked Gregory in the face. His hands shook, but for the first time in his dealings with this man, he felt certain. He stepped closer, pressing his cane to his cousin’s neck. Gregory’s eyes flared wide with fear. But, stubborn man that he was, he stuck his chin out and glared at Daniel.
“What are you going to do, kill me?”
Daniel let loose a harsh laugh. “I won’t deny that you would deserve it. Especially after what you drove Nathaniel to.” A cold satisfaction filled him as the blood drained from his cousin’s face. “But no, I won’t kill you. Death is too kind for the likes of you. I’m cutting you off without a penny, Gregory. You’ll be destitute. And if you ever seek out myself or my mother or any other member of our family again, you will rue the day.”
With that promise hanging in the air, he turned away. Behind him he heard Gregory scrabble to his feet, heard the faint wheezing as he caught his breath. Just as Daniel reached the door his cousin spoke.
“Do you forget what your father made you promise?” he called out in desperation, his voice a croak. “That you would always look after me? Would you break your promise to your father?”
Daniel turned back to him. Rage was flaring up, hot and swift, unlike anything he had felt before. “You took advantage of my father’s generosity,” he spat. “You threw our love back in our faces. You were given everything.”
“And what was I given?” Gregory snarled. He stood in the middle of the room, naked, pure hatred sparking from his eyes. “My father was dead, my mother off with the bastard who killed him. And then to be taken in like some pathetic orphan, to be pitied. I hated you all for it.”
“I’m sorry you felt that way,” Daniel said softly. “But I can rest easy knowing we did our best by you. We tried, every one of us, to show you that you were wanted. I pity you, that you’ve had so much anger and hatred in your heart that you have never been able to see how dearly we loved you. But I can no longer ignore the mischief and pain and destruction you’ve caused. Goodbye, Gregory.”
His cousin’s face, stricken pale and staring with mute shock, was the last thing he saw as he turned and left.
Chapter 20
Lenora was in her studio when Margery arrived. A large canvas was propped on an easel, angled to take advantage of the early-afternoon sun. Lenora, apron in place and a determined gleam in her eyes, peered closely at the painting as she added some small detail.
Margery waited patiently in the doorway for her friend to notice her, not wanting to disturb her concentration. And, truth be told, to gather her thoughts—and her courage.
The past hours had been something of a haze. She’d not slept after Daniel had left her the evening before, instead sitting at her desk until the small morning hours, staring dry-eyed at Aaron’s portrait. And so she’d heard the commotion in the hall around dawn, had heard the low murmur of voices, Daniel’s telltale uneven gait. She’d known in her heart what was happening, that he was leaving. But though her heart cried out for her to stop him, the bone-deep exhaustion of grief from the revelation of the night before had kept her from doing so. There was no way a relationship would have ever worked out between them, seeing where they each stood on the subjects of marriage and love. That fact was doubly true now, knowing the part he’d had in Aaron’s death. And though she recalled with painful clarity how that one act had weighed on him all these years, though she knew deep inside that he was not truly to blame and it had all been a horrible accident, she could not now look at him in the same way. She would forever see him as the man who had ended Aaron’s life. And the man who had forever doused the hope in her that the blackmailer had been wrong, and her husband had not turned his back on his fellow soldiers.
Just then Lenora started, wide green eyes blinking owlishly at her. “Oh! Dearest, I didn’t see you there. What a lovely surprise.”
Margery moved forward to kiss her friend on the cheek. “I don’t mean to intrude.”
“You could never,” Lenora declared with a wide smile that quickly fell away as she scanned Margery’s face. “What’s happened?”
Instinct had her ready to declare that nothing was amiss. It was what she would have normally done, after all.
But she was through with prevaricating, through with hiding. She had come here with a purpose. And she would see it done.
She sighed. “Do you by chance have time for me? I’m afraid it won’t be pleasant.”
“I always have time for you, pleasant or otherwise,” Lenora declared without hesitation. She turned about, presenting her back to Margery. “Help me remove this apron, will you? And then we can have a nice chat.”
Margery had expected such a reaction. She had known Lenora for most of her life, after all, and they were closer than sisters. But that certainty did not stop the tears from burning her eyes as she undid the tapes and helped her friend tidy up her paint things. Soon they were settled cozily on the overstuffed plush sofa in the corner.
“Now,” Lenora stated bracingly, “you may talk to your heart’s content.”
Margery’s lips twisted as she looked down to her lap. “It’s not pretty.”
“The important things rarely are,” her friend murmured kindly.
Margery nodded. Then, taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to begin.
But the words would not come. Where to start? There was so much she had been keeping secret, so much that needed to be said.
Lenora seemed to understand. She placed a comforting hand over Margery’s. “Just start at the beginning.”
“Of course.” Another trembling breath. And then, setting her shoulders, she did just that.
“Nearly a month ago, I received a blackmail letter.”
There was a beat of silence. “Well,” Lenora said, her voice faint, “I certainly didn’t expect that.”
