Page 46 of The Replacement Duchess

“No, you are not. You know exactly what I am referring to, or must I be clear about it myself?”

“Yes, you must. Please enlighten me on how well you know of my activities outside of this household.”

“You have been drinking and then hunting for gentlemen to join you in business.”

The color drained from his face. She had all of the proof that she needed, and it should have broken her heart, and it would have done so had she not seen it coming.

“Who told you?”

“That is of no consequence. How could you? It is one thing to take yourself off and ruin the reputation of your two daughters. It is another thing entirely to do so with pride, and then to act as though you are a respectable gentleman that others should do business with. What are you playing at?”

“You know nothing about what it is to be a man.”

“It appears that I know far more than you, for at least I know how to treat children, and I know how to run a household, whichare two things that you have failed in at every opportunity. How does it feel to have two children who hope to not need to see you at all one day? Does it not pain you that neither of us wants anything to do with you because of how you have failed us?”

“Three.”

“What?”

“Three.”

“You are not yet drunk, so do not play the fool. I am asking you questions, and I want you to respond to them.”

“And if you are going to interrogate me like this, you had better have the correct information, which you so clearly do not.”

“What have I said that is untrue?” Diana sighed, exasperated. “You are a drunk, and you have done everything in your power to destroy us, and I will never understand why we were never worth more to you.”

“Because you are not boys. I have told you that before. You are girls and of no use to me. It is because of you and that useless mother of yours that I spent years without an heir, and I will never forgive you for that for as long as I live.”

“Then I suppose we both have the hope that you do not live too long.”

It was the cruelest thing that she had ever said, and he seemed to take it exactly as she had hoped—personally.

“Does it make you feel better when you say such things?”

“In response to you calling us useless burdens? I believe so. I apologize that we were not heirs and that your family name will end with us, but that is not our fault, and you never should have made us feel as though it was.”

“No, it was that mother of yours. I never did find a use for her, besides keeping you occupied.”

“And what is keeping you occupied? This business venture of yours? There is no need for one in the first place. The Duke has ample funds. You will be taken care of, unless you are planning on funding your other activities at White’s, namely being its main client.”

“I do need this, Diana, and I shall have you know that there will be an heir to carry on the family name.”

“Yes, some distant cousin or other to inherit the estate. That does not matter.”

“That is where you are wrong. It does not matter how clever you might think that you are, there are things that you do not know. Perhaps that is why you are so bitter.”

“Then do tell. Who is this wonderful heir that is worth more than your two children?”

“It is as I said,” he snarled, “I havethreechildren.”

CHAPTER 13

Abeautiful estate, a good amount of wealth, a well-liked wife, and two charming daughters. It was a perfect life, or it would have been if Jonathan had wanted it in the first place.

He had so hoped to remain a bachelor. He was the youngest of five, the eldest being a son, Edmund. That was supposed to mean that he had no estate to inherit, no title to uphold, no requirement to be perfect. He disliked Society and its watchful gaze and the never-ending rumors, but he at least knew that he would never need to play a part in it. He knew it even at the age of three and ten.

Then his father died, and he felt something beginning even then. In the blink of an eye, his brother was married to a lady that he had never met, and he was the head of the household. He was but two and twenty and woefully unprepared for all that was to come his way. Fortunately, the two of them had a good bond, one of the best ones that brothers can have.

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