Page 40 of Captivating the Countess
“Marry her,Rain. If you lose her, I’ll never forgive you.” Estelle flung her needlework at him. It fell ineffectively on Rain’s desk, scattering the papers he was signing.
Estelle was the spokesperson for his other sisters, probably because she had some talent for smelling untruths and evasions. He should be grateful all his sisters weren’t in here, nattering. But if he, not his father, now had the responsibility for them, he had to listen. It just sometimes took some translation.
“If you’re speaking of Lady Craigmore, she won’t have me. She says it is only delaying the inevitable, and I must find someone who can give me a son.” Rain hated explaining himself, but this was truly a family matter, not just his decision. “I thought you were here to ask for an increase in your allowance.”
“With another child coming, we must consider the expense of schooling. And if Teddy will be controlling the purse strings in the future, we need to do so now.” She dropped into the old leather chair facing his desk and pulled out a handkerchief to dab at her eyes.
“Not you, too?” He knew from experience that tears came with gestation, so he did not berate her for that ploy.
She nodded. “We are all healthy and produce prodigious amounts of children. You will, too, Rain. One might be a son.”
He had six nieces and two nephews. “I calculate my odds at one in four. I have five years after marriage to produce an heir. I know math is not your strong point, but I think even you see the problem.”
“Then empty the trust. Give the monies to us so there is nothing left for Teddy to fritter.” She sounded as desperate as Rain felt.
“If that were an option, do you think I’d not have already done it? Go talk to your husband, Estelle. I’ve explained it to all of them. The trust is made up of investments that produce income meant to support the estates as well as family. If I sell them, the money must be reinvested inside the trust, not dispensed at will. I can direct where the income is spent, but I can’t increase expenditures unless the income from the investments increases.”
“Which is why you should have married a wealthy woman long ago. A wife’s dowry could support the estates.” She sniffled into her handkerchief. “I am not completely dense.”
Rain shrugged uncomfortably. “That would have only given Teddy more to waste in the long term.”
“What happens if we shoot Teddy?” Estelle rose, sounding more angry than tearful now.
“You go to jail. And a distant cousin we barely know inherits. I believe he lives in New York now. Your husband can support you, Estelle. You will not starve.”
She harrumphed and swept out.
Leaving him feeling like a cad.
Rain could hear the clamor of more guests departing. He’d deliberately not mentioned Bell’s acquiescence to the séance so his sisters wouldn’t rush all their guests into the cold. But the mysteriously swinging chandelier, flying trays, and shrieking had spooked several. He should make note of which were the more lily-livered ladies and choose among the more courageous who remained.
It was Bell the ghosts haunted, and she had given no hint of fleeing.
As if on cue, more doors slammed, accompanied by another ghastly shriek. Half the gentlemen in the castle were hunting the source of the shrieks. After they’d muffled the parrot and monkeys in the cellar, and the noise continued, they were convinced it had to do with chandelier chains. The servants were lowering the ones in the dining room for cleaning, allowing his maintenance people to examine the hardware, just in case. Rain tried to count how many more fixtures there might be but couldn’t. His family had a penchant for dramatic lighting.
Just as Rain settled in to read the invoices Bell had left for him to sign, another rap on his door intruded. Groaning, he decided to assume Bell had verified all these figures correctly and just sign off on them.
“Yes?” He put as much frost into his voice as he could to discourage lingering.
Franklin, his butler, entered. “Pardon, my lord, but Mr. Winchester has requested a stage in the drawing room for this evening’s entertainment.”
They had a makeshift platform for theatrical productions in the attics. Rain glared. “And?”
“The only place it can be set up is beneath the crystal chandelier your grandmother brought with her when she married the old duke.”
Rain considered his large vocabulary of mostly unused epithets and bit his tongue, as always. His grandmother—the Norwegian witch—had brought achandelierwith her? “Can it be removed before this evening?”
“No, my lord, I fear not. It is old and must be taken apart in pieces.”
It held candles, so they’d not used it for lighting in years, but Franklin would not be bothering him if it were not a challenge for the staff.
“Fine. I’ll speak to Teddy. I doubt the chain on that antique is our problem, but there’s no sense in tempting fate.”
The butler nodded in relief. “My thought also, my lord, thank you.”
Dropping crystal chandeliers on Teddy and his new lover might be entertaining, but Rain really didn’t hate his cousin. Teddy had simply never learned responsibility, had no reason to learn, and his temperament wasn’t suited to learning.
If it didn’t grate every nerve in his body, Rain would suggest that Bell marry Teddy. It would solve a great deal.
