Page 65 of If the Slipper Fits
Finally, and most importantly, would be the satisfaction and pleasure in Zeke’s eyes when he realized how Caden’s plans for the quarry would ultimately please his wife.
Too bad he never got the chance to deliver his news.
Standing just outside the open door of the earl’s den, he listened to the two men he respected most in the world discussing him and his many character flaws as if he were no more than a child rather than a man fully grown.
“WhataboutCaden? Where are you going with this, Zeke?”
“Kitty and I’ve been wrestling with the serious question of what to do about him. You know very well he’s spent the last several years galavanting ‘round England, gambling, sometimes in hells by his own admission—”
“—Zeke, we’ve established the boy does not have a gambling problem.”
The boy.
“He’s not like your father, Zeke.”
Damn right, he wasn’t.
“No? Then why did he come to me asking for a large sum of money? Money which, I might add, he refused to explain his need of.”
“I’m sure he had a valid reason.”
“Like the last time?”
“You refer to what happenedat Oxford? Zeke, that was a long time ago and he learned his lesson. What did he say precisely?”
“He requested family funds to finance a so-called business venture, then refused to name the venture. I told him we’d discuss it once I returned.”
“That does not sound like a gambling debt to me. Perhaps the lad simply wanted to do something on his own, without the oversight of his big brother.”
“If so, he got his wish.”
“Zeke, why so harsh?”
“Mayhap I haven’t been tough enough. I agree, he’s not lost to his vices like our father. But what kind of life is it to jump from party to party, feasting on women and wine and all manner of sport without a care in the world—except for appeasing his own carnal appetites?
"And this request for money? What’s happened to all he’s amassed? A pretty penny, I can assure you—all gone in a blink? I tell you, it sounds too similar to the last time he needed a large influx of cash.”
“You really suspect a gaming debt, then, despite all his assurances to the contrary?”
“My best guess? Yes. And if I’m right, he’s fast on the road to ruin, just like our father. And the blame lands squarely at my feet.”
Caden didn’t know what he found more offensive—the fact his brother hadn’t believed him about the money, the idea he found him a ne’er do well, or that he dared take ownership for Caden’s actions as if he weren’t a man, able to answer for himself.
And the earl’s biggest show of support was to deny Caden gambled in the hells in a manner akin to their father? Indeed he did visit the hells occasionally, he wanted to shout.He just didn’t lose.
Having heard enough for a lifetime, he marched up to his bedchamber to pack.
His brother saw him as nothing more than an overgrown child intent solely on self-gratification? One who couldn’t manage his own life without his big brother’s guidance? Caden was happy to prove him right and to hell with the money he’d spent on the quarry. Zeke could choke on it when he finally figured out what he had really been up to.
Randall’s request for Caden to accompany Harrison to their cousin’s wedding party in his stead arrived that very afternoon. It couldn’t have come at a better time. He leapt at the excuse to escape. But not before informing the Earl and Zeke he needed neither their money nor their influence nor their time, since he was such an anathema in their eyes.
Thenhe left, feeling damned good about his decision to write them off.
Only now that the earl had taken ill, his actions struck him as nothing short of a child’s tantrum, perfectly illustrating Zeke’s point.
And why stop there? Witness this situation with Anna. He’d barreled in, so certain he could solve all her worldly problems without the least idea what her problems entailed—namely a husband whom she wanted back from the grave. No wonder she’d rejected his help.
Scowling, he slunk deeper into the cushions. In fairness to himself, all she needed to do was give him her real name.
