Page 24 of Scandalous Heiress
Victor preferred to stand and took up his stance by the mantle.
“Victor’s come home,” the duke said to his oldest son in his crackly voice.
“I see he has.He looks wonderful, too, don’t you think?”
“He’s taller than when he left.How can that be, eh?”
Victor frowned.Was his father of clear mind this morning?
Richard lifted a shoulder.“Good Chinese food, perhaps?”
“I’m cold.”The duke picked at his trousers.“Are you cold, Richard?”
“No, Father.It’s actually rather stifling in here.”
Victor lifted a throw from the bed and took it to lay over his father’s lap.Then he assumed the remaining chair near his sire.
“You went to—to where?”
“Bath, father.”
“Bath?To…to see…whom?”
“One of my men, Father.We have a problem with a dam that broke in spring rains and I needed to inquire as to funds to shore it up.”Richard shot Victor a glance that belied the truth of this.
“And have you enough?”
“Nearly so.”Richard’s dark eyes warned Victor that this was not the case.“We’ll have to use monies from Ridgemont to pay the workers.”Ridgemont was Richard’s larger estate north of London.
“Don’t you have enough…enough…?”
Victor saw greater evidence of his mother’s warning that his father’s clarity of mind was unpredictable.
Richard waited for his father to complete the sentence.
Victor filled in.“Enough money from that property to pay for repairs?”
“What?What?”His father frowned.“No, no.You are to marry and get the money, eh?That American gel.What’s her name?”
“Esmerelda, Father.”Richard sat back, matter-of-fact about this.“Esmerelda Moore.”
“Sounds Spanish to me.Is she Spanish?Why would you marry a girl from Spain, my boy?”
“No, Father.She is American.From New York, I think.”
You think?
“Rich?”the duke asked.
“Yes.”
“How much?”His father leaned forward.Never a man to count money above character, this query surprised Victor.“Her dowry?”
“Rumors say fifty thousand.Twenty for her widow’s portion.”
A damned fortune.
The old man gave a long loud laugh.“That’s it.”
