Page 81 of How to Seduce a Duke this Autumn
When her heart wasn’t so dangerously close to betraying her all over again.
Chapter Twenty
Rage overshadowed anydefeat Adam warred with when he stepped into their family drawing room to the sight of his brother and his mother arguing.
“Life abroad was ever so difficult,” David complained.
“Then why did you leave? If it was so difficult, why didn’t you return?”
“There were circumstances…”
Circumstances?
Adam wanted to laugh.
His mother had always been blind to David’s sins. Did she really think David would just leave because he wanted to leave?
Miss Martin, who Adam just noticed, scooted closer to his brother. “You are much handsomer than I remember, David.”
Adam rolled his eyes. Hard.
“Thank you, Miss Martin.”
“How accomplished you are, traveling abroad and seeing to your own needs.”
Adam crossed his arms. “Oh, and what exactly did you pay for?” That didn’t come from the family coffers you stole? But he would never voice that out loud in front of his mother, no matter how much he wanted to.
David arched his brow. “Why, for the whole house, of course.”
“What house?” Adam pressed.
“I purchased a small chateau in Provence. It’s an investment for the family, of course. Mother ought to come and visit to see how much I’ve put into it.”
For the family? Oh please! So that was why he was swindling money from them. Again. He might have bought a house in Provence, but it would not have been for this family. David was much too selfish, much too greedy for that.
“How accomplished!” Miss Martin exclaimed, and his mother nodded along.
“Accomplished? There are hundreds of people depending on me. Over three hundred families directly connected to my estate and countless more in the region whose livelihoods depend on how I manage their affairs.” His eyes bored into his brother.And you are stealing from them.
“How overly dramatic, Adam,” David said. “As always.”
“Is stealing money from the family dramatic?” Adam demanded before he could rein in his tongue.
“What are you talking about?” his mother said with a frown marring her brows.
“I’m saying I would never steal money for the family to build an immoral love nest in France of all places! Why not send money to Napoleon directly? David is the worst kind of traitor for the family name, and I am ashamed to look like him.”
“Adam!” his mother exclaimed, leaping to her feet. “I forbid you to speak about your brother that way!”
Forbid? Such an interesting little word.
But Adam couldn’t help himself. David had returned to London, ruined all the trust he had rebuilt with Charlene, and now he was worming his way back into his life, his house, like nothing ever happened.
Charlene’s red-rimmed eyes flashed in his mind.
The pompous Henry Grafton.
The words David had spewed to him before the hotel.
