Page 32 of Lady Controversial
‘That is what I asked Papa. It seems that Mama and my uncle were in love and hoped to marry, but my aunt, as the elder of the two, insisted that she had earned the right to choose a husband before Mama, who wasn’t even out at the time. Mama and my uncle met when he called to pay court to my aunt, you see. My mother and my aunt both had extremely healthy dowries and were also handsome and popular.’
‘Your aunt was aware that your mother’s affections were engaged but still set her sights on your uncle?’ Lord Finchdean frowned. ‘You just now said that she could have had her pick of gentlemen in need of a wife. Surely…’
Isolda smiled. ‘Mama and her sister possessed very different characters and did not get along. Mama was far prettier and got more attention. They were rather like Jane and me, I often think.’
Lord Finchdean took a moment to digest everything that Isolda had told him. ‘Your aunt must be exceedingly vindictive,’ he said. ‘To say nothing of having a long memory.’
‘Oh, she is. She hides it well, but I have seen her true nature when she does not get her way and it is not pleasant.’
‘Your uncle and your mother…’
‘Quite. I do not know the particulars but can imagine. Their passions got the better of them. My uncle offered for Mama but was not given permission by her father to address her since, as I say, she wasn’t out. So my uncle, being in need of that dowry as a matter of extreme urgency, had no choice but to transfer his affections to my aunt.’
‘And your father stepped in to save her from disgrace when her condition became apparent.’
‘Indeed.’ Isolda looked down at her toes and waited for her embarrassment to subside. ‘Papa told me that she would not have spared him a glance otherwise and he half resented the reasons why she had done so, whilst simultaneously glorying in his good fortune.’
‘He was clearly conflicted.’
Isolda smiled. ‘Not so conflicted that he didn’t have the presence of mind to make me Jane’s legal guardian.’
‘So that your aunt couldn’t take control of her.’
‘Precisely so. My aunt never had children of her own, and since my uncle was…well, my papa, the fault was clearly hers, rubbing salt into the open wound of her difficult relationship with her sister.’
‘You think she is sponsoring Jane’s presentation to make some sort of obscure point?’
‘I am absolutely sure of it, which is why I will not countenance the idea of living beneath her roof. Jane cannot go without me, but if I agree to that arrangement, I will be made to feel like the poor relation at every turn. My aunt is very bitter. She does not have a forgiving nature and never overlooks a slight. Despite the fact that none of this is my fault, she holds me responsible for the fact that her husband and my mother never stopped loving one another. Not, as far as I am aware, that they did anything about it once they had married other people, but I’m sure the signs were there for those who took enough interest to look for them.’
‘A grand passion indeed,’ Lord Finchdean said, smiling. ‘Thank you for trusting me with your family’s secret.’
‘I only did so because Lord Brooke and my aunt are on friendly terms and will likely band together in an effort to force me from Rose Cottage.’
‘Why would they…’ Lord Finchdean dislodged his shoulder from the tree trunk that had been supporting it and took a few steps away from Isolda, his back towards her. ‘Does your aunt have anything in writing to prove that you are not your father’s progeny?’ he asked, turning back to face her again, looking unnaturally serious.
Isolda shrugged. ‘I have no idea. Why should that matter? It is hardly something that my aunt would want to make public knowledge.’
‘Perhaps not, but if she isthatintimate with Brooke.’
‘What are you suggesting?’ Isolda asked, her heart pounding in response to his forbidding expression.
‘Well, my dear, it seems that her inability to breed, while your mother managed to do so easily, added insult to injury. Her behaviour suggests that she is the type to bear a grudge, no matter how long it might take for her to achieve satisfaction.’
‘True,’ Isolda replied, nodding slowly.
‘If she is able to prove that you are not your father’s progeny, then Jane will have a legitimate claim upon your father’s estate.’
‘There is precious little to claim since Lord Brooke now owns the estate but…’ Isolda tapped her index finger against her lips as the penny dropped. ‘You think there is a possibility that Lord Brooke’s cheating at cards will be proven, in which case he would forfeit his right to Papa’s estate.’
Lord Finchdean nodded. ‘Unless he regained it through marriage to Jane. And one cannot help but wonder who put the idea of cheating your father into Brooke’s head in the first place,’ he said.
Chapter Eleven
Marcus Brooke sat in Lady Bellingham’s elegant drawing room, facing his permanently vindictive hostess—a woman whom he actively disliked.
‘I really don’t know what you expect me to do about it.’ Lady Bellingham flapped a dismissive hand. ‘Isolda is a law unto herself. She has always been far too opinionated, to say nothing of downright stubborn. I cannot imagine why you want to get your hands on that awful hovel anyway. I thought it was Jane who interested you.’
‘Indeed. How could she not?’ But Marcus had found his mind veering with increasing regularity in the direction of Isolda, who interested him for reasons that had nothing to do with her physical appearance.
