Libby shrugged. “I saw Bernard. I wasn’t supposed to, but I did, out by the stables one morning when I was leaving. Why was he there? I don’t know.”
“He was there as Lord Kipper’s tool,” Thomas said. “That’s it, then. We know enough. William, sir, Jeremy, are you ready?”
* * *
Chapter 35
THOMAS WOULD COME, her father with him. Perhaps even Jeremy. She had to keep herself alive, just had to. She remembered she’d sworn to Thomas she would never leave him. She wasn’t about to break that promise.
Lord Kipper had fallen silent. He was standing over Jenny MacGraff, a thoughtful expression on his face. He looked suddenly vicious. She watched him lift one of his riding boots and kick her in the ribs.
Meggie saw red, reared up onto her elbows. It hurt, but she didn’t care. “You bastard, don’t do that again. Damn you, you miserable coward!”
Lord Kipper ignored her. He said, both his voice and his expression utterly dismissive, and listened to Jenny moan, “She is so very common. I could not allow her to marry William. A travesty, that’s what it would have been.”
Meggie saw that Jenny was lying on her side, huddled in on herself on the bare floor. She was slight, her hair pale, her skin very white. She was very young and very pretty. She was also alarmingly pale. She was wearing a simple muslin gown that was twisted about her knees, woolen stockings, and one black slipper. The other one had come off her foot and was lying several feet away from her.
“No,” Lord Kipper said, his voice meditative now, as if he were speaking to himself, “I could not allow her to marry William.” Then he looked over at Meggie. “Don’t you understand yet? This merchant’s daughter couldn’t be the next countess of Lancaster. Any fool in his right mind would realize what a bitter jest that would be. Thomas forced my hand when he ordered William to marry her on Sunday. I had to do something, and so I did. And then yesterday at the damned tea party your husband set up—William was so very close. And I saw that everyone else was now thinking about that. Everything would soon come down on my head and I couldn’t have that, not until I’d fixed everything.”
Meggie said slowly, “You are willing to kill three innocent people because you want William to be the next earl of Lancaster? Blessed Hell, why would you care who is the earl of Lancaster? It’s nothing to do with you.”
“What a stupid question, Meggie. Haven’t you yet realized that I am William’s father?”
Meggie said nothing for a full minute, then quietly, nodding slowly, “You should be ever so pleased then that he got Jenny pregnant. He also got another girl in Glenclose-on-Rowan pregnant. He is just like you, isn’t he? Like father like son. Do you hate the women you have despoiled?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Women are women, they are to be used, to be enjoyed. All of you are silly creatures, at least most of you are. As for my son, in that William much likes to bed woman, yes, he is like me, actually like practically all men, truth be told. Some of us are masters at it, most aren’t. Unfortunately, William is one of the latter. He does not have my charm or my brain, but I will teach him. Surely he will improve once he knows that I am his father, once he knows what I have given him. Yes, once William knows that the old earl of Lancaster was so obsessed, so gripped with the belief that he could not trust a woman to bear his son and not another man’s, he will thank me, he will bless fate that gave me him as his father and not that miserable old man. Interesting, isn’t it? The old earl sewed the seeds of his own destruction. His father was the same way, I understand.”
“Evidently, the old earl was right not to trust Libby, wasn’t he?”
“He shouldn’t have distrusted her, she never gave him a reason. Our brief liaison was discreet, William the result. No, Titus Malcombe was a mad, stupid man. At least I had Libby come here to Pendragon after he booted her and William out. I’ve looked after both her and William over the years. I expect William will be so relieved that Lord Lancaster isn’t his father that he will fall upon my neck.” Lord Kipper grinned at that thought, and for just an instant, there was a warmth in his eyes. “I will bring him to live with me for a while, to complete his education.”