Chapter Eleven #3
“They are not suitable for Colin. As the nephew of Baron Rothwell, surely he is entitled to a woman of equal standing.”
“The Lady Caroline Morford is available. Surely she is….”
“A trollop, unfit for my son.”
“And Lady Ivy, though compromised, is considered appropriate? You are not making sense.”
Nigel’s nostrils flared, a far cry from the relaxed man who had entered the room moments earlier. “Lady Ivy will marry Colin or a great many people will be privy to information only a select few know. I swear it.”
Brian stared at his half-brother. Again, he wondered why he hadn’t killed him before now, seeking the services of faceless assassins and having the man done in.
And God only knew why he had spent his life avoiding his bastard blood.
He thought, mayhap, if he ignored him, or humored him when so required, that Nigel would remain pacified.
But much to his concern, it was increasingly apparent that Nigel would no longer play the game.
Nigel read the hesitation and, suddenly, he felt his advantage rise again.
“I would wager to say that Alec doesn’t know that I am his uncle, or that Toby is my son.
And I would also wager to say that Thia had no knowledge of her blood relations.
Certainly Colin doesn’t know, for I have never found it necessary to tell him.
I wonder how they would react to such knowledge? ”
“After the initial shock, they would recover,” Brian replied steadily, although the very idea Nigel was suggesting was by far his greatest fear.
In truth, he had no idea how his children would react.
And Toby; the lad had never been told who his real father was.
How would he respond to the knowledge that dastardly Nigel Warrington was his true father?
And, God forbid, what if he should demand to know the circumstances of his birth?
How could Brian bring himself to tell the lad he was the result of a rape?
Nigel shifted on the hard bench, rising slowly against his protesting joints. Not only were his joints achier than usual, but his feet were swelling with the gout, and his one desire after this meeting was to retire until the evening meal.
“I shall give you a choice, then,” he said quietly. “You may choose your prospects. If you will not marry Colin to the Lady Ivy, then marry him to Thia. Surely your daughter has not found a suitor yet.”
Brian stiffened; he’d kill both Colin and Nigel himself before he would allow Thia to fall into their clutches. “That is not a fair choice, Nigel. Thia is not ready to wed.”
“She is seventeen years old and of marriageable age,” Nigel returned. “Ivy or Thia. Make your choice.”
Brian’s face darkened as he mulled over his options. To marry his daughter to the Warrington heir was out of the question; therefore, if he failed to pledge Ivy, he had no doubt that the entire province would be aware of ugly family secrets and the Summerlin name would be cast in disgrace.
The House of Summerlin had suffered the blow of Alec’s vow to lay down his arms, a scandal that rocked Edward’s court to the very foundation simply because Alec had been the best knight in the realm at the tender age of twenty-one.
Aye, Brian had withstood the dishonor of a son who was labeled a coward, and the Summerlin name still stood with its pride intact.
But if Nigel’s dark secrets were to become common knowledge, then there would be no recovery for the distinguished Summerlins.
His jaw ticked as he realized he had one choice, as cowardly as that choice was.
Dear God, sometimes he felt so unworthy to be labeled a man.
For a fierce knight who had fought with his king and who had braved the searing sands of the Holy Land to battle the insurrectors, he was showing a tremendous lack of bravery against a solitary man. The one man who could ruin him.
“All right,” he whispered, his voice barely audible. “Allow me to explain my actions to Lady Ivy before you announce your victory to Colin.”
Nigel smiled, a sinister gesture. “How wise, dear brother. How generous.”
Brian couldn’t bring himself to look at him, the man who would make him appear most feeble and untrustworthy to those he cared for. He couldn’t imagine how Ali was going to react, or Alec for that matter. God, he hated himself.
Brian moved past Nigel, leaving the man smirking victoriously in his wake.
*
Alec and Colin were still standing in the solar, neither man having moved a muscle. Brian motioned sharply to his son.
“With me.”
Alec obediently followed his father up to the second floor, to a seldom used room usually reserved for reading or lounging. Alec watched his father with concern, for the man was visibly upset as he paced and scratched agitatedly.
“There is no easy way to say this, Alec. I have changed my mind regarding Ali and Ivy’s betrothal. The lady will wed Colin.”
“What?” Alec’s mouth opened in surprise. “But…. you cannot! You already gave Ali your word!”
“I made no such promise!” Brian shouted. “I simply sent him ahead for a lawyer, but I gave him no assurance that the marriage would indeed take place. After a most involved discussion with Nigel, I see that it is in Lady Ivy’s best interests to marry Colin and you will not question my decision.”
Alec’s face was a mask of astonishment. “Then if I may not question your decision, I will certainly question your sanity. Why in the hell would you change your mind?”
Brian’s chest was beginning to harbor the familiar ache that it did so often when he was upset or over-exerted.
His hand moved to his sternum as if to massage away the pain.
“I have my reasons, Alec,” he said quietly, his tone laced with defeat.
“You will retrieve Lady Ivy and bring her to my bower. I will leave you to inform your wife and make it clear that I will not tolerate any confrontations from her. She seems to want to pry into affairs that do not concern her.”
Over his initial shock, Alec calmed dramatically and fixed his father with a heady glare.
“I cannot promise that she will not come storming after you with a dirk in her hand and I furthermore would not blame her. If you expect me to control her, then you must give me a valid reason for your abrupt change of mind. And what about Ivy? Have you considered her feelings for one moment, dissolving her betrothal to Ali, then restoring it, now snatching it away once more? More than likely, she and her sister will both come after you with murder on their minds.”
Brian’s nostrils flared as the pain in his chest grew.
“I cannot…. suffice it to say that I saw Nigel’s reasoning in the matter and it makes sense.
As I explained to you before, Colin is heir to Wisseyham and in need of a viable consort.
Lady Ivy is such a person. Can you not see the advantages of her being chatelaine of Wisseyham instead of playing her sister’s shadow at St. Cloven?
It is a far more attractive offer for her to become mistress over her own manor. ”
Alec could only stare at his father, dumbfounded at his reasoning. “She doesn’t care about any of that. Da, she is the first woman who has been able to tolerate the color of Ali’s skin and…. Christ, what are you going to tell him? He shall go mad!”
“I am not going to tell him anything,” Brian said quietly, his lips turning a faint shade of blue underneath his silver and black beard.
“You and Olphampa are going to ride out and intercept him. If he is going to rage, let him do it in the open with only you and the wildlife to hear him. When he returns to Blackstone, it will be as a calm man resigned to do the bidding of his liege.”
Alec shook his head with disgust, refusing to believe that his father had gone back on his word.
His father had always been a man of firm decisions and reason, not at all like the man of confusion in front of him.
Alec was not only angered, he was puzzled to the core and he worried on Ivy’s reaction, not to mention Peyton’s.
Foremost, however, he was grieved for Ali. The man had been treated like dirt for most of his life, but never from his own. It would seem that even Brian was apt to follow the lead of others who had left their footprints on Ali’s pride.
Alec gazed at his father a moment, noting the pale color, the shaken state, and he knew exactly where the blame lay.
Nigel Warrington must have done or said something terrible to cause Brian to refute a decision of this magnitude, but for the life of him, Alec could not reason what that action might have included.
Alec refused to believe that Brian had changed his mind for the very reasons he listed.
The genesis of an idea suddenly sprang to Alec’s mind, the beginnings of something pronounced and deep.
Were Ali standing in Alec’s position and the situation reversed, he knew exactly what Ali would have done without hesitation.
And Alec knew without a doubt that he could not allow his friend to be devastated in such a cruel fashion. By a trusted friend, no less.
To hell with the consequences. Ali and Ivy were meant to be together, and Alec would do anything in his power to provide for that wish.
He eyed his father a moment as his plan took root and blossomed.
Hopefully, his father would not read his mind as he had done so ably in the past. “Rest a moment, Da. Nigel has you worked up and you are already feeling ill. I shall take care of my wife and her sister until you can calm yourself.” Or at least until I can get Ivy a safe distance away from Blackstone.
Brian sank into the nearest chair, his hand still on his chest. “Bring Lady Ivy to me and I shall inform her myself. But…. give me a few moments, if you please. This day has taxed me sorely.”
Alec nodded, moving swiftly for the door as his father called to him once again. “I am sorry, Alec. I wish things were not as they appear to be.”