Chapter Twenty #2
The lines reappeared on Darcy’s brow, deeper this time. “I don’t understand. Anne is definitely Lady Catherine’s daughter. My mother was there for the birth. And Lady Catherine would never adopt. She cares far too much about lineage.”
“Of that I am well aware.” Finding them clenched again, Richard unballed his hands. He pressed his palms flat to the seat on either side of him. Sweat made his skin clammy inside his gloves.
Confusion evident on his face, Darcy said, “Then, you’re saying…”
“Say it,” Richard bit out when Darcy trailed off.
Darcy shook his head.
“Then I will. I am not the Earl of Matlock’s son.”
Darcy stared at him. After a long moment, he said, “He married your mother.”
“Who was already with child when they wed.”
After several blinks, expression blank, Darcy asked, “Did the Earl know?”
The deception of the man he thought of as his father, was, at least, a shame Richard didn’t need to bear.
“He knew and helped her perpetuate the ruse. He…they were in love.” Richard slashed a hand through the air before him.
“It’s a long story. Suffice it to say, the Earl and my mother had been in love for years, but I am definitely not his child.
Out of love for her, he married her immediately upon her husband’s death and claimed me as his own. Legally as well,” Richard added.
“He treats you well,” Darcy said, then grimaced. “That is, I mean, I never would have guessed.”
“I certainly didn’t,” Richard said dryly. “He gave me the choice of the army, navy or church. He paid for my promotions and settled five thousand pounds on me. I had no thought I wasn’t his son.”
“And Thomas doesn’t know.” It wasn’t a question.
“He does not. He was only three.”
“When did you find out?”
“About a week before I went to Lady Catherine and asked to court Anne.” Richard shook his head.
“I was filled with desperation, thinking about the truth of who I am, and how impossible it is, as my father had me legally adopted, that Thomas won’t find out someday.
There are papers, somewhere. I could burn them, but that could do more harm than good if the accusation ever came from another source.
” Richard leaned against the well-padded seat back.
“All I could think about was my future once Father is dead and Thomas knows, and I decided I needed an heiress.”
“So you settled on Anne.”
Richard nodded. “I settled on Anne.”
“Why wouldn’t your father tell you sooner?”
“He was protecting me from a derelict relation of my…my real father’s, who died only recently.”
“Oh.”
They rode in silence. Richard squeezed his eyes closed.
“The son of an Earl or not, you would be a good husband to Anne,” Darcy said quietly. “Better, perhaps, if you believe first cousins shouldn’t marry.”
Eyes still closed and head tipped back against the seat, Richard replied. “You know full well that if Lady Catherine knew the truth, she wouldn’t permit me in the same room with Anne, let alone to court her.”
“What will you do?”
“The interest on my five thousand pounds plus my Colonel’s salary is hardly poverty, so I can certainly live on that, but when my father dies, the London house will go to Thomas, so I won’t be able to afford to live in London.”
“You don’t believe your brother will permit you to reside there? Do you mean to tell him the truth?”
“Certainly not, but Thomas thinks I should be paying rent now.”
“I should have assumed that. Your father doesn’t mean to leave you anything else? Not all of his holdings are entailed.”
“Many of them aren’t, but he believes in bloodlines and the consolidation of wealth. He may love me, but he loves his family’s legacy more.”
“Regardless, that’s not what I meant.”
Richard opened his eyes and sat up straighter. “Meant?”
“When I asked what you would do.” Darcy met his gaze. “I meant, what will you do about Lady Catherine’s expectation that you’ll court Anne?”
Richard offered a half smile. “I thought I might court your Miss Bennet instead.”
Rage burst to life in Darcy’s eyes, quickly extinguished. He gave a grudging smile. “Very funny.”
“It was said in jest, yes, but you’d better marry that girl before you end up in prison for dueling, or worse. I’ve never seen you look so angry.”
Darcy grimaced, then narrowed his gaze. “Stop trying to change the subject.”
Richard’s mirth fled. “I don’t know what I’ll do. By rights, I should tell Lady Catherine the truth before I court her daughter, but you and I both know how that will go. I may as well ask you to take me back to London as bother.”
“Lady Catherine told me she’s attempting to encourage Anne to think for herself.”
Richard snorted again. “Long enough overdue.”
“I agree, but what I’m getting at is, instead of telling Lady Catherine the truth, you could try telling Anne. She’s the one you’d be marrying after all.”
Richard frowned, contemplating that. He was still thinking about it hours later when they came to a halt before Rosings’ grand entrance, marking the end of their journey.