flames, the hissing coal, mirrored my sudden mood. So much pain, so much evilness. A person’s parents were supposed to protect them, supposed to believe them, supposed to love them no matter what. “How could your father do that to her?”
“Most likely,” my mother’s voice snapped through the room, startling us both. “Because your Ginny, is a bastard.”
What the hell was my mother doing here?
Oliver and I both surged to our feet. She stood in the doorway, looking stubborn and furious all at once, the butler hovering nervously behind her. I wiped my face clean of any lingering emotion, falling back into the unfeeling man she’d raised. “Mother, how lovely to see you.”
“So sorry, my lord,” the butler murmured. “But when she heard your voice, she wouldn’t remain in the foyer.”
“It’s fine.” I waited until the butler left. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m here to save you from making a terrible mistake.” She tugged off her gloves and stuffed them into the pocket of her cloak. “After everything we’ve worked so hard for, you’ll throw it all away on a bastard?”
“Don’t you dare call her that,” I snapped.
“She’s right.” Oliver shrugged. “Ginny isn’t legitimate. Our mother had an affair with a traveling horse breeder from Spain.”
“Dear Heavens,” my mother muttered in disgust.
“As if our family has any right to judge anyone,” I snapped. “How did you know?”
She shrugged and moved to the fireplace, warming her hands. “I have my ways, as you know.”
Who had she paid? Miss Lamier? No. Not her. But who? If word got out, it would ruin Ginny. It would destroy her. I didn’t know what the hell my mother was doing there, and frankly, I didn’t much care. Only Ginny mattered. I focused on Oliver. “Does she know. Does Ginny know she has a different father?”
“I do now,” Ginny whispered from the doorway.
“Ginny,” I said.
I caught sight of her pale face, her wide eyes, before she spun around and fled.
Determined, I started to go after her, but my mother grabbed my arm. “Don’t you dare leave me.”
I shook off her hold. “Not now.”
“I’ll go,” Oliver said, skating by me. “Deal with your mother. And I suggest sending her on her way. If James finds out she’s spreading rumors about Ginny, he won’t go easy on her.”
I hesitated, torn between my need to find Ginny, and my duty to get rid of my mother, before she hurt anyone else in this family. Oliver disappeared into the hall.
“Shite,” I snapped, raking my hair back. I’d seen her for only a moment, but in that moment, I hadn’t missed the pain and confusion in her eyes. I’d wanted to hold her. Comfort her. Tell her it didn’t bloody matter.
“After everything I’ve done for you,” my mother hissed. “Everything I’ve planned.”
Furious, I spun around to face her. “Done for me? Other than teach me to be greedy and cruel, what have you done for me?”
I hadn’t expected the slap.
The sound rang through the room, interrupting the silence. My skin stung. My shock gave way to stubborn pride. I would not react. “Ah, there’s the mother I know.”
“What have I done for you?” She paced angrily across the room. Back and forth. “You wouldn’t be here, as an earl, if it wasn’t for me!”
I scoffed. “Really? Considering how that title came from father’s line, I fail to see how you had anything to do…”
It was not sudden, like when I’d jumped into that ice-cold pond to save Ben, but the dread that seeped slowly through me was just as shocking. Disbelief held me frozen for a brief moment. Pieces started to fall together like a puzzle. She moved to the windows, overlooking the setting sun.
“You were responsible for Father’s accident, weren’t you?”
She kept her back to me, and didn’t answer. But then she didn’t need to. The silence, the stiffness of her shoulders, her refusal to look at me. It all made sense.
“My God. You tried to kill him?” Slowly, I started toward her. “Or did you actually do the deed?”
She spun around to face me. There was no remorse in her gaze. Only anger. Frustration. “Your father was spending every cent your uncle left us. We would have been destitute. Everything we planned for…ruined!”
Did she want me to apologize? To thank her? My heart thundered so loudly, I could barely hear my own voice. “My God, you killed Father.”
Her cheeks turned bright pink with her fury. “He was a horrible man, and you know it! All the beatings