table between us, splashing the liquid on the tabletop. “I’m so sorry,” she muttered. “Clumsy of me.”
“You stupid, incompetent girl.” Mother waved her hand through the air. “Leave us.”
With a curtsey, she turned to flee. The mask I wore was ever controlled. I’d learned early on in life not to show emotion. Emotion equaled weakness, or so my parents had claimed. This maid wasn’t so experienced. Gads, were those tears on her lashes?
“You there,” my mother called out.
The maid paused, and glanced back with a gaze full of terror. “Yes, my lady?”
“You reek of my son Christopher.”
Her eyes went so wide she looked like a frog about to croak. I had to stifle my laugh. Mother had no such keen sense of smell. What she had was a keen sense of knowledge. She knew her sons well. Like a general studying strategic warfare, she kept her notes. It was either a lucky guess, or my mother had planted spies in my house. The maid had given herself away by her reaction.
“Collect your things. You’re dismissed.”
“But, my lady, I’ll freeze on the streets! It’s winter!”
“You knew the rules when you were hired. Everyone knows the rules.” She sipped her tea. “Alfred!”
The butler appeared in the doorway. “Yes, my lady?”
“See this woman escorted from the house immediately.”
He bowed. “Yes, my lady.”
My servants might be quick to obey my mother, but I wasn’t so easily led astray. I flicked a dispassionate glance toward the woman who had birthed me. Never once had she hugged, kissed, or soothed. As a child I’d rarely seen her. I felt nothing but occasional annoyance for the woman.
I picked up my cup. “I would appreciate if you would refrain from punishing my staff.”
She sniffed and surveyed me with cold, green eyes that no doubt mirrored my own. My coloring I got from her. My height and strength from my father. “Why? Do you also sleep with the staff?”
“Of course not. Do you honestly believe I would lower myself to the servants when I can have any lady I want?”
“Any lady as a mistress.” Her lips grew pinched and tight. “Your father would not be pleased.”
And there it was…the inevitable mention of my sire. Mother, at least, had mostly ignored us. If only Father had been so kind. I stood and moved to the sideboard, needing something stronger than tea. “That we can both agree upon. Nothing pleased father.”
“Your father did what he had to do in order to ensure the line continued. At times…”
She paused, her perfectly plucked brows drawing together. Hell, was that an actual sign of emotion? She reached down and brushed a piece of lint from her skirts, then rightened, her brows smoothed back into place. Ah. No. She was merely displeased that a bit of dust had dared touch her royal blue skirts.
“At times I think he’s holding on merely to see you settled and married.”
I rolled my eyes as I poured some gin. He was holding on because he was a conniving, controlling monster of a man and even the devil wouldn’t take him. I flicked aside the curtains and gazed out upon the streets. Carriages rumbled by, society out to socialize. Snow was in the air, visible under the glow of the street lamps. A rather nice evening for cards, yet I was stuck here playing mind games with my mother. “Amazing how much you care about Father…now that he is comatose.”
She sipped her tea. “Your father is precisely why I’m here. You will marry, Gabriel, and the announcement will be made in the papers.”
Amused, I turned to face her. “Despite what you believe, you can’t force me to marry, Mother. Besides, if you haven’t noticed, I have a bit of a reputation.”
She lifted her spoon and slowly stirred her tea. “Can’t I make you? Besides, status can help people forget even the vilest of reputations.”
“And do you have someone in mind for marriage?”
“I’ve left a list with Alfred; however, your father and I greatly favor Miranda Styles.”
Of course they did. Her father was rich as God. “I’m rather sure she was fucking Christopher before he left for France, Mother.”
She frowned. “Do not use that vulgar word around me.”
I studied her with thinly veiled interest as I sipped my drink. She wouldn’t relent. She’d be a thorn in my side from now until eternity. No doubt she’d live a long and healthy life merely to torment me, then chase me into the afterlife.