Page 73 of His Improper Lady

Desiree gaped at her, so astonished she hardly felt the sting in her cheek.

“You will get nothing from us. I will not let you stain my husband’s name. You will not hurt my son!”

“I am not trying to hurt your son,” Desiree shot back. “And you have no right to come here and insult my mother. To insult me. I’ll—”

“Mother!” A man rushed into the room, followed by a protesting Templeton.

Desiree turned to the new arrival. He was tall, slender and dark, and although he did not resemble Tabitha, his stiff posture and cold expression were enough to tell Desiree that he was Tabitha’s son. Gregory Moreland. Her half brother. Desiree felt not the slightest connection to him.

His gaze went from his mother to Desiree, and his eyes widened as he saw the red mark his mother’s slap had left on Desiree’s cheek. “I beg your pardon,” he said in a tone that belied his words. “It’s rude for me to barge in like this.”

“Gregory!” Tabitha turned to him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came looking for you. You shouldn’t be here, Mother. It will only upset you.”

“This girl has been most impertinent.” Tabitha waved her hand in Desiree’s general direction. “She must apologize to me.”

“What? I should apologize? You’re the one who slapped me.”

“I’m sure that’s not necessary, Mother.” Gregory sent Desiree a look of apology and embarrassment, mingled with dislike. “We should leave now.”

“What is all this racket?” Wells stood in the doorway, frowning, his arms crossed.

There was a long moment of silence as Wells and Gregory stared at each other.

“I beg your pardon for disturbing you,” Gregory told him coolly. “We are just about to leave.”

Gregory wrapped a firm hand around his mother’s arm and steered her out of the room. Wells watched them coolly as they passed him, then turned a questioning gaze on Desiree. She ignored him and followed the Morelands to the front door. Looking out through the sidelight at the front door, she watched Gregory hand his mother up into the coach. It was a shiny, elegant black town carriage that perfectly suited the man. Not an odd American-made coach.

Wells turned back to Desiree. “What, may I ask, was that?”

“That was our father’s wife...and your half brother.”

Wells cocked an eyebrow. “What delightful relatives.”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?” Tom asked when Desiree told him that evening about her visit from Alistair’s wife. “She slapped you?” Tom’s eyes went to Desiree’s cheek, fury rising in him.

“Yes, but she doesn’t deliver much of a punch.” Desiree shrugged. “I believe she’d been drinking.”

“What did she say? Why did she come? Just to slap you?”

“No. She did that when I said an unkind thing to her, which I shouldn’t have. I was just so angry because she’d insulted my mother. She told me a number of things, primarily that she was not going to let me cause a scandal or get money. That she wouldn’t allow me to hurt her son. But she didn’t offer any explanation of how she intended to stop me. It was more along the lines of an aristocratic command, as if I would do what she said simply because of who she was. You know, that sort of air.”

“Yes, I know.” Tom had been on the receiving end of such remarks more than a few times himself. “She said she ‘wouldn’t let you’ get money, not that she wouldn’t pay you?”

Desiree nodded. “Yes. I noticed that, too. It didn’t seem that she was worried about me blackmailing her. She seemed more afraid that I would bleed her son. She was very protective of him.”

“Or she’s worried about what’s in that will. There’s a reason someone is after it, and with wills, that reason is usually money.”

“His son is surely his heir,” Desiree said. “I can’t imagine why anyone would think Alistair left his money to his illegitimate children.”

“He wouldn’t have to have left all of it. A small bequest or even a mention of you would be enough to create scandal,” Tom pointed out.

“If the lawyer sent the will to Con, it’s possible Gregory doesn’t even know what’s in it,” Desiree mused. “He may just fear what it might contain.”

“Sending his mother to harangue you substantiates the idea that Gregory is the most likely suspect for that attack on you.”

“I don’t think he sent her. I think it was more that he came running in to take her home and keep her from embarrassing herself. And him.” She paused. “It was odd seeing him and Wells together. Their coloring is different, but there was a recognizable resemblance. Their build, the structure of their faces.”