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His mother stared at him with somewhat horrified eyes. Duly chastised, she lapsed into thoughtful silence.
‘Do you see, mother?’ Morgan hissed. ‘It is exactly that same scornful attitude that sickens me. You sit here with all of the wealth and luxury anybody could ever be graced with and what do you do with it? You stare at Sissy like she is wanting. You criticise her and look down at her as if she is lacking in some way. Well, do you know what? She has better manners than a dozen of those arrogant and very spiteful young women on my doorstep. Sissy would never scorn people just because they don’t wear the height of fashion or move about in fashionable circles. She wouldn’t be that crass and shallow.’
His mother looked incensed. ‘Are you calling me shallow?’
‘You are dressed from head to foot in the finest fashion money can buy. You are sitting in my huge mansion, ready to go back to your equally huge house none of which you have to pay for. The guests on the doorstep are the last of a guest list of a ball which has matched anything Royalty could host. If that isn’t enough for you, you have nothing to do with your day than take tea and order servants about. I doubt you have ever been stressed in your life. I doubt you have ever had to wonder where the next meal is coming from, or whether you are able to darn the hole in your favourite dress, which has already been repaired dozens of times. Your life of entitlement has made you selfish and scornful of others who aren’t so well blessed, but why? Why should you feel superior? Why should you feel more worthy? Do you know something, mother? I cannot think of anything worse than being saddled to any of those young women you encouraged into my house last night. I would rather die a slow death in Hell than allow myself to spend the rest of my life encumbered with such callow, spiteful, laziness. I would rather spend my days alone than have to house any of the calculating, greedy, avaricious women you think are eligible to be my wife. I will choose who I wish to marry, not you. I will choose when I wish to marry, not you. And I shall choose where I wish to live, not you. What I will say to you is that if you ever attempt to interfere in my marriage, my courtship of any woman I choose, or criticise anything about the woman I want to take to wife, I shall have you out of the Dowager House faster than you can blink. Moreover, if you and your cohorts, sorry friends, consider yourselves high enough to criticise my future bride in any way, I shall have no hesitation in selling this estate and everything in it and finding a life for myself elsewhere. I shall, of course, find a nice, modest house for you to live in, with Mariette of course – until she marries at least.’
‘You wouldn’t,’ Alicia hissed. ‘How dare you say this to me?’
‘Oh, I dare, mother. Because I have just about had enough of you and Mariette trying to rule my life. You have your house on the other side of the estate but that isn’t enough for you. You must come here and take over mine. Even that isn’t enough for you. You then have the audacity to invite half the bloody country to my property and promptly tell everyone that I am looking for a wife!’
‘Morgan, you are shouting.’ Alicia slid a worried look at the door.
‘It’s my house! I can do what I damned well like in it,’ Morgan bellowed. ‘I don’t give a damn what anybody thinks. If they are offended, they can go home. Moreover, mother, you can take them to your house to stay with you. That’s fair seeing as you invited them here in the first place.’
‘But I thought you agreed that we could have the ball here. You know the Dowager House doesn’t have a ballroom.’
‘Well don’t have a ball then. What is the point of inviting people to a ball if you don’t have a ballroom?’ Morgan hissed.
‘You could have simply said you wouldn’t host a ball before we sent out the invitations if you weren’t happy.’
‘I did, but Mariette, and you, ignored me. You merely brazenly went ahead with your plans, despite my protestations, because you had already assumed that I would agree and sent the invitations out. Knowing then that I was well and truly stuck playing host, you proceeded to take complete control of my home and turn it into a matchmaking event from Hell. Strangely, neither of you even bothered to ask me if I wanted a bride before you told half the sodding country that I am looking to marry.’
Alicia stared at him. ‘Don’t swear.’
‘This is my house,’ Morgan growled, shoving a warning finger under her nose. ‘This is my house. This is my life, mother. Don’t you dare tell me what to do in it.’
Alicia gulped and tried to stand up but was too shaken to. ‘Well, seeing as you are clearly not in any fit state of mind to have a normal conversation, I shall leave you to nurse your temper in peace. We were supposed to have a dinner here next Thursday because your dining table is much bigger than the one at the Dowager House. I suppose I am going to have to change the venue.’
Alicia began to dab at her eyes, but Morgan knew that if he cared to look there would be no tears. His mother was a class manipulator but had tried it far too often on Morgan. He wasn’t prepared to be taken in by her theatrics this time, mostly because he could feel the misery of a barren life looming in front of him because the people in his life were blocking him from being with the only woman he wanted.
The only woman I can ever love.
‘Why did you invite more people than you can fit comfortably around your dining table? Oh, I know, because you think you can bring your guests here and make use of my home, don’t you?’ Morgan snarled. ‘Well, no, you can’t. In future, if you wish to invite people to dine with you only invite people you can sit at your table. If you wish to have a ball, clear out the garden room in the Dowager House and yo
u have the upheaval. Moreover, if you wish to have a wedding in the family, make it clear to everyone in society that Mariette is looking for a husband, or yourself. That should give you plenty to do.’
Morgan slammed his goblet onto a side table and stomped toward his desk. Dropping into it he slammed a ledger before him and flipped open the pages. He didn’t bother to look at his mother who silently glided toward the door. Before she opened it, though, she turned to face him.
‘You said just now that you are in love with her,’ she murmured quietly as she stared blankly at the door. ‘Just remember that while I would not have any objection to her being a part of the family if she made you happy, not everyone is going to be of the same opinion. She is always going to be considered unworthy because she doesn’t have wealth or a title, or very good connections apart from us. People will scorn her, turn their backs on her and gossip. She will find life very uncomfortable. If you do wish to have her a part of your life you have to consider how much you are going to have to sacrifice. You are going to have to turn your back on everything you have grown up to expect in life. You are going to have to lose friends and acquaintances and yes, even business contacts.’
‘She doesn’t want me,’ Morgan growled. ‘She knows all of this, mother. You and your kind have taken great strides in making her feel unworthy. Congratulate everyone, won’t you, for a job well done.’
‘Morgan.’
Morgan threw her a dismissive look and said coldly: ‘I have work to do.’
Alicia sighed heavily. She knew from the closed look on her son’s face that he wasn’t going to discuss it with her anymore. Slowly, reluctantly, she let herself out of the room but knew that when she closed the door behind her she was closing the door to something more than her son’s study. Alicia suspected she was closing the door to the life she had become used to from the day she had married her husband.
‘Is everything all right, mother?’ Mariette asked worriedly from directly outside the door.
Alicia knew from the look on Mariette’s face that her daughter had just heard every word.
‘Has everyone left now?’ Alicia asked as she hurried past her. She pasted a bright smile on her face as she stepped through the front door and waved the last of the carriages down the driveway. When they turned out onto the road, she turned to face her daughter and said quietly: ‘We have problems.’
‘I heard him shouting,’ Mariette admitted warily.
‘How long have you known?’
