Leslie LaFoy Read Online Free

countered.
    Wyndom shook his head. “Dev, you can't do this. The debt's mine. Let me marry her. It's only right.”
    “Seaton-Smythe set the conditions and—”
    “But everyone would expect me to do something so impulsive and ill-considered. It's my nature.” Wyndom laid a pale, slender hand on his brother's forearm. His whisper held a note of panic. “If you marry her under such hasty circumstances, everyone will think our finances are desperate.”
    Devon stepped away, drawing his arm from his brother's grasp. Raw anger surged through his veins andinto his words. “They
are
desperate, Wyndom. How many times must I explain that to you? Should Seaton-Smythe choose to do so, he can bring us to absolute ruin. He made the offer to me. What if you were to be substituted as the groom and he were dissatisfied?”
    “Why would he object?” Wyndom countered, drawing himself up to his full height. Still, he had to tilt his head back to meet his brother's gaze as he added, “I'm a man of property.”
    “You're also a man completely without a sense of responsibility or accountability. What property you hold is at my bequest,” Devon retorted. “And it's mortgaged to the hilt.”
    Wyndom continued, undaunted, “I've my own fields and within a few short years I'll be quite able—”
    “I won't stand here and repeat an argument we've already pursued to exhaustion,” Devon replied with bare civility. “I have neither the time nor the temperament to deal with your grand illusions today. Now, if you want to preserve your fragile facade of public dignity, you'll get to the livery and fetch a carriage.”
    “And what are you going to do?”
    “I'll do what I must to salvage what I can.”
    “What am I to tell Mother in the note? And Aunt Elsbeth?”
    Devon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I'd suggest the truth, Wyndom. And try to avoid your usual embellishments. The situation will be difficult enough without having to untie the knots of your convoluted stories.”
    Wyndom sighed and brushed imaginary lint from the sleeve of his coat. “Mother won't be pleased when she hears the news.”
    “And five minutes later, Mother won't be able to recall a single word of the missive.”
    “Aunt Elsbeth won't be pleased either.”
    “Elsbeth,” Devon countered, “is our mother's sisterand companion. If she wishes to continue to live at Rosewind, she'll have to be accommodating.”
    Tugging at the linen lace that extended just beyond the cuff of his coat, Wyndom sighed. “I suppose that they'll be placated by the thought of planning a wedding. Women do seem to enjoy that sort of thing.”
    “The vows are to be exchanged at MacDowell's house at three today.”
    Wyndom's fingers froze at their task. A full second passed before his head snapped up and his gaze locked with his brother's. “Have you lost your mind?” he demanded in a hoarse whisper. “What about publishing the banns? This is scandalous! People will talk! Don't you remember what Father always said? Our reputation is our most valuable possession.' ”
    The frayed cord of Devon's patience broke. “I'm sick of living in the shackles of public appearance. Damn them all to hell and back.”
    “You
have
taken leave of your senses, Dev. And I won't be a party to this nonsense.”
    Devon narrowed his eyes and fixed Wyndom with a piercing look. “Have the carriage at MacDowell's by three or suffer the consequences.” Without another word he brushed past his brother and strode out.
    The heavy wooden door shook from the force of his exit. He paused on the wooden walk just long enough to settle the hat on his head and to take a deep breath of the cold, damp air. As a frosty cloud rose and wreathed his head, his anger cooled and his thinking cleared.
    Wyndom was right, but only to a limited degree. The world of the Virginia upper class did indeed rest on the careful maintenance of public appearances. To a man, they were indebted beyond sanity, beyond any reasonable