She straightened in her seat. “First I need to know if you plan to remove us from the house now that you’ve returned.”
Remove her from the house? He wasn’t the most caring man. In fact, he kept a great deal of distance between himself and…well…everyone but still. “What kind of selfish bastard do you think I am?”
She cocked her chin to the side as she assessed him. “I have no idea what kind of selfish bastard you are. Nor do I know what sort of selfish bastards your other brothers are. They’ve never graced me with their company and neither have you.”
“You’re a great deal saltier than I expected,” he said, finally taking a swallow of his whisky. Because the conversation required fortification.
“What did living with your father do to you?” she asked, one eyebrow quirking.
He sat back in his chair because the woman had a point. One he respected a great deal. “I’ve no intention of sending you away.”
Her shoulders slumped, relief clear in every line of her face. “Thank you.”
He was tempted to ask why she might think that. But why wouldn’t she? His father was as ruthless as he was pious. Of course, she’d expect the same from his eldest son.
His hand flexed around his drink. “I must confess. I don’t know your name.”
Her lips pressed together, a small sign of disapproval, before she answered. “Esme.”
“Benedict,” he returned.
“I know,” she said, sinking back in her chair. “Everyone knows the name of the heir to a dukedom, Your Grace. Just like I know most of the family calls you Ben.”
Called. They had called him Ben in his youth. He hadn’t seen a single one of his siblings in years. A niggle of regret worked its way into his stomach. Mayhap that was the whisky. But he wondered where his three brothers were now. What they’d done with themselves.
His sister…he knew she was tucked away at some finishing school. More the better for her.
The problem was that he now had two women under his protection. And Ben was a man who preferred to be lone wolf. He looked at Esme. She was young, attractive. She’d remarry easily enough. “Esme.”
She gave him a wary side glance. “Yes?”
“I am going to need your help.”
“How so?”
He fingered the glass. Subtly was not his strength, but he gave it his best attempt. “As soon as it’s proper, I’d like you to take Millicent to London. My sister should wed, posthaste.”
Esme gave a tentative nod. “Of course.”
“And if you should meet an engaging lord while you’re there…”
Her breath hissed. “You’d also like me to remarry as soon as possible.”
He was spared answering, when a knock sounded on the open door. Finally. A person who actually knocked. But as his eyes rose, he grimaced again.
Because standing in the doorway was his childhood friend, the Honorable Jacob Veritas. Being the third son of an earl, he’d entered the legal profession, becoming a barrister. Ben’s father’s barrister, to be precise.
“Your Grace,” Jacob gave a short bow. “May I come in?”
He’d been expecting Jacob. There were legal matters to be put right. Though much of his father’s estate was entailed, some money, land, and assets were not. Ben suspected his father’s dealings with the church had actually proven profitable.
His father had sunk deeper into his religious beliefs as he’d gotten older, not that they softened him in any way. In fact, they’d made him harder, more rigid. He’d lecture endlessly on sin. And the boys had gotten the stick often in the name of making them more pious. This entire house, Whitehaven, had been built with gothic revival architecture, in his father’s zeal for traditional religious beliefs.
Ben hated the house, and he had no intention of residing here. The only property he’d ever loved was the small estate, Cliffside, in Dover, where he’d travelled with his mother as a child. It was the only place he ever remembered being happy.
But since that house was not part of the entail, having come to his father as part of his mother’s dowry, he had no idea who would inherit the home. “Please, Mr. Veritas, join us. I am assuming you are familiar with the dowager duchess?”
Jacob gave a quick nod. “I am. And I’m glad you’re both here.”
His stomach dropped again, but he dismissed the feeling this time. Of course the barrister would have business with his father’s wife. “It’s good to see you,” he grunted in some acknowledgment of their past friendship. A friendship that had ended when Ben had decided relationships only made him weaker.
“And you as well. I’m sorry for the circumstances.” Jacob said, his tone professionally detached despite the situation and their past.
Now that Ben thought on it, it was damned odd that his former friend had been in his father’s employ. Jacob had seen his father’s tyranny firsthand on more than one occasion. “Let’s have this business done, shall we?”
Jacob took a seat, clearing his throat. “I’m afraid done isn’t really an option.”
What in the bloody hell did that mean? Ben grabbed his glass from the desk and took another long swallow. His head pounded from the lack of sleep and his nerves were frayed at the edges. “Explain.”
Jacob cleared his throat. “Your father left specific instructions on when and how his final will and testament would be shared.”
Ben scrubbed his face. “My father is dead. I’m the duke now and—”
Jacob held up his hand. “You could be king, it wouldn’t change the fact that legally I am bound to deliver his last wishes as he saw fit.”
Ben grunted. He’d always liked Jacob’s strength of character. Right now, of course, it was a bloody pain in the ass.
Esme cleared her throat. “And my dowry?”
Jacob winced. It was subtle but unmistakable and Ben sat a bit straighter. “You’re not aware of the details?”
“I’m afraid not,” Esme folded her hands in her lap.
Jacob scrubbed his face of emotion but not before Ben caught a muscle ticking in man’s jaw. “Your father retained much of it.”
Esme was silent for several moments, looking down at her hands before she lifted her head. “And my husband. Did he add to what he received?”
Jacob gave a small shake to his head.
Ben let out a growl deep in his throat. Had he been mourning his father? This was exactly the reminder he’d needed that while his father preached about how they should uphold moral standards, the man himself had been a selfish bastard. How was Esme supposed to remarry without any funds? “And did my father leave anything for the boy?”
“Caleb,” Esme said with a nod, her eyes filled with pain. “Your brother’s name is Caleb, Your Grace.”
A different regret lanced through him. Another little boy had been subject to his father and Ben hadn’t done a thing. He’d known about it, was man enough to fight it, but he’d stayed away, left Esme and Caleb to face his father on their own.
He shook his head. He didn’t need these feelings. He was a man who stayed apart.
“He did leave instructions for the boy,” Jacob added, shifting in his seat. “And there is an inheritance for each of you, but your father was clear: the details will only be read when all seven of you are assembled together.”
“All seven of us?” Ben rumbled, standing from his chair, his stance wide and his face surely showing his displeasure.
“That’s correct.” Jacob didn’t budge, didn’t show even a modicum of fear as Ben stood over him. No wonder his father had hired him. He had fortitude even against the White fits of temper. “You and Lady Whitehaven, who are obviously already here. Your brothers Lord White, Lord Destrian, and Lord Sayden. And of course, your sister, Lady Millicent, along with Lord Caleb.”
“Impossible,” he ground out through clenched teeth. “We’ve not been all together in more than a decade.”
Jacob shrugged. “The instructions are clear. In addition, your father told me to te
ll you that you should find the motivation to see the family gathered together as he had gifted something to you that was very near and dear to your heart.”
Cliffside. How had the man known it’s what he wished for more than anything? He dropped his fist onto the surface of the desk, a loud thump filling the room. The old man was controlling, manipulating even from the grave. Ben could only imagine that some moral lesson was also wrapped up in this peculiar meeting. Some value he wanted his children to learn. And while that sounded like good parenting, his father’s lessons always had a cruel twist. “I don’t have the first clue where my brothers are. They could be anywhere in the world.”
Esme cleared her throat. “I don’t have any idea where Lord Sayden or Lord Justice have taken themselves t,o but Lord White, when not on his ship, resides near where your sister attends school.”
Destrian lived near Millicent? Why did that information make him feel both better and worse? He was glad to know his brother had been watching out for her all these years, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been neglectful on that front too. “So, I can collect them both in one trip?”
“That’s right,” Esme nodded.
He let out a long breath. “And which village would that be?”
Esme blinked several times. “You don’t know?”
His mouth thinned again. Did the woman not understand that she now lived by his pleasure? “I don’t need a dose of guilt with my information.”
She gave him a hard stare. “Westcliff. It’s a village near Dover.”
Ben’s eyes widened in surprise. He could just send for them, of course. They’d most likely come. Then again, perhaps they wouldn’t. They hadn’t attended the funeral and Destrian was a man whose will matched Ben’s. If he didn’t wish to come…
Ben’s mouth pressed into a taut line. He understood Dez’s position. In his brother’s place, he wouldn’t answer the summons either. Ben would have to go to them. Truth be told, leaving this house would do him some good. The walls of the massive estate were somehow closing in on him. And he could visit Cliffside, see the place that reminded him of the best parts of himself.
“Mr. Veritas, do you have any ideas where my other two brothers might be?”
“No, Your Grace, but I have taken the liberty of finding two detectives with excellent reputations. I can employ their services if you would like.”
He gave a stiff nod. “See it done.”
Then he sat back at the desk and grabbed a quill, beginning a letter to Dez. He’d write another to Millicent.
It looked as though the White family was due for a reunion.
* * *
Want to read more of the first in this new series, the Dark Duke’s Legacy? Order copy of Her Wicked White today!
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About the Author
Tammy Andresen lives with her husband and three children just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up on the Seacoast of Maine, where she spent countless days dreaming up stories in blueberry fields and among the scrub pines that line the coast. Her mother loved to spin a yarn and Tammy filled many hours listening to her mother retell the classics. It was inevitable that at the age of eighteen, she headed off to Simmons College, where she studied English literature and education. She never left Massachusetts but some of her heart still resides in Maine and her family visits often.
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Find out more about Tammy:
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Other Titles by Tammy
Romancing the Rake
When only an Indecent Duke Will Do
How to Catch an Elusive Earl
Where to Woo a Bawdy Baron
When a Marauding Marquess is Best
What a Vulgar Viscount Needs
Who Wants a Brawling Baron
When to Dare a Dishonorable Duke
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Lords of Scandal
Duke of Daring
Marquess of Malice
Earl of Exile
Viscount of Vice
Baron of Bad
Earl of Sin
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The Wicked Wallflowers
Earl of Dryden
Too Wicked to Woo
Too Wicked to Wed
Too Wicked to Want
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How to Reform a Rake
Don’t Tell a Duke You Love Him
Meddle in a Marquess’s Affairs
Never Trust an Errant Earl
Never Kiss an Earl at Midnight
Make a Viscount Beg
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Wicked Lords of London
Earl of Sussex
My Duke’s Seduction
My Duke’s Deception
My Earl’s Entrapment
My Duke’s Desire
My Wicked Earl
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Brethren of Stone
The Duke’s Scottish Lass
Scottish Devil
Wicked Laird
Kilted Sin
Rogue Scot
The Fate of a Highland Rake
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A Laird to Love
Christmastide with my Captain
My Enemy, My Earl
Heart of a Highlander
A Scot’s Surrender
A Laird’s Seduction
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Taming the Duke’s Heart
Taming a Duke’s Reckless Heart
Taming a Duke’s Wild Rose
Taming a Laird’s Wild Lady
Taming a Rake into a Lord
Taming a Savage Gentleman
Taming a Rogue Earl
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Fairfield Fairy Tales
Stealing a Lady’s Heart
Hunting for a Lady’s Heart
Entrapping a Lord’s Love: Coming in February of 2018
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American Historical Romance
Lily in Bloom
Midnight Magic
The Golden Rules of Love
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Boxsets!!
Taming the Duke’s Heart Books 1-3
American Brides
A Laird to Love
Wicked Lords of London
Earl of Infamy Page 11
