Verity gasped, unable to believe what she was hearing. ‘That’s an excuse and quite ridiculous, Alex, and you know it. The only disruptions Angelina has caused are inside you. Angelina is a nuisance only in upsetting the precarious balance of your temper.’ Alex threw her a withering look, but she was not deterred. ‘Goodness. You can’t send her away. She’s just beginning to settle down. Have you any idea how much Arlington has come to mean to her?’
‘She can visit. She’ll settle down just as well in London. I don’t want her here,’ Alex said with icy finality.
Wearily Patience sighed, determined to fight for Angelina. ‘Please don’t do this to her. Do not forget so soon that when Henry brought her to England she had lost everything. You are familiar with death and the loss of a parent, Alex—or have you forgotten that?’ Patience reminded him.
Her words hit their target with such force Alex tensed, his jaw tightened and his hands clenched. Patience pressed her advantage, but she knew as she spoke that Alex’s mind was made up and nothing would change it. ‘Angelina is still very young, Alex, and she has come to love and trust us, to see us as her family. Try to remember how it was for you when you found yourself alone. You were in the same situation as Angelina. Please do not make her feel unwanted by sending her away.’
Alex could not be swayed. ‘My mind is made up. She goes to London.’ His gaze slid to his cousin, sitting ramrod straight beside her mother. Verity was incensed and he knew it. ‘What’s on your mind, Verity?’ he demanded. ‘I can see you’re in high dudgeon about this.’
Verity’s eyes snapped to his. ‘Yes, I am.’
‘I know.’ His eyes appealed to Nathan, who had moved away to take a natural stance by the window. ‘Nathan, can you not exert your husbandly influence and persuade your wife to guard her tongue?’
Nathan smiled wryly. ‘I’m afraid not, Alex. She’s too much like you in that,’ he reminded him.
‘Not entirely,’ Verity objected, shooting her husband a look of annoyance.
‘Well, perhaps not quite,’ Nathan conceded.
Verity rose to face Alex, and they stood in the centre of the room, their gazes clashing—cousins, with the same unyielding Montgomery blood in their veins. ‘I always thought you took your responsibilities seriously.’
‘I do.’
‘No, you don’t,’ she contradicted angrily, as she prepared to do battle on Angelina’s behalf with the hardened cynic. ‘Uncle Henry placed Angelina in your care, and after just three weeks you’ve had enough and have decided to pack her off back to London. You’re heartless, Alex. Do you know that?’
He grimaced. ‘I have been accused of being so on occasion.’
‘And unjust.’
Glaring down at her from his superior height, Alex’s eyes turned to shards of ice. ‘You go too far, Verity.’
‘It’s about time someone did. I am extremely tired of watching everyone pussyfoot around you in fear of offending or annoying you. It’s little enough to ask you to let Angelina stay at Arlington until Uncle Henry returns from Cornwall.’
Alex was quickly beginning to lose his temper. ‘No. Angelina goes to London,’ he said flatly. ‘Verity, whatever you may think of me, I am no fool—and I know Uncle Henry better than he thinks. However, I never thought I would see the day when he would play Cupid. Do you think I don’t know why he went to Cornwall, leaving Angelina in my care—that I cannot see what you are all trying to do that you have some idiotic romantic notion of bringing us together? Can you deny it?’
Confronted with the truth, with guilt written all over her face, Verity didn’t reply, but she had the grace to look contrite and some of the anger drained from her face
‘It won’t work, Verity. Forget it. You too, Aunt Patience,’ Alex said on a gentler note when he addressed his aunt. ‘I know you are capable of setting a town alight when you put your heads together—and Uncle Henry is an interfering old rogue. He has played an important role in my life, and the gratitude and love I feel for him is immeasurable. But I will not marry Angelina out of mere sentimentality. I know both you and my uncle mean well, Aunt. But you don’t always know what’s best for me. I will not be influenced or manipulated by anyone over this.’
In a desperate attempt to soothe the situation before it erupted into open warfare, Patience stepped in. ‘You are right. Henry is an old rogue, but his interference—if that is what it is—is kindly meant. He is of the opinion that the best way of restoring your zest for life is to revive your appetite for love.’
‘Good God, Aunt Patience!’ Alex expostulated, astounded to hear his aunt utter such drivel. ‘To hear such talk from you I can only assume there must be a decline in your reading standards. I have repeatedly condemned such trivial and uninstructive reading flooding the market and always thought you above such rubbish. Contrary to what my uncle thinks there is nothing wrong with my “zest for life”. And as for reviving my “appetite for love”—how can something be revived that was never there in the first place?’
Patience refused to let go of the argument. ‘But Angelina is a rare treasure, Alex. Any man would be proud to have her as his wife.’
‘I agree. But not me. You seem to have forgotten that I am on the brink of offering for Lavinia Howard.’
‘You are?’
‘I am considering it. But whatever I decide, I am not marrying Angelina and that is final.’
After pinning all their hopes on a union between them, Alex’s harsh words doused all Patience’s and Verity’s expectations. Alex ignored their despondency, knowing he’d dashed their scheme, but it had needed saying.
‘Take Angelina to London,’ he went on. ‘Give her a Season and find her a husband—which shouldn’t be difficult, given the fact that every male I invited to Arlington this weekend went away singing her praises and all more than halfway to being in love with her.’
‘Have you forgotten that Angelina has stressed time and again that she has no intention of marrying?’ Patience reminded him.
‘No. But I recall her saying that she did not want a Season, either—and she changed her mind pretty quickly about that. She’ll change her mind about marriage soon enough when she gets to London and has every rake in town sniffing after her. Uncle Henry won’t have long to wait before he has her off her hands,’ he said unkindly.
‘Alex! Do not speak like that. Why are you deliberately trying to be cruel?’ Patience reproached harshly. ‘I know you aren’t as unfeeling as you sound. And who’s going to tell her?’
‘I’ll save you all the trouble,’ came a quiet voice from the doorway.
Every eye turned towards the door to see Angelina standing there, unable to believe what she had heard—Alex was sending her away.
Her world tilted crazily. There was no room in her sights for anyone except Alex. She beheld the faint widening of his eyes as they turned on her, but his expression was as inscrutable as a marble mask. She found it difficult to endure his gaze, but she did, his words sounding inside her head like a death knell.
Displaying a calm she did not feel, as she crossed the room she managed with a painful effort to dominate her disappointment and accept the slap fate had dealt her. She must blot from her mind the events of last night, the exquisite sweetness of Alex’s kiss. Jerking her mind from such weakening thoughts her eyes encompassed the other three, having decided not to make an uncomfortable scene.
‘Would you mind if I spoke to Alex alone?’
With a pained expression Patience moved to her side and gently squeezed her hand. ‘Of course not, my dear. I think it’s as well that you do,’ she said,