Lord of Scandal by Nicola Cornick

Author:Nicola Cornick
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2007-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

An inefficient chaperone is a great drawback to a young lady.

—Mrs. Eliza Squire, Good Conduct for Ladies

SIR ALFRED FENTON WAS ASLEEP in his armchair, the London Chronicle sliding farther from his lap with each rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. He had dined at his club that night with Algernon Withers, who had been anxious to acquaint him with the latest faults he had to find with Catherine’s behavior. These were legion, and Withers’s complaints had been sufficient to put Sir Alfred in a black mood; so bad, in fact, that he was glad to see the back of the man when Withers finally took himself off for some low gambling den or other.

He knew that he should never have got in so deep with Withers. When it had all begun he had thought that he needed someone with the brand of ruthlessness Withers possessed. Too late he had realized that the man was not only ruthless but undisciplined, too. He never knew when to stop. And in his arrogance he would bring them all down.

Already matters had spiraled far, far out of Sir Alfred’s control. He had only wanted someone to help him break the trust fund, a fellow signatory to help him deceive Sir James Mather. Sir Alfred had been running short of money and Catherine’s fortune was like a prize that glittered just out of his reach. Catherine’s grandfather, that old rogue McNaish, had arranged it so. McNaish’s only weakness had been his love of his family—his daughter, Violet, Sir Alfred’s first wife, and his granddaughter, Catherine, whom he had adored. He had tied up his fortune so that Catherine should inherit and Sir Alfred would have nothing but the interest on the principal. Sir Alfred knew McNaish had done it on purpose. It was almost like a taunt.

At first Sir Alfred had not cared. His own business interests had prospered and he did not need his daughter’s money. But gradually a series of reversals had reduced his wealth until he could no longer maintain the style to which he had become accustomed.

It had been easy to persuade Mather to take Withers on as the third trustee when McNaish had died. Sir Alfred had vouched for Withers, and Mather had been an honorable man who had not suspected dishonor in others. The deed had been done, the papers signed, and Withers and Sir Alfred had been fleecing the fund ever since. But then Withers had turned to funding criminal excess, gangs of body snatchers who worked the graveyards of London. It had sickened Sir Alfred to hear of it, but Withers had just laughed and said there was money in old bones. And then Mather had discovered the fraud of the trust and had had to be silenced….

Sir Alfred twitched and groaned as his sleep was riven with images of greed and violence. The paper fell from his lap to crumple on the floor.

Sir Alfred’s dream quieted and now he was imagining the haven of the house in Chelsea where his mistress waited patiently for his visits.

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