The Wyndham Legacy by Catherine Coulter Page A

trusteeship with me to oversee all the entailed Wyndham holdings. The incoming principle from all the Wyndham holdings is excellent and continues to grow each year. There are properties in Devon, Sussex, and Oxfordshire. However, my lord, the monies are not within your discretion.”
    Marcus said nothing. Indeed, he looked rather bored, dismissing both them and the killing blow struck him by his uncle, long-dead, no longer here to gain his vengeance.
    He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned a negligent shoulder against the mantel. He laughed then, a very soft, bitter laugh. “You were wrong, Duchess. Will you now admit that he hated me? Will you admit that this is no simple nose-rubbing? The bastard—no insult intended to you, Duchess—the bloody damned bastard hated so much that I would succeed him that he has turned me into a poor relation, dependent on Mr. Wicks here for the very bread I eat, for any repairs I deem necessary to make, for the payment of all our servants. And doubtless dependent on you, his bastard, for any crumbs you would wish to throw my way, all this because of his hatred for me. He has crushed the hopes of his own progeny and future Wyndham generations.”
    Mr. Wicks looked unutterably depressed. “Let me say, my lord, that I argued vigorously with your uncle, but he wouldn’t be swayed. He did hold you in remarkable dislike,I will admit that. However, he did agree to leave you a, er, quarterly allowance.”
    Marcus looked primed for violence. “No wonder you all but laughed at me last night, Duchess, with me going on and on about becoming your guardian, providing you a dowry, protecting you as I now must protect my family. Now you have everything. Now you no longer need a man to see to your needs. Yes, you must have found all my prosings quite entertaining.”
    â€œNo, I did not. You must allow me to explain, Marcus.”
    To her surprise, he managed to say with the utmost calm, “I don’t think so, Duchess. Well, I believe that I will consider this. Good day to you, Mr. Wicks.”
    â€œBut, my lord, there is more. You must stay! You must listen to me!”
    â€œEven more than this? I think not, Mr. Wicks. I think I am quite up to my craw with your revelations.” He nodded to her, then strode from the room, not looking back.
    Mr. Wicks shook his head. “It wasn’t an honorable thing your father did, my dear. Certainly making you legitimate was well done of him. Providing you a substantial dowry would have been proper, but this—leaving you everything and leaving his lordship an allowance, nothing more, leaving him the supplicant for any funds he will need—it is abominable.”
    She was staring, unseeing, at the toes of her dark blue slippers that peeped from beneath her gown. “You didn’t tell me all of it, Mr. Wicks. You gave me no hint of what my father had done. You simply told me that he had left me quite a rich young lady, nothing more. What he has done is reprehensible. I won’t allow it. I won’t be a party to it.” She looked at him full in the face now and her look was fierce. “Listen to me, sir. I fully intend to undo all that he did. Marcus doesn’t deserve to be served such a turn. I refuse to allow him to be beggared. The nerve of my father blaming Marcus simply because he wasn’t there, possibly to drown along with his cousins.
    â€œYou and I controlling his purse strings? You and I giving the earl of Chase an allowance? No, it is hideous. I will see it undone immediately.”
    She rose and began pacing. He’d never seen her so animated before. She turned suddenly and said in a deep commanding voice, “See to it, Mr. Wicks. You can leave me something, but all the monies, all the other houses and properties, any and all holdings must be returned to Marcus.”
    Mr. Wicks said very gently, “I’m sorry, my dear, but I cannot.”
    â€œWhat do you mean