The Wyndham Legacy by Catherine Coulter Page B

you cannot?”
    â€œYour father foresaw that you could possibly react in this manner. He knew you were good-hearted, loyal, if you will, to your cousin. He said that if you refused the complete inheritance and all responsibilities it carried with it, then it would all be turned over to the wife of his youngest brother who died some five years ago, the wife and children living in the Colonies.”
    She took the sheet of paper from him and read: Mrs. Wilhelmina Wyndham of Fourteen Spring Street, Baltimore, Maryland.
    â€œThere is quite a large family, I understand. Three children born of the union.”
    â€œBut I have never heard of this Wilhelmina, who would be my aunt.”
    Mr. Wicks cleared his throat. “Well, it seems the late earl’s youngest brother was what one calls a gamester, a bad penny. He lost everything, including an inheritance from a distant aunt, and his father ordered him gone. He went to the Colonies. There he met Wilhelmina Butts and married her. To be blunt, Grant Wyndham was your father’s favorite brother, despite his dispossession by your grandfather. He thought it would be a great joke to bring his rakehell brother’s family back here, give them all the money—that is, ma’am, if you refuse to accept the responsibilities he’s laid upon you.
    â€œYou see that your hands and mine are tied. I will assure you, Duchess, that I would never treat his lordship as a pensioner, despite my issuance of a quarterly allowance for his personal use. I won’t treat him like a poor relation. I won’t be a tyrant about funds that he needs for maintenance or repairs for the entailed properties or lands. In short, I will consider his pride of the utmost importance.”
    â€œYou don’t know Marcus, Mr. Wicks. No matter your assurances, your kindness and understanding, he won’t accept it, ever. Marcus is a very proud man, but he’s even more than that, he’s perhaps excessively principled and holds himself to the highest standards. He’s actually quite magnificent.”
    Mr. Wicks looked at her oddly, but just for a moment, then said, “Perhaps he won’t accept this. But then again, duty is a powerful thing. Does he want to see a vast estate gutted? I hope not. I do fear, however, and I said this to your father, that after I have gone to my heavenly reward, the man who takes my place may consider himself a very powerful being indeed and treat the earl like some sort of indigent charity. I fear that. As I recall, your father merely rubbed his hands together and laughed.”
    â€œYou have considered this a great deal, Mr. Wicks. Have you found no way out of the mess for Marcus?”
    He brightened at that. “Oh yes, indeed, there is a way, yes. Your father, after he laughed, told me what he planned, but you and the earl won’t perhaps be inclined to, er, follow through with it.”
    â€œAnd what is that, pray?”
    â€œYour cousin must wed you before eighteen months have passed after your father’s death to undo what will come to pass. Indeed, the two of you marrying would cancel out everything I have told his lordship. Your father wanted your blood in future earls of Chase. He said it would help to dilute Marcus’s tainted blood.”
    â€œMarcus’s blood tainted? That is utter nonsense. Do you so quickly forget that I am a bastard?”
    â€œNonetheless, it is what your father wanted above all things. He wanted your sons to succeed Marcus.” Mr. Wicks shrugged. “He felt that if you refused, then he didn’t care if the earldom fell into ruin. That’s what he said, ma’am, he didn’t care. This all happened after your mother’s death. He changed, an alarming change. He simply didn’t care anymore about anything. I was more than alarmed, but he simply didn’t care. I remember he said to me when it was all done, ‘Wicks, Bess is gone, my wife, the only woman I ever