Cavendish Brothers 01 - An Unintended Journey by Catherine Gayle Read Free Book Online Page B

you saw fit to take it upon yourself to order my butler to pull me from the celebration to meet with you on urgent business. So what, pray tell, is so godforsaken urgent?”
    The scar on Wesley’s cheek twitched. He unclenched his fists and gave a little tug on his cravat, then tried to calm himself. He hadn’t thought this through—none of it. For too much of the journey, he’d thought of nothing but Abby and of finally being with her. He hadn’t allowed himself to think through the particulars of making it happen.
    “ Ah, well you see…a family has traveled to Yorkshire with me, Your Grace. The father has business with you as well, and once that is settled—”
    “ Would you kindly stop beating about the bush and get to your point?” Danby lifted an eyebrow and glared in the way only a duke can do.
    This wasn’t what he’d intended. It wasn’t Wesley’s place to tell the duke he had a bastard son, not to mention grand-bastards, if that was what they could be called. Yet his mouth opened and a torrent of words flooded out, and he couldn’t stop himself for all the world, though the old codger sat there staring at him with his mouth hanging agape as if he were the greatest simpleton in all of England.
    “… and my brother refuses to renounce Father’s lies and restore my name within society unless I marry—”
    Finally, he recognized what he was about to say and pulled himself up short. He didn’t need to bring political leanings into this if he could avoid it.
    “ Well?” Danby prodded. “Unless you marry what? Or I suppose the proper question should be whom .”
    Wesley took a breath and thought carefully about what he ought to say. “Fordingham insists I must marry into a well-established family, such as yours, Your Grace. As I’ve already told you, I love Abby Goddard and cannot— will not—fathom marriage to anyone else.”
    The duke scratched his nose…a nose exceedingly familiar to Wesley, with its odd bump right in the middle. Abby shared that bump, as did her father and both of her brothers. “I do have another granddaughter of marriageable age at the castle right at this moment, you know. Isabel is perfectly lovely and all. I could even arrange for a hasty ceremony—”
    “ That won’t do,” Wesley interrupted, tossing his hands into the air. He stood and paced, his heavy Hessian boots nearly dragging along the Aubusson rug. “I apologize for my impertinence, Your Grace, but I’ve already explained I will marry none but Abby.”
    “ Yes,” Danby murmured. “The daughter of this supposed bastard son of mine. Yet you also say his mother, my rumored paramour, has died. What proof could there possibly be, after all these years, that he’s truly my son? And therefore, what proof could there be that this Abby Goddard is my granddaughter?”
    Perhaps, if Danby actually saw Abby and her family, he’d recognize the family resemblance. “If you would only meet with them, Your Grace—”
    “ Of course,” the duke cut in sharply. “If I would only meet with them, and then if I would only agree that this man is my long-lost son, and then if I would only acknowledge your Abby as my granddaughter—as I’m sure Fordingham would insist upon, if this marriage would meet his requirements. You do realize what you’re asking of me, do you not?”
    Did he ever. “More than you could possibly know.”
    Danby moved over to look out a massive window. For long moments, he stared out at the soft, steady fall of snowflakes coming down to blanket the castle grounds. The entire time, Wesley’s stomach roiled to the point it was miraculous the duke couldn’t hear it.
    Finally, Danby faced him again. “It is Christmas, Cavendish,” he snapped, glowering at him. “I am full of the holiday spirit, and so I will agree to meet this Goddard family.”
    A flood of air left Wesley’s lungs on this pronouncement. Surely if Danby saw them, he’d acknowledge them as his own. Wouldn’t he?
    Holding up a