“No, I don’t think I will. Your deal.”
The man took up the cards, his aged hands still able to deal with crisp efficiency. “You’ve become impertinent, Trevor. Your manners are common, and your judgment questionable. Even so, that girl is beneath you.”
“Terribly sorry that your memory is flagging, Grandfather. Nothing to be ashamed of. It comes with age. But with the ducal estate at risk, you really need to leave matters to father and your man of affairs. You’ve been bungling lately, and you know it.”
Trevor’s words were beyond the pale. They were not only rude, but they hit at every aging man’s most vulnerable spot. But since even Trevor couldn’t threaten to skewer his grandfather in a duel, all he could do was make his point in another fashion. Especially as this next hand did not go to his grandfather, but the other crony. Trevor managed to keep a portion of the pot, but only barely.
And then his grandfather leaped to his usual form of attack with Trevor. “I’ll have you cut off,” he hissed. From a growl to a hiss. Trevor was making progress.
“You already have, sir. How unfortunate that the estate is entailed, and you would have to disown my father to disown me. And then where would the title go upon your demise? Did you ever legitimize your French bastard?”
“How dare you!”
“Ah, I thought not.”
His grandfather won that hand. He might be furious, but he still remembered his cards. Trevor was looed, but that was inevitable in this game.
Meanwhile, his father set his hand on Trevor’s shoulder. Ever the peacemaker, the man squeezed his son and tried to moderate the emotions. “The duke is simply worried for you. We all are.”
“My grandfather need not worry. I have my affairs well in hand. It was his bumbling machinations that started this whole chain of events in the first place.”
The duke slammed his fist down on the table. Finally, Trevor had pushed him into an unseemly display. And it hadn’t been all that hard to accomplish. The man truly was aging.
“That girl is beneath you. She is beneath all of us, and she will not have my name or title.”
Trevor arched a brow. “No, she won’t. She’ll have my name and my title. You will be worm food soon enough. I only need wait a time.”
“I’ll disinherit you!”
Trevor rolled his eyes. “Your memory again. We’ve already had this discussion. You’d have to disinherit my father, and we both know you won’t do it.” And then he played a trump, winning the lion’s share of the pot.
But his father wasn’t nearly as calm. His face was pale, and he squeezed Trevor’s shoulder harder than a vise. For a moment, Trevor feared that he’d have to moderate his plan if only to prevent his father from having a seizure, but to his surprise, the man came down squarely on Trevor’s part.
“I warned you this nonsense wouldn’t work, Father. Trevor has your stubbornness. He won’t be managed like I was.”
“Trevor needs to learn his p-place!” the duke sputtered. “He will marry a girl of my choosing or starve.”
Trevor tsked loudly. “Your memory again, sir. You have already proved how bad your judgment is regarding women.”
“The devil you say!” the man exploded.
Trevor didn’t answer at first. He was too busy winning the next hand. When he spoke he knew he was crossing not only society’s rules, but also the law within his own family. It didn’t matter. For the first time in his life, he saw exactly how ridiculous it was to maintain a system of bride-choice that had proved so disastrous time and time again.
So he won the hand, then he looked squarely at his grandfather. “Your choice in bride was bad enough,” he said. “Grandmother was frail and unable to conceive adequate sons. So much that you went to France to father half a dozen bastards.”
The man gaped at him, too furious to even draw breath. And then, Trevor made it worse. He turned on his father who had just a moment before supported him.
“And your bride is even worse. I know Grandfather picked her. How much in debt are you, Father? And not just because of Mother. Did I see your mistress sporting a new diamond bracelet? How expensive was that? But I am thankful that you’ve been careful. At least I have not had a dozen illegitimate brothers to contend with. Only the one girl.”
His father paled. This was not something spoken of publicly. Ever. And yet, here Trevor was pouring it out in an open card room at a party attended by the wholeton. But it was the truth, and everyone here knew it.
The duke pushed up to a stand, his eyes hard, his body trembling in fury. “So you marry for money?” He spoke as if that wasn’t the choice of hundreds of aristocrats.
But Trevor shook his head. “I pick the woman I want.”
“Even if she’s a common cit? With a mad mother and an idiotic father? Good God, boy,think!”
Trevor smiled. He hadn’t thought he could. It was a devastating thing to humiliate both father and grandfather, but the darkness in him spilled out. He laid down his last card, winning the pot.