Read Online Two Wrongs Make a Marriage by Christine Merrill - Free Book Online Page A

‘Mr de Warde was most convincing.’
    ‘Oh, I have no doubt of that,’ Spayne said with narrowed eyes. ‘And I am quite sympathetic to your father’s need for a male child.’
    ‘I see. Is that why you need Jack to play your heir? Because you cannot provide one for yourself?’
    Now there was another embarrassing silence. And Thea remembered Jack’s reticence to reveal the whole of Spayne’s story. Despite the manners and graces she thought she possessed, she had blundered badly in asking this powerful man to tell her what were probably embarrassing secrets. ‘I am sorry,’ she said quickly. ‘I did not mean to pry, for that is no concern of mine.’
    ‘That is all right,’ Spayne said with a kind voice that put her immediately at ease. ‘You are part of the family now and there is no need to keep the truth from you.’
    Since Jack was not really his son, the earl owed her nothing at all. ‘But...’
    The gentle-spirited man looked firm, younger and resolved. Though a mild manner might be deceiving, he was every bit as powerful as she had expected him to be and his look intimidated her to silence. ‘I will never think of you as anything less than a daughter, no matter what might happen in the next weeks. You married a man who I have claimed as a son. The rest is of no consequence.’
    It would serve no purpose to argue her way out of the connection, no matter what the truth of the matter. She lowered her head in respect. ‘Thank you, my lord.’
    Spayne smiled, as though happy to see the matter settled. ‘Now that we have established that you deserve to know the rest of my story and how I came to be hiring a son.’ He gave a fond smile to Jack, as though it might actually be possible to buy family. Then he continued. ‘It is not as if there has never been a Kenton. I provided one right enough, marrying when I was young, as was expected of me. Family and friends saw the boy when he was born and can attest to the fact that he existed.’ Spayne sighed. And now, along with the lines of age on his face, Thea could see a deep and old sadness. ‘The boy was never right. Weak of lung and weak of intellect as well. But a sweeter child you would not hope to find. My wife and I took him abroad to Italy for his health. But he sickened and died, as did his mother.’ Spayne stared into the fire. ‘I thought I’d lost everything that day. And I meant to give myself over to vice.’
    ‘Surely not, my lord.’ Although she could quite believe it of his brother, there was nothing about the man before her to indicate a taste for dissipation.
    He gave her a fond smile. ‘Fear not, my dear. I was not nearly so wicked as I thought. After several years in Italy, I came to the conclusion that, when all was said and done, I simply prefered the company of men.’
    ‘My father often says that the company at his club is quite bracing and he can understand why some men spend so much time there,’ Thea responded, not quite sure why Spayne’s innocent admission would be delivered in such hushed tones.
    There was yet another prolonged silence in the room. Then, Jack laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘That is not quite what Spayne means, Thea. He prefers men in the same way that I prefer the company of ladies.’
    Now she was blushing again as she remembered some of her mother’s more inappropriate stories of her equally inappropriate friends. ‘But that is illegal. And immoral.’
    ‘So we are told,’ Jack agreed. ‘But then, so is cheating your father out of his money. And that is something that hurt you and your entire family. Any harm Spayne might cause is limited to the people participating. It is hardly fair, is it?’
    She gave a hesitant shake of her head.
    ‘And that is why I did not immediately tell you the whole of Lord Spayne’s story. It was not my job to share the man’s secrets without his permission.’
    ‘Too many know them already,’ Spayne agreed.
    ‘But no one learned of the death of your son,’ Thea