No, the money they were gleefully spending was Caroline’s money, inherited from her deceased father, Winston. It was held in trust for her, with Walter, then Samson being the trustee.
When Winston was young, he’d been wild and free, and he’d regularly gone adventuring. Once, he’d even journeyed to Africa with the famed explorer, Sir Sidney Sinclair. In a stroke of astounding luck, he’d returned to England as owner of a diamond mine. Of all things!
After he’d perished in the shipwreck, Walter had declared it a gift from the Devil, generated in a heathen land and showered on a wicked son. He wouldn’t touch a farthing of it.
Well, after he’d passed on to his Great Reward, Samson had had no qualms about using it. Because it had sat quietly unexploited by Walter, it had grown to a fantastical amount, so Caroline was an incredible heiress. Samson’s most monumental fear was that she’d learn about it and demand to be involved in deciding how it was distributed.
That could never happen. He controlled her fortune. She was a woman after all, which automatically indicated she could never understand her finances. It was appropriate that she have male guidance in managing them. Her marriage to Gregory would simply guarantee that naught went wrong.
If she realized the truth later on and was angry about it, she’d be Gregory’s wife, so there would be no remedy available for her to fix what had occurred.
Her final trust fund would vest on her twenty-fifth birthday. If she wasn’t a bride by then, thousands of pounds would be squandered. The potential loss was what it had taken to goad Gregory into matrimony. His son was that irresponsible.
The wedding was in six days. It would all be over shortly, and Caroline would be bound to them forever. No other beau could swoop in and charm her. No other man could lure her—and her fortune—away from them.
It would be wrapped up nice and tight, and due to their shrewd manipulation, she would never be the wiser. Yet, if by chance, the situation was revealed, she would be Gregory’s wife and never get to voice an opinion about it.
In that, he and Gregory had never disagreed at all.
“Have you talked to them?”
“Yes.”
“And. . . ?”
Janet gazed at Caroline, and she couldn’t completely conceal her exasperation. She had no doubt as to how her father and brother would have treated Caroline. They’d have patted her on the head like a pet dog, then sent her on her way, with her feeling she’d accomplished her goal.
The two men were like slippery eels, but then, all men were. They said one thing, but meant another. They promised one thing, but did another. Early on, she’d figured out how duplicitous they could be, and it had formed the foundation of her feelings about the male gender. That—and a hefty dose of radical reading.
Women were waking up to the arduous burdens placed on them, and they were being very vocal about their grievances. In the past year, Janet had devoured a dozen books written by the most intelligent, aggrieved women in the kingdom. They insisted that it was time to yank men from their pedestals of power.
Men had ensured that society’s benefits were showered on them alone. Women couldn’t travel or live on their own or handle their own money. They were expected to wed the oafs their fathers picked for them, and if they refused an arranged match, they could be deemed hysterical and locked in an insane asylum.
She didn’t intend to ever marry. Her father had selected Gregory for Caroline, but Gregory was lazy, spoiled, and negligent. Samson recognized all those bad traits in his son, but he’d selected Gregory anyway. If he would make such a horrendous choice for Caroline, Janet could only imagine the dolt he’d find for her. She wasn’t about to risk it.
Ever since she’d finished her schooling, she’d strenuously asserted her aversion to marriage. Her father laughed and humored her, and with her being just twenty, he assumed she was going through a phase, but she was deadly serious.
She wouldn’t wed some cretin simply because her father ordered it. No, her dream was to move to London—as Gregory had—to rent an apartment and lead her own life. She’d surround herself with artists, poets, and philosophers.
She was anxious too to meet some of the brilliant women who were hoping to improve the dreary lot of females. She wanted to apply for a job and work as a secretary for one of them.
Why shouldn’t a woman be permitted to divorce a violent husband? Why shouldn’t she be able to vote? To manage her own money? Why not?
“Did you pester Gregory about his gambling?” she asked Caroline.
“He claims it’s all in good fun, and he’s merely amusing himself by playing for pennies.”
“He would say that. We’ll likely be beggared before he’s done with us. The estate isn’t entailed to a fancy title. He could wager away the whole property, and we’d wind up residing in a ditch.”
“He’d never be that reckless.”
Caroline had always been much too naïve. Janet didn’t trust or believe Gregory. She was pragmatic in a manner Caroline would never be.
“What about Miss Carstairs and London?” Janet asked. “What was their opinion about that?”
“Gregory said he’d take me after the wedding.”
Janet sighed with frustration. “You know he didn’t mean it, right?”
“Yes, I know.” Caroline grinned. “Which is why you and I shall go by ourselves.”
Janet’s jaw dropped. “You’d never be that brazen.”
“Who could stop us? Gregory and I are chatting this afternoon. I have the allowance your father provides, and I plan to demand one from Gregory too. I won’t quit nagging until he consents to it, so we’ll pay our own way. It won’t be any of his business—or your father’s.”
Janet grinned too. “Perhaps matrimony will
