She withdrew her hand. “I am not a child. I have every right to visit family without being hunted like vermin.”
Mortimer wisely stayed silent, only answering the solicitor’s questions and signing the paperwork allowing the reward to be released to Gerard. He immediately produced a document transferring half the funds to Iona and had the solicitor witness them. He was indeed very good at mundane details.
“That’s not enough to pay the estate’s debt.” Mortimer finally spoke. “We’ll have to let the place. You’ll have to move your belongings elsewhere, including those infernal bees.”
Iona tightened her grip around the document Gerard solemnly handed her. His anger had coalesced into a sharp odor much like that of burning gunpowder. She tucked the document in her bag without looking at him.
“The estate’s debts are yours, Mortimer, not mine. Lord Ives has been generous in offering me a share of the reward to show myself here. I will not insult his generosity by giving it to you.”
“You’re a bloody countess,” Mortimer shouted. “You cannot abandon your land!”
Thankfully, Lord Ives chose to lean back in his chair and let the fireworks explode without his aid. She loved a man who knew when to stand back.
“I can and will abandon anything your touch has rotted, Mortimer. For Isobel’s sake, I will consider the marriage settlements Mr. White offered,” she acknowledged. “Lord Ives had his solicitor draw up the codicils I require. In preparation, I have requested that my mother’s title be restored in my name. I cannot promise when that will happen.”
Mr. White lit up as if she’d handed him the keys to a kingdom. “I am beyond delighted, my lady! You will never regret this, I promise. I will shower you with everything you can ever wish and see that your sister is surrounded in comfort.”
Iona offered a tight smile. She regretted it already, but she ignored her grinding insides. “That will mean hanging Mortimer from the highest tree, so do not be so generous in your promises.”
Gerard unfolded from his chair, offered Iona his hand, and addressed Mr. White. “Tell me where I should have the lady’s requests for the settlement sent so you may peruse them at your leisure, sir.”
No hand had ever felt so wonderful as his when he clasped her fingers and assisted her from her chair. Clutching her bag with the precious bank note, she was almost knock-kneed in relief. The earl, of course, was focused on Mr. White.
“I’ll be having a say in what’s fair and proper for the settlements. She’ll be leaving with us, my lord,” Mortimer insisted, confronting them belligerently. “That’s what the reward was all about—having my daughters back with me. And I don’t have the other yet.”
“You won’t have the other,” Gerard corrected harshly. “You do not have Lady Iona. She is not yours to possess. I thought we made that clear. The ladies are safe. They are of age and independent of your will. From here on, Lady Iona will only correspond with Mr. White. You are free to go to hell.”
“Now wait a minute!” Mortimer bunched his fists.
Mr. White settled a gloved hand on his shoulder. “You will be appropriately reimbursed, my lord, as promised. There is no need to antagonize my fiancée.”
Iona winced at the appellation. She might as well become used to it.
Winifred rose to her full stout height and stood between Iona and Mortimer. “Now, we will be off to the bank. Gerard, call for the carriage, will you, dear? We have a trousseau to prepare.”
Without looking back at her fuming stepfather, Iona obediently followed his lordship and his aunt out. In truth, she could not have moved on her own.
She longed to be like her queen bee and hide in her hive.
Gerard slammed the lid on his disgust and fury and buckled it closed. He led the ladies to the bank where Iona deposited her funds in the name of her and her sister. The amount was meager given the expense of operating an estate. He felt guilty about keeping his half, but if she meant to marry that. . .
He couldn’t even think of it. He wanted to exterminate Mortimer, but White was an effeminate sod who would probably treat Iona like a princess. Not that a woman with her lusts would appreciate that, but it was her damned choice.
What he and Blair had learned last night from the miscreants who had dared follow and attack him chilled his blood though. He could keep his fury with Iona down while he watched every man around her with murder in his heart.
Winifred nearly beat him over the head with her umbrella when he insisted on taking them back to the school.
Iona perceptively took the umbrella away and made room for him inside Dare’s carriage. “What is it, my lord? Has Mortimer made threats already?”
She was officially affianced to another. Gerard didn’t want to be that close to her again, but he had no choice. He sat next to his aunt on the forward-facing seat though. “Your stepfather has gambled himself into a hole so deep, he cannot climb out. It is not just debts to gentlemen, but to nefarious characters he had no business gambling with. If he does not pay them back, they are likely to kill him and come after you and your sister next. That’s why there are eyes on us everywhere we go.”
Winifred swatted him again. “That’s reprehensible, Gerard. You had no right to terrify a young lady with such sordid stories. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Had it been any other woman, he would have politely held his tongue. With Iona . . . he could not play charades. She knew when he tried to hide anything and would despise him for being less than honest.
He watched as she took a deep breath and processed his news. She looked
