A Bright Particular Star (47 page)

Stunned and a
ppalled Sophie
clutched
the chair to stop her hands
from shaking
.
She gave him a look of acute loathing.
“
No
,
”
she
murmured
at last
,
a catch in her
v
oice
.
“
E
ven you c
ould
not
do such
a
thing to your
own
sister.
”

H
is lips dr
ew
back in a
n almost demonic
sneer.
“
Perhaps not.
But
Olivia is not
my sister.
”

“S
he is only my
illegitimate
half—
sister
.
”

Sophie st
ared at him uncomprehendingly, r
eeling
from this
new
revelation
.
H
er
head
swam
and she felt sick
.
She
swallowed and dragged
in a deep breath
, knowing
s
he must not
faint
.

“
W
-W
hy sho
uld I believe you about
this
when the rest of your
life appears to be a lie?
”
she whispered.

“T
hat
is your choice
, but
it
’s
true
all the same
.
Olivia
is the result
of
my father
’s
liaison with a
local woman
.
His marriage to my mother was one of convenience, arranged by their parents when they were in the cradle.
T
h
ere was no love between them.
I
was still in short coats
when
my father
began
to look elsewhere
.
Weak, pathetic creature that he was, he could not choose
a mistress
from his own circle
and instead
brought shame on us
by falling for
a governess
in the employ of
the local squire.
Worse still, t
he fool
became besotted with her.
He claimed
they were in
desperately in
love and refused
to g
ive her up, even when
she was carrying his
child.
”

“
How do you know
this?
”
said Sophie
.

“
I discovered some of it myself and m
y
mo
the
r told me
the rest
.
Durin
g the summer when I was sixteen
,
my father went to London
.
He only allowed me into his study when he was present
—
said I couldn
’t
be t
rusted among his private papers
—
so while he was
away
I
decided to search
through his desk
and
came across a bundle of
letters
h
idden in a secret
compartment.
C
urious as to
their content,
I
read them.
They were love letters.
”

“
Good grief
, have you no shame
?
”

“
None whatsoever,
”
he said, with a
shrug.
“
Afterward
, I went to my mother.
Of course she already knew a
bout the affair and was pleased
I now knew about it too
.
S
he
did not care for my father
,
n
ever had,
but she was extremely bitter
.
Not
because he had
taken
a lover
—
after all,
she had
taken one first, enjoying
a string of lovers from the time I was six m
onths old
and
liked them all
far
better than my father
—
but
for taking
a
governess
as his mistress
.
She deemed
it an
insult.
”

“
But w
hat happened?
How was such an affair conducted without suspicions being aroused?
”

“
My father set the woman
up in a
secluded cottage
some miles away
.
She was considered a
beauty, and sweet-natured too
.
”

“T
here must have been
gossip—
”

“T
he affair was
effectively
hushed up
.
The governess left the squire
’s
household be
fore her condition became
obvious
.
Thereafter
she
lived
a reclusive life until the child
was bor
n, telling anyone who asked that
her husband was a soldier away with his regiment.
My father
continued to visit
her secretly and
,
w
hen
she
die
d
giving birth
to a puny, squalling seven-month
daughter
,
he
was heartbroken.
After that,
he
ref
used to send the child
away, demanding
she be brought up within
the family.
A
weak-wil
led fool generally
,
he was intransigent
in this
matter
.
He said he could not bear to be parted from all that he had left of his love.
”
Peregrine
’s
sneer grew
more pronounced
.
“
Love!
With a governess, no less!
S
nivelling hypocrite!
He should have turned the woman
off
when he found
out she was
enceinte
.
”

“
H
ow can you be so heartless?
”
she murmured
.
“T
here was a ch
ild involved, an innocent
who did not ask to come into the world.
I can
’t
condone what my uncle
did, but Eudora took
lover
s
first.
If she hadn
’t
,
then
perhaps he would
not have
looked outside the
marriage for comfort.
”

Perry
swung
his quiz
zing glass back and forth.
“
He
was weak
,
”
he continued
inexorably.
“
I
had always disliked him
for that
and once I found out t
he truth, I hated him.
He wanted
Oliv
ia
declared his
ward
by
saying
she was
an orphan
from a distant part of the famil
y, but
my mother preferred
to pretend
the child was an offspring of the marriage
.
”

“
I don
’t
see
why she would do that.
”

“
You
’
re such
an innocent!
”
he mocked
.
“S
he did it b
ecause
she
had
discovered
she
was
wit
h child by one o
f her lovers.
She
took
to her bed until she could find a
way of getting ri
d of it
.
As it turned out
, there was
no need.
The
child was stillborn
and it was an easy matter to pass my father
’s
brat
off as their child who
had been
born early
afte
r a diffi
cult pregnancy.
Only
a
few close servan
ts knew the truth and they received handsome bribes
to hold their tongues.
My father agreed
to it because he doted on Olivia
. S
he was always his favourite.
”

“
I
knew that, but
never
suspected anything like this
lay behind it
,
”
admitted
Sophie.
“D
id
my parents kno
w
?
No,
I see
they couldn
’t
have
.
Our families weren
’t
close
and
I only discovered
how badly you treated Olivia
when I came to
live at
Ludstone.
”
Her
startled
gaze
flew to his
.
“
You always resented her and Uncle C
ecil, but I thought it was
because you were
not his favourite.
It
all
makes perfect sense now
.
”

“T
hen you will appreciate
I have no feelings towards
O
livia.
Her fate is a matter of
complete
indifference to me.
”

She flew
from her chair
and
went to stand over him,
rigid
with fury
.
“
But it
is not
a matter of indifference to me!
”

“
I suspected it wouldn
’t
be.
”

“
I
don
’t
care
about her
parentage;
I have grown to love her as a sister
!
”

“T
hen you know what
to
do.
Come with
me and not only will the secret of her birth remain safe, but she
w
ill be safe
.
Refuse
and she will be—
”
He shrugged.
“
W
ell,
we need not discuss the details
.
”

“
You vile, despicable—
”

She
had
drawn back
her hand
to strike him
, but he
caught and held her w
rist
.

“D
on
’t
show your claws to me!
”
He got
to his feet,
still holding the pin
in one hand while forcing
her arm
down
with his other.
Th
en, he jerked
her roughly towards
him
.
“
Well
, Sophie
?
”
he
inquired
, his queer, mirthless smile returning.
“
Will you come with me now willingly, or must I send the message that will seal Olivia
’s
fate?
”

Sophie itched to drag her nails down
the sneering face above
her.
She despised feeling
helpless
, but he
was malicious enough
to do what he said
and
for now at least
she
had to comply
.
She could not be
responsible for Olivia
’s
abduction and rape.
Perry knew it
too, he
had known
it
all along and that
was why he had no need to resort to force
.
He had
contrived
a
far
more
reliable
method
of
gett
ing her to do his bidding.
The best she
could hope for was to
get away
befor
e they reached Gretna
.
One whiff
of rebellion
now
and h
e w
ould send the message anyway.
S
he could not risk it
.