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ironic that he outlived not only their son, Richard, but one of his grandsons as well—your father, Edward. Ninety is a vast age, but I doubt he enjoyed very many of those added years.”
    â€œHe may not have enjoyed them, but I suspect he was thoroughly enraged when he realized that he was dying.” Tess shook her head. “He was such a despotic presence, even though he’s been dead for over two years now, that sometimes when I walk into the blue salon, I expect to find him sitting there glaring at me.”
    Hester’s soft mouth thinned. “I know it is unkind to speak poorly of the dead, but he was such a devil! He was most unkind to you, Tess, no doubt because of your resemblance to Theresa.”
    â€œClearly he hadn’t the least feeling of affection for any of his family. You’d think he’d have left his own sister better provided for, and as for you . . . well, I think he was still punishing you for not finding a wealthy husband, and that’s why he made such a shabby provision for you in his will. He wanted you and Margaret to know that he didn’t give a farthing about your future!”
    Hester averted her face, and Tess could have bitten her tongue off. Hester had never said anything directly, but Tess knew that in the past there was someone her aunt had loved or was still in love with, and that her lack of fortune or his had something to do with Hester’s unmarried state.
    Tess was frantically seeking some way to change the topic when Hester began to speak. Her voice constricted, she got out, “Grandfather couldn’t have known that Sidney would die so young. He knew Sidney would take care of Aunt Meg for the rest of her life. And as for me ...” She smiled painfully, “I never was a particular favorite of his anyway.”
    â€œAre you defending him?” Tess demanded, outraged, her violet eyes nearly purple with anger. “You just said he was a devil! And as for your not being a particular favorite of his . . .” Tess suddenly grinned. “Oh, but wasn’t he furious that his only great-grandchild should turn out to be a mere girl?”
    Hester smiled wryly. “Indeed he was. I can remember the day you were born—he took it as a personal affront that your poor father and mother had produced only a puny female. I can still recall his ranting and raving as he stormed through the manor. He was absolutely livid. Claimed your dear mother had done it on purpose, just to spite him. Swore he’d find a way to prevent your father from inheriting the title if the next child wasn’t a boy!” Hester shook her head. “I wonder, when your father died just a few years later, if he didn’t regret his hasty words.” She grimaced and added, “Probably not. He always seemed to believe that he could arrange things precisely as he wanted.”
    Everything Hester said was true. Tess had grown up under the malevolent eye of her great-grandfather, and during his lifetime, not a day had gone by that she hadn’t been reminded that she should have been a boy or that she looked like the wife who had deserted him and vanished with another man. It hadn’t sat well with Gregory, either, that she was an heiress in her own right and her fortune was safely in the hands of her uncle, where he could not get his grasping hands on it.
    Gregory might not have known Sidney would die so improvidently, Tess conceded grimly, but he certainly had known that by not setting aside a decent amount in his will for Margaret and Hester, he was condemning them to a miserable existence if something did happen to Sidney. She would concede that by the time he died Gregory didn’t have a grand fortune to command any longer, but from what remained, he could have settled enough money on each of his female dependents to insure them an independence—even if only a frugal one.
    Which brought Tess back to her dilemma. Her own fortune was