The Heiress Read Free Page A

before he gave his father or his mother the satisfaction of seeing that what they had told him meant anything to him at all. As for their condition … Marry. Marry Anne de Bernard. He could hardly remember her, it was years since they had met. His mind flashed ahead; he would need a wife and a rich one if he were really going back. He would need as much money as he could lay hands on if he were going to restore his lands and people to their old condition.
    â€˜You have no time at all,’ his father answered the question. ‘You decide now.’
    Charles smiled his mocking smile at both of them.
    â€˜Marry my rich little cousin and inherit eighty thousand acres and two chieftainships—or else go to prison. My dear father and Madame, my mother, I don’t see much alternative, do you? I accept your conditions, unconditionally. Now if you’ll excuse me I have an appointment and I’m already late.’
    â€˜I can imagine with whom,’ Katharine answered. ‘Of all the women at Versailles you have to choose the most vicious and depraved. That will stop too, after you are married.’
    He did not answer her, but she saw the mocking defiance in his face, and she could not pretend that it was not a very handsome face. Even if he had been ugly he would still have possessed the same dangerous charm.
    â€˜You will settle the debt?’ He addressed his father, and Sir James nodded.
    â€˜By tomorrow, I told you. I am going to ask the King’s permission for the marriage; it’s only a formality and we’ll announce it as soon as we’ve been down to Charantaise.’
    He remembered the splendid Château; he used to go there as a child and stay with his mother’s relations, the de Bernards. There used to be a little Marquise, very talkative and overdressed, painted up like a little Parisian whore, with the mincing manners of an age that reflected the King’s last great mistress, Madame de Pompadour. The little Marquise, with her passion for scandal and mischief, was dead now, and only her daughter Anne and an old uncle who was her guardian remained. He hadn’t seen his cousin since she was a child and all he knew about her was that she was immensely rich. He bowed to his parents.
    â€˜I wish you both good night. Excuse me; I know you wouldn’t want me to keep the lady waiting.’ As he went out of the room he laughed.
    Katharine turned to her husband.
    â€˜James, James, all I can think of is that poor child Anne. How can we marry her to him?… even for the sake of Dundrenan and Clandara—it’s twenty-seven years since the Rebellion; how do we know what state the clans are in or if there’s anyone left in the glens at all?’
    â€˜The two houses are in ruins but our people are still there,’ he answered. ‘They need a leader; they need Anne de Bernard’s money to rebuild and replenish the land. She’ll fare well enough. How do you know marriage won’t change him … it changed me.’
    â€˜My darling,’ she said gently, ‘if he were anything like you I’d love him with all my heart and she’d be the luckiest woman in the world to marry him. But there’s none of you in him, and none of me either. Only the very worst of both families—that’s all I see in him. You are determined on this marriage, aren’t you?’
    â€˜Absolutely,’ he said quietly. ‘Don’t ask me to change my mind because I can’t. I’m Scots to my bones in spite of living here. I must do what is best for my people.’
    â€˜So be it, then,’ she said. ‘At least I can try and protect her from him when they’re married.’
    â€˜When they’re married,’ James answered slowly, ‘we both can. Come, my darling, I’m going to seek an audience of the King.’
    Louise de Vitale was a very beautiful woman even in a Court where beautiful women were in abundance