William’s jaw dropped. He tried to say something, then shut his mouth fast as a clam trap.
“You are a miserable human being, William,” Meggie said, so furious with her half brother-in-law that if she wouldn’t hang for it, she would have cheerfully stomped him into the ground. “You probably should have been strangled at birth. Saved everyone a lot of difficulties, particularly the female of the species.”
“But it wasn’t my fault,” William said, and Meggie knew a whine when she heard it, having four brothers and so many dratted boy cousins about. She was so furious with him that she jumped to her feet, her fists at the ready. She wanted to fight him, to sock him in the jaw.
“The girls just hold you down, William, and rip off your clothes?”
He looked shocked that she, a vicar’s daughter, would speak so bluntly. She just stared him down until he said, shrugging, “Well, no, but they’re the kind of girls who are with ever so many men, and I’m just the one who always gets caught. It wasn’t my fault. But you didn’t like me before you saw me, Meggie. Why?”
“Melissa Winters, you dolt. I know all about how you blamed Thomas for that. You’re a dishonorable cretin, William.”
“But it was Thomas who got her with child,” William said. “At the time I was in Glasgow with Aunt Augusta.”
Meggie couldn’t help herself. She slammed her fist into his jaw, a really solid hit that sent him reeling backward, his flailing arms nearly hitting Oscar DeGrasse. Oscar screeched and leaped straight up and backward, an amazing feat that Meggie couldn’t help but admire. William couldn’t catch himself and went crashing down on his back. He didn’t move, just stared up at her, trying to catch his breath.
“Thomas is honorable,” she said between fiercely gritted teeth. “You ever say something like that again, and I will kick you in the ribs after I’ve knocked you down.”
William whimpered and didn’t move.
“Thank you.”
Meggie whirled about to see her husband standing in the doorway to this big sparsely furnished room, his arms crossed over his chest, one of his favorite poses. The irony of that thank-you had hit her square in the nose. She raised her chin. “You are many things, Thomas, but dishonorable isn’t one of them.”
“No,” he said. “I’m not.” He walked over to William and held out his hand. William looked at that hand, and Meggie thought for a moment that William would whimper. She said, “Oh, for goodness’ sake, William, be a man and take your brother’s hand. He won’t kill you. He is more civilized about things like that than I.”
“But you still might.”
“That is true. Go away. I’m trying to train these cats.”
William dusted himself off, gave his brother a very uncertain look, and was out of the room very quickly.
Thomas said slowly, “You defended me.”
“What would you expect me to do? Tell your dim-witted half brother that you ignore your new wife, that you treat her like she bores you silly, and thus he can say anything at all he likes about you?”
“No. You’re not like that.”
“Is it possible that another man did impregnate Melissa Winters?”
“No.”
“William said he was in Glasgow with Aunt Augusta.”
“He was. I sent him there after I beat him to within an inch of his life.”
“Well, good.” Meggie wiped her hands on her skirt, looked over at Oscar, who was now curled into a tight ball, sleeping in a corner. “He doesn’t look like much of a winner, does he?”
“Niles says he’s fast.”
“Did you see him execute that backward leap?”
“I wasn’t looking at him at the time.”
“What’s wrong, Thomas?”
“I came to get you for tea, Meggie. My mother, Libby, and Lord Kipper are in the drawing room. Cook has already brought the tea and cakes. You’re the only one missing.”
“And William.”