The duke thrust three envelopes at him. “You will be at these events this week.”
Drew managed to only catch two, but a glance at the seals on the back of each made his heart sink. They were from important families. They had daughters to be married off this season, as well.
Drew stooped to pick up the third letter he’d failed to catch and shook his head at the seal of another great family he’d already sent his regrets to for their ball. He could only have been re-invited for one purpose. To make a match. “I have plans.”
“Plans not to be seen. Plans that include abandoning Mayfair and a search for a wife? For what? To create a scandal living with a mistress who cannot give you a legitimate heir? Believe me, mistresses are for short-term pleasure and nothing more.”
He squinted at his father, astonished by that remark. “Is that why you’re still with Juliette? Fifteen years of loving her hasn’t been for naught.”
Father paused a moment. “I will not be distracted by babble of misplaced sentiment. You have a responsibility to the family and to me. You will be married again, and I expect an heir to arrive in the first years of your union. Pick your new lady from one of those invitations, woo and wed her before the week is through, and you will have my blessing on the match.”
Drew stared at the duke in shock at his demand, but quickly saw there was more he was going to say. He took a steadying breath and waited.
When the silence lingered, Drew took a step forward. “Or what?”
The duke turned away, prowling the room with his hands behind his back. Drew had seen him do this before as a child, right before announcing some punishment for a misdeed, or poor attention to his studies. Then, Father’s displeasure had terrified him. But now…what could Father do to him, really?
“It gives me no pleasure to say this,” the duke began. “I blame myself entirely. You were always given to flights of fancy. I never should have taken my eyes off you once you were widowed. I thought you’d get on with the job, do your duty to the family without my involvement. However, it’s clear that getting you to do the right thing will require an incentive.”
Drew leaned back against a table and folded his arms over his chest. “Since the moment Clare and Pip died, you and everyone else expected me to remarry. Almost immediately. The earth hadn’t even settled over their graves when we had our first little talk about my duty to the family. What about me? What about my happiness?”
“We do not get a say in how we live our lives,” the duke insisted, slamming his fist into his own palm for emphasis. “The men of our family do their duty. I offered for your mother the day after I met her.”
“You loved her.”
“That was not a requirement of the match in the beginning.”
“Well, I damn well loved Clare before I married her,” Drew warned.
“Clare was different, special. Everyone understood you had no choice but to offer for her in the end,” the duke said. “But our high expectations for you continue, and you’ve allowed yourself to become distracted from your purpose by a cunning light-skirt keen to empty your pocket by buying her a house and expensive jewels.”
Drew stood slowly, fighting to keep his temper. How had Father known his business so quickly? “I’m not distracted. Aurora Hillcrest is the woman I love.”
“Love?” The duke gestured around him dismissively. “This is not love. The shame you bring upon family is beyond embarrassing. I will not have it!”
“This is my home,” he announced.
“You had a proper home in Upper Brooke Street,” he cried.
“A lease. I never intended to live there forever.”
“You had the choice of another house in Mayfair recently shown to you, and of course your apartment at Northport House still awaits you and your future bride.”
“I told you I prefer to be on my own,” Drew reminded his father. Living with family, inflicting them upon a new bride, was the last thing he’d ever intended to do.
“But you are not on your own. You are shacked up with some eager hussy!”
That was enough. Drew would not humor his father’s ill temper a moment longer. Aurora might hear him from the other room. “Do not ever call her that again. I will not forgive you a second time.”
“Forgive me? Forgive me? Do you hear yourself? It is worse than I feared! She has her claws into you well and truly, I see.” The duke planted his feet and faced Drew. “If you will not commit to doing your duty, I shall have no choice but to force you. Make an offer to one of those young women within a week and you shall inherit everything.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I shall disinherit you with pleasure. Cut you off from the family fortune entirely. The price of disobedience will be high indeed.”
Drew gaped. He had considered many reactions from his father about living with his mistress, but not this one. A few years ago, Drew might even have been cowed by such a threat, but Drew did not need his father’s money anymore. He was wealthy in his own right. A fact father seemed to have forgotten today. The title of duke would come to Drew when his father passed whether Northport liked it or not. The only thing the duke could do was beggar the estate, drain it of all funds or leave unentailed personal property to another son. Drew could not see that happening. “I see,” he said slowly.
“You understand now the degree of my displeasure,” the duke said softly. “Marry in short order and we might never speak of this unfortunate affair again. We will talk again when the announcement of your choice is made public.”
The duke took his leave, his words bouncing around in Drew’s head.
Being threatened with disinheritance did not really change things but it was a disappointment that father would resort to blackmail. A future of duty and honor would always await Drew. The life he’d been raised for, educated for, was as much a part of him as needing love in his life.
He’d been preparing for the burden of great responsibilities to fall his way since he was a boy. Even if Northport could go through with his threat, Drew would never choose a title over following his heart. Northport was leaving him no choice but to cut him out of his life entirely, too.
Drew shuffled the letters in his hands and then opened each one.