Page 109

“Apologies, Mum.” Ryder cut into his meat and took a bite. As usual, the kitchen staff had outdone themselves. He scooped potatoes onto his fork, chewing and swallowing before speaking again.
“It’s funny that you mention family. Do you know what I discovered whilst I was in the States?” Ryder’s knife sawed through another piece of beef. “The importance of family. The sacrifices one makes for family.”
Strange, he was the only one eating. He swallowed another mouthful of potatoes. “And the lengths one will go to maintain the family.”
“Ryder.” Philip’s voice raised in warning.
“Do you know why Nathalie left me when I was on the verge of proposing marriage eight years ago? A marriage you’d made quite clear you disapproved of.” The wine really was quite good, but he’d better not have more. The rage building inside his chest was enough to suffocate him. “Think of what your social circle would have said. The pity, the gossip if the future Earl of Cannington had married a mixed-race girl. An American with no social standing. The horror.”
“It’s not our fault she couldn’t handle the pressure.” Becca gulped her wine before sending Ryder an apologetic glance. “I’m sorry, that was unkind. You cared for her.”
“I loved her. Deeply.”
Becca’s gaze dropped at his words. Beside her, Percy shifted uneasily in his chair.
Ryder stabbed a Brussels sprout with his fork. Percy had nothing to worry about. He came from a family with an impeccable bloodline.
“Darling,” his mother began. Her eyes pleaded with him in the flicker of the tapered candles. “We should have tried harder to accept Nathalie, but we didn’t force her to end her relationship with you.”
“Ah, Mummy, that’s not exactly true though, is it?”
Elizabeth’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
His father’s face looked carved from granite.
The bastard hadn’t told her what he’d done.
Ryder continued. “Nathalie’s father was desperate for cash to keep his fledgling company from going under. Father met with Nathalie and offered help. He funneled money to Oliver Winfield’s aerospace firm and had Winfield use the money to pay Williams Advanced Avionics for contract work until the company received its US defense contract and got back on its feet.”
He cut another slice of beef, the scraping sound of metal on china loud in the sudden stillness. “In return, Nathalie was to break off any contact with me and never tell me why she ended our relationship.”
Sadie gasped.
Becca stiffened next to him.
His mother, her face ashen, turned to her husband. “Philip?”
Red mottled his father’s cheeks. “No one forced her to accept the deal.”
Ryder clamped down on his fury. “She was only twenty-one and afraid for her father’s health and the destruction of his dream. You took advantage of an opportunity.”
“Taking advantage of an opportunity is what a good businessman does,” his father huffed. “It was for the good of the family. I had no idea you’d react in such a childish manner and run off to join the army.”
“Joining the army was the best thing I ever did.” Ryder finished the last of his potatoes. “Ultimately, it came down to family. You did what you did for the good of the family, uncaring as to my feelings on the matter, my happiness. And Nathalie did the same, choosing her father’s dream and sacrificing our love.” Finished with his meal, he placed his knife and fork together in the middle of the plate, fork tines down as he’d been taught. “You and Nathalie both sacrificed my love for family.”
He wiped his mouth and stood, setting the linen next to his plate. “Nathalie, I can forgive. She was young, and I didn’t realize the pressure she faced trying to fit into our world. I didn’t understand the obligation she felt to help her father realize his dream after her brother’s death.”
No one spoke at the table. No one moved.
The household staff were statues in their discrete corners of the room, no doubt waiting for a cue that it was safe to resume attending the table.
Ryder locked stares with his father. “You, however, I cannot forgive. I’m finished trying to make you understand that I’ve carved out my place in this world. One I’m very happy with. I’ve had a solicitor draw up the papers to formally renounce my claim to the earldom of Cannington and Arborleigh Estate.” He ignored his mother’s soft cry. If he looked at her, he might not finish what he needed to say. “I’ll also be divesting my shares of Arborleigh Holdings and turning them over to Becca and Sadie.”
He took one last sip of his wine. “It’s my turn to choose. And I choose love. If you were wise, Father, you’d formally declare Becca as your successor. God knows she’s qualified, and she’s put up with enough of your rubbish over the years.”
Setting his glass on the table, Ryder stalked from the room, his mother’s and sisters’ cries of protest arrowing into his back. This time, he went out the front entrance to Arborleigh Manor, down the stone staircase to the circular drive.
The visitor entrance.