Free Simply Shameless by Kate Pearce Page B

dreadful day."
    "I'm not being mercenary, Helene." He tossed her the letter. "Unless Lord Derek bequeathed the shares back to you in his will, whoever inherits the estate inherits fifteen percent of your business."
    Helene put the letter back on the desk and smoothed it with her fingers. "I hadn't thought about that. I've been meaning to ask Lord Derek to sell me back his stake for years, but he always seemed so thrilled to be involved in something so scandalous."
    George finished his tea and set the cup down. "I wouldn't fret about it. You still own seventy percent of the business, so whatever happens, you have a controlling interest."
    Helene fixed him with a sharp stare. "I would own even more if you allowed me to buy back your share as the Duke of Diable Delamere and Viscount Harcourt-DeVere have done."
    His face darkened. "They don't need the income this place generates. I do. Former gentleman spies and diplomats aren't paid very well, you know."
    "I know and I apologize." She sighed. "I suppose I'll just have to contact the solicitors and discreetly try and buy the shares back through them."
    George got to his feet and stretched. "That might take a while, my dear. An estate that complex won't be sorted out overnight."
    "I realize that, but it will probably be easier to deal with a lawyer than with the new heir."
    George chuckled. "It will surely be one of the more unusual inheritances a man might receive. A title and part ownership in a brothel."
    "It's not a brothel, George."
    He winked at her as he headed for the door. "I know. And now I am off to take breakfast with my daughter and steal her away from her lessons for a few hours before I fall into my lonely bed."
    Helene nodded. "If there is a memorial service to be held in London for Angelique and Lord Derek, will you escort me there?"
    He bowed. "If my wife doesn't expect my escort, and somehow I doubt that she will, I'm at your service."
    Helene waited until the door swung shut behind him before resting her now-aching head on her hand. Sometimes George still surprised her. His lack of distress over a man and his wife he had known for almost twenty years seemed cold. In the last few months, since his wife had taken a lover, he'd seemed to grow even more distant and cutting. It was as if by shutting off his emotions for his wife, he had shut down everything soft inside him as well.
    Helene took a moment to copy the address of the Knowles's solicitor and set the letter to one side. She continued to sort the mail, removing the latest Ackermann's journal to read later. Under a flyer about a miracle cure for baldness, she discovered a slim letter in a familiar hand. The signature scrawled across the corner of the letter was too hard to read, and the red seal was unfamiliar too.
    She unfolded the single sheet and peered at the closely written script.
    "Dear Maman, I am writing to inform you that I am married. Please do not interfere.
    Your daughter, Marguerite, Lady Justin Lockwood. "
    Helene stared at the note until the words blurred in front of her eyes. What in God's name had Marguerite done} She was only a child. Helene crumpled the letter in her fist. No, not a child anymore. She was twenty-one. Old enough to elope. Old enough to deceive her mother and evade the nuns who were supposed to care for her. It was Helene's fault.
    She should have insisted Marguerite come to live in England as soon as she had completed her education, not allowed her to stay on and teach.
    Helene stood up and began to pace the small space, her hands clasped to her breast. She would have to leave for France immediately, find out where her eldest daughter had gone, and have the marriage annulled. She stopped walking. The name of the man Marguerite had married sounded both English and vaguely familiar. She snatched up the crumpled parchment and reread it.
    Lord Justin Lockwood. An image of a dark-haired pretty-faced man formed in her head.
    Had he ever visited the pleasure house? Helene went