Free Ambersley (Lords of London) by Amy Atwell

good to me. The least I can do is see that his debts are paid and his children’s futures secured.”
     
    She rose and shook out her skirts. “Curtis and Olivia will secure only condemnation and notoriety if you return to Society and remind everyone of a scandal better forgotten.”
     
    “ I’m well aware what my return will mean. But until I’m certain they are provided for, here’s where I shall remain. I must talk to this Mr. Minton and discover how matters stand.”
     
    Tamping down her agitation, she tried once more to reason with him. “Derek, you cannot mean to sully a peerage in this way. If anyone proves you’re not Reggie’s son—”
     
    “ That’s not likely, is it?” He turned on her, bitterness darkening his eyes. “After all, you’ve no proof. If you did, the butler would have shown me the door, and Curtis would have been proclaimed the new duke by now.” The rigid line of his jaw relaxed some. “Depend on me to do what is best for everyone’s interests.”
     
    “ Depend on you?” Despite her good intentions, her patience snapped. “You disrupt our lives with your sudden return, you threaten our family’s good name, yet I’m to trust you will provide for us?”
     
    Derek frowned at her heated argument. This was the Rosalie he remembered from his youth. Her mercurial moods had frightened him then, but now he withstood her outburst with no outward sign of emotion. He knew not how long he’d need to remain here, but he’d be damned if he’d do so at a disadvantage. “If you like not the terms, I suggest you return to Vaughan House.”
     
    Her lips clamped shut, and he saw the effort it cost her to calm herself. One elegant hand smoothed her dark locks as she released a shallow breath. “Forgive me, Your Grace. Your sudden return has surprised and unnerved me.” She dipped him a small curtsey.
     
    He nodded. “It’s understandable, but bear in mind, I mean no one harm.”
     
    “ Of course not. The children are my chief concern. Olivia knows nothing about your regrettable parentage, and I’d prefer she not learn of it until she’s much older.”
     
    “ Agreed.”
     
    “ Then let us set aside our differences and cry truce.”
     
    “ Truce,” he conceded. “Lady Vaughan.”
     
    A feline smile dusted her lips. “For the children’s sake, I think you should call me Mother.”
     
    Mother? Derek hoped he wouldn’t choke on the word.
     
    He was spared answering by voices in the hall. The drawing room door opened as if on its own, until Derek’s gaze lowered to find Johnny peering around its edge. Spying him, the boy pushed the door open further.
     
    “ Well!” Rosalie wheeled with a swish of skirts as if a grubby lad in her drawing room were the worst sin.
     
    “ They’re in here!” Johnny called over his shoulder, oblivious to her judgment. He turned back to give Derek a cheeky grin. “Mr. Harry said I might have another coin if I ran you to ground, sir.”
     
    “ Mr—oh, lud,” Rosalie sighed as Harry and a spare man, small and wiry with spectacles perched high on his nose, entered.
     
    “ Here they are, Mr. Minton,” Harry all but crowed. “Told you the boy could find them.” He added with uncharacteristic decorum, “Nigel Minton, my cousin, Derek Vaughan. I believe you’ve been searching for him.”
     
    “ Indeed, I have.” Minton swept a graceful bow. “’Tis an honor to meet you at last, Your Grace.”
     
    “ The honor is mine, Mr. Minton.” Uncomfortable with courtly gestures, Derek offered his hand to the solicitor and did his best to ignore the older man’s scrutiny as he turned back to Rosalie. “You remember my cousin Harry?”
     
    “ How could I forget?” She inclined her head in brief acknowledgment. “You and Derek were forever getting into scrapes together. I wasn’t sure you’d ever grow up.”
     
    Harry’s eyes lit with anticipation as they did whenever he sensed opposition of any kind. “I stand proof that I have