Free The Tiger Lily by Shirlee Busbee Page A

decision, and for one awful moment he was
afraid she might decide to accompany him. Sofia took an amused, knowing look at
his carefully controlled features and burst into laughter. "No, I don't
intend to come with you. Of course, if Sabrina would like to return with you
and visit with us awhile, would you mind acting as her escort?"
     
    "It
would be my pleasure," he muttered politely.
     
    Bad
weather conspired to delay his departure, but it also gave him time for
reflection, and for the first time in his life he seriously considered his
future. Certainly, he admitted wryly, he could not continue as he was—gaming
and whoring, living with his past reckless abandon. Ideally he should settle
down at Riverview and prepare himself for the day the plantation would be his.
But with a twisted smile he finally conceded within himself that he would never
live comfortably at home for very long—within six months the small tight—knit
community of "Upper Natchez" would stifle him and the smooth running
of Riverview would leave him with too much time on his hands.
     
    Having
admitted that much, he suddenly realized that he never would be happy living at
Riverview, and his jaw tightening, he came to a decision. He gave it careful
consideration, and then, his mind made up, he sought out his father.
     
    Brett
found Hugh going over the account books, and Hugh looked up with delight when
Brett walked into the study the next evening. Laying aside his quill, he smiled
warmly and said, "This is a pleasure! I wanted an excuse to escape these
dull books!"
     
    The
two men talked desultorily for some minutes, Brett sprawling lazily in a
crimson channel-backed chair near his father's walnut desk. They had served
themselves snifters of brandy from the crystal decanter that always sat on the
marble-topped table near Hugh's desk, and eventually Brett said quietly,
"I had a specific reason for calling upon you tonight."
     
    "Oh?"
     
    Bluntly
Brett said, "Before I leave on this trip to Nacogdoches, I would like you
to have the papers drawn that dispose of my interest in Riverview. Gordon
should have it. It is his home now, and God knows I've fortune enough without
it."
     
    Hugh
was stunned. Blankly he murmured, "Gordon will not be penniless, you know.
Sofia had money of her own, and I have also added to it." His voice
deepening with emotion, he added, "You are my eldest son, my heir.
Riverview has always gone to the eldest son."
     
    A
curiously gentle expression on his hard features, Brett said softly,
"Father, just because I was born first is no reason to leave Riverview's
fate in my hands." His lips twisted into a derisive smile. "On the
turn of a card I have lost and won a fortune equal to Riverview. Would you want
it in the hands of a wastrel and a gambler? Doesn't everything you have worked
for deserve a better caretaker? I want Gordon to have it."
     
    Brett's
startling announcement had shaken Hugh, reminding him miserably that Brett's
memories of Riverview could never be happy ones, that while now the house rang
with laughter and joy, it had not always been so. His son might claim he was
renouncing the plantation because he was satisfied with his fortune, but Hugh
suspected that there was a deeper reason.
     
    They
never spoke of the early unhappy years at Riverview, years in which they both
had lived in the hell created by Gillian, but Hugh was sadly aware that those
years had much to do with Brett's rejection of the estate. His comments about
being a wastrel and a gambler Hugh dismissed without further thought—he had no
doubts that his son would do the very best by Riverview should it come into his
possession. But would Riverview, with all its bitter memories, be best for
Brett? Inwardly Hugh sighed and candidly admitted to himself that there was
much to be said for Gordon's being the next owner of Riverview. But it had
always been understood that Brett was the heir, and Hugh was reluctant to
change that fact. Out loud he asked, "What