“Let the man speak,” Asher said.
Pierce pressed his lips together.
With a nod, Mr. Benedict continued. “All the property, entailed and unentailed, except Knotting House in London, and the entirety of the family fortune, except for an allowance Carrington deems fit, shall be bequeathed to Carrington. Knotting House will belong to Lord Pierce.”
“How gracious of Father,” Pierce quipped. “He’s managed to unman me from his grave by leaving me the smallest home we own and an allowance to be given by you.” Pierce’s gaze met Asher’s, and the ire was unmistakable.
“Possessions do not make the man,” Asher said.
“Says the man who sits with the bulk of the possessions,” Pierce snapped.
“I’ve worked all my life for everything I have, Pierce.”
“Except this,” Pierce shot back. “You did not work for what you are now given, simply by being born first.”
That was true, and there was no arguing it. Pierce needed to learn to work for things himself. Could it be their father had recognized that? Who the devil knew…
“We can discuss the arrangements later, Pierce. I’ve no desire to be yer keeper.” Though until Pierce got himself under control, Asher may well need to be.
“How nice to hear,” Pierce grumbled.
Mr. Benedict cleared his throat as before, but this time, it was a nervous sound and not as polite. “There is a caveat to what I have just told you.”
“Of course, there is,” Asher replied. “Get on with it.”
“In order for you to inherit all the unentailed property and fortune, you must wed one of the ladies on your father’s list”—Benedict held up a piece of foolscap—“in the next three months.”
The slight tic in Asher’s right eye sped up and intensified, his jaw tightening. On the other side of the desk, Pierce began to laugh like a lunatic but paused to say, “It’s nice to discover he’s trying to unman you as well.”
Asher clenched his teeth. He had vowed to never let his father affect him again, but damn the man for trying to control him from the grave!
“There is no amount of money that can force me to wed a woman I do not wish to wed.” Again. But immediately, Asher’s mind was filled with the faces of all the good men and lasses who worked for him and would be detrimentally affected if he did not somehow keep his company intact.
As Mr. Benedict nodded, Pierce slapped the desk with a grin. “Excellent! I’m so glad you have such principles, Carrington. I’m not afflicted with such bothersome things.” His brother chuckled while scooting forward on his chair. “Do I need to sign some papers to inherit the money and unentailed property?”
“Your Grace.” Mr. Benedict’s steady gaze bore into Asher. “Your father suspected you might respond as you have. He wrote you a letter. Would you like to read it privately?”
Asher had to unclench his teeth to force words out. “Nay. I don’t give a damn what’s in his letter.” That was a lie. He did not have the luxury to be so flippant. He slid his teeth back and forth, fury now pumping through his veins.
Mr. Benedict nodded. “He also said you would not wish to read it privately.”
“Read the letter,” Asher bit out.
“Son—” Asher tensed and Pierce scoffed at the unexpected personal opening, but Mr. Benedict continued, seemingly unperturbed. “Before you relinquish much of your inheritance, think upon this: this money could greatly aid Loch Glen Distilleries.”
Asher inhaled deeply.
The sodding devil… His father had known Asher’s company was in trouble.
“Not to mention, you do not even know the women on my list yet—” Mr. Benedict continued.
Asher narrowed his eyes. It irked him that his father had known what Asher’s gut reaction would be.
“I would encourage you to think of those who depend upon you.”
Conniving, scheming swine…There was no doubt now that his father had known.
“I’m certain you are sitting there seething.”
Asher grunted.
“I’m also certain you will think of a way to do the right thing and triumph over me while doing it.”
As if Asher gave a damn what his father thought.
“To my utter shame and regret, I did not have enough fortitude to think of a solution in my own time to reject my father’s demands to divorce your mother, but perhaps you do not have the backbone to do what it takes to triumph, either. We shall see.”
It was definitely a challenge. Even from the grave, the man was goading him.
“After all, you did wed Elizabeth without so much as a query into the heart of the matter; though, I confess, I questioned things too late myself.”
What in God’s name was that supposed to mean? The heart of the matter? His father had questioned what too late? Asher drummed his fingers on the desk, irritated with his lack of answers.
After a moment, he realized Mr. Benedict was not reading anymore. “Is that it?” Asher asked.
Mr. Benedict looked up from the foolscap. “No, Your Grace. Your father instructed me to pause here, and then—” The solicitor looked from Asher to Pierce but did not say anything.
“And then what?” Asher demanded as Pierce went from looking bored to irritated to, hell, Asher didn’t know what that look on his brother’s face was, but it was one he’d never seen.
“Lord Pierce?” Mr. Benedict asked.
Pierce’s expression became what could only be described as mutinous. “Have you forgotten how to read?” he snapped at the solicitor. “Get on with what I need to do and abandon whatever nonsense my father dreamed up in his mind. He was not in his head in the end, as we all know.”
Mr. Benedict sighed. “Lord Pierce, your father instructed me to read this to you at this juncture: There are no ties that bind the mind as tight as those of guilt. And a bound mind cannot think upon all it needs to address, such as being purposeless and repenting. I express my most heartfelt apology for spoiling you, for I believe that is the weakness that has led you astray. I did love you as best as I was able, but my remorse for what my own weakness cost me, I know, made me a hard man.”
Asher swallowed, uncomfortable with how his chest had tightened at his father’s unexpectedly human words. He had thought the man devoid of guilt, as he’d never expressed it, but it seemed Asher had thought wrong. He studied Pierce, who looked wholly uncomfortable now. Asher didn’t know to what his father’s words referred as the man had purposely prevaricated, but he supposed it was not his right to know what sins Pierce needed to repent. God knew Asher had sins he could ask forgiveness for, as well, and he sure as hell would never confess them before witnesses. So he wouldn’t question Pierce on it.
“Is that all?” he asked again instead.
“Yes. All that remains to be read is the list of the three ladies your father selected for you.” Mr. Benedict hitched a bushy black eyebrow. “If you wish to hear them?”
“And if I don’t?” Asher asked.
“I’m afraid if you do not hear them now and set your courtship in motion by tomorrow at the Antwerp ball, my instructions are to prepare the legal documents for your brother to inherit the money and the unentailed properties.”