Page 52 of The Duchess’ Second Chance

“We both thought it would be a good idea to come,” he told the viscount, keeping his voice neutral. “Does she know you’re here? I’m sure she would be happy to see you as well.” He was sure of no such thing. He was well aware that Amanda’s relationship with her father was a contentious one. But Amanda would want to know that Lord Stapleton was present today. He was fairly confident of that.

“I didn’t come to speak to Amanda,” Lord Stapleton said sharply. “I came here to talk to you.”

Sampson raised his eyebrows. “You must have known that if I was here, she would be as well. You’re telling me that you aren’t going to make the time to say good evening to your own daughter? I find that rather appalling, Lord Stapleton. I’m not sure I wish to speak with you either, if you have so little regard for my wife.”

“She was my daughter long before she was your wife. You won’t tell me how to comport myself when it comes to my own child.”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot permit anybody to disrespect the Duchess of Mortridge,” Sampson said firmly. “Even if you are her father. If you wish this conversation to continue, assure me that you will pay your respects before we leave tonight.”

The scowl that covered Lord Stapleton’s face would have made plants wither, but Sampson stood his ground and waited.

Finally, the viscount sighed. “I always meant to greet her,” he grumbled. “I simply don’t wish to be given orders when it comes to my own daughter.”

“Very well, then.” Sampson didn’t know if he believed that, but there was no point in arguing if he was going to be getting what he wanted anyway. “What did you wish to discuss with me?”

Lord Stapleton stood a little straighter. “The truth is that I thought the two of you might stay at home tonight out of a wish to avoid the gossip that’s going around about your marriage.”

“I have no fear of gossip,” Sampson said. “We came here to face it head on. Did you really think I would remain in my house for the rest of my life to avoid hearing what people might be saying about me? I couldn’t possibly care that much.”

“Well, you should care,” Stapleton barked. “You should have consideration for how all this is affecting me and my family.”

“When you say your family, who precisely are you referring to?” Sampson asked with a frown. “Amanda has certainly led me to believe that it’s only the two of you.”

“Well, and what of that?” Stapleton demanded. “Is that not enough? You stand here and you act to my face as if you care for her, but when I tell you to have concern for how your actions have impacted her, you act as if I’m being unreasonable.”

“I’ve done no such thing,” Sampson fired back. “But if you’re going to insinuate that I haven’t shown concern for my wife, I’m going to take issue with it. The truth of this, Stapleton, is that you’re here on your own behalf. You’re not talking to me out of concern for how your family has been impacted. This is about you. So, you might as well be honest and just tell me what it is you want.”

Stapleton’s lips pursed. “You ought to know that the scandal you created has impacted my business prospects,” he said. “You made me look weak before all of London. You disrupted the arrangement I made for my daughter and claimed her for yourself, and you didn’t even have enough respect to come to me personally and do so in a conventional way. You must have enough sense to realize that the right thing to do would have been to ask me for her hand. Not to burst in on a ceremony that was already in progress and say that you’d suddenly realized you wanted to marry her, as if you had never considered the matter until that very day.”

“I can concede that,” Sampson said. “But the deed is done now. She accepted my proposal, and the two of us are married. What anyone else has to say on the subject is a bit irrelevant at this point.”

“That’s easy enough for you to say. You got what you wanted. But me…I came out of this looking weak-willed, and like a man whose orders for his own daughter can be questioned. If I can’t keep my house in line, how can I be trusted in business? That’s what people are saying, you know. And you owe it to me to put that right.”

“I don’t know what you want me to do about it,” Sampson said. “I’ll remind you that very little about any of this appeared in the scandal sheets, and that’s largely due to my name. And then, too, there’s the fact that I did marry your daughter. I think you would have a far bigger and more valid grievance if I had left her without a husband or a future, but of course, that’s not what I did. I have provided for her ever since that day, and whatever scandal people might try to point to, they cannot say she wasn’t taken care of. If people want to question you as a father, you might point that out to them.”

“It’s not merely the fact that she’s married that matters,” Stapleton said. “It’s the fact that she did not marry the man I chose for her.”

“Do you want her to have married that man? There’s far more scandal surrounding him than there is me, Stapleton.”

“But he was my choice. The matter was under my control, just as it ought to be, until you stepped in. And now my business prospects are damaged.”

“I see very little I can do about that,” Sampson said. “If your business partners had more faith in you, something like this might not matter.”

“Do you mean to imply that I’m untrustworthy, sir?” Stapleton drew himself up.

“I mean only to say that you have a responsibility for the way people perceive you,” Sampson said. “This affair has not damaged my prospects. I encourage you to consider why that might be.”

Stapleton’s lip curled. “You owe me,” he said. “You have a responsibility to the father of your wife. You and I are family now, you know.”

“Well, I say I’ve done more than enough for you,” Sampson said. “Lest you forget, I didn’t take Amanda’s dowry when I married her. You ought to be grateful for that, and not come around demanding even more from me. You can use the dowry to improve your financial and business affairs, but from now on, leave me out of it.”

“Is everything all right?”

It was Amanda. She’d appeared at Sampson’s elbow and was now regarding the two of them with a furrowed brow. Sampson’s stomach clenched as he tried to recall the words that had been spoken. What might she have overheard?

“Everything is fine,” Stapleton said, his voice taking on an oily, conciliatory tone. “I was reminding your husband here of his duties to his elderly family members, that’s all. I know neither of you wants to see me fall on financial hardship.”

“This conversation is over, Stapleton,” Sampson said. “We won’t be speaking of these matters again. Amanda, will you come with me?”