Intimate Deception Read Online Free PDF Page A

him everything he’d ever wanted from the time he was a babe. “Isn’t that what you promised Father you would do?” he asked, almost baiting Raeborn to deny it. “Didn’t you promise him on his deathbed that you would always provide for me?”
    Raeborn breathed a heavy sigh. He closed the gap between them, his determined steps making soft thuds on the thick Persian carpet. He did not let his gaze leave his cousin’s, but honed in on him with the serious glare that was such a normal part of his demeanor. It was time to put his foot down. Time to put a stop to his cousin’s extravagant spending.
    “No. I haven’t forgotten the promise I made your father. You, however, are the one who has misinterpreted what I promised.”
    Vincent saw a brief look of confusion on his cousin’s face. That look was quickly replaced with the endearing smile that Vincent was so used to seeing.
    “Spare me, Cousin,” Kevin Germaine said, holding out his hands. “I remember vividly what you promised.”
    “Then you’ll remember I gave your father my word I would see to your well-being.”
    Germaine shrugged. “I hardly see a problem. Just think of each bill as something essential to my well-being.”
    Vincent tightened his fists until they ached. His cousin instinctively knew just how to push him to the edge of his endurance. He would not let it happen this time.
    The clock in the vestibule outside the door struck the quarter hour, then ticked on with unerring accuracy. The slow, steady clack of the pendulum pounded in unison with the painful drumming inside his head.
    “Oh, come now, Your Grace. I am hardly intimidated by your hesitation. What is a meager thousand pounds or two to the overflowing Raeborn coffers? It’s not as if you don’t have enough to spare.”
    Vincent’s shoulders stiffened. The blood thundered in his head. How had it come to this? Was his cousin truly such a wastrel that he thought there would never be a limit to the amount he could spend?
    “What is it?” the young man said, rising and walking to the small table of liquor decanters. “Do you enjoy the dominance you have over me because you control my purse strings? Do you hope to see me beg?”
    Vincent started. “I have never made you beg.”
    His young cousin threw the liquor to the back of his throat, then slammed the glass down on the table. “No. Never
quite
, Your Grace.”
    Vincent rubbed at the sudden tension in his neck. “Is that what you think I want?” His confusion as to how to handle his cousin overwhelmed him. “To see you beg?”
    “What else could it be? You flaunt your air of supremacy, your condescending attitude, as if you have the right to make the rules to govern my life. You attempt to dictate my actions so I become the stuffy, staid, meticulously pompous member of society you are. God forbid I am condemned to such a boring life as yours. Well,” he said, slashing his hand through the air, “enjoy it while you can. You only have three more years until I turn twenty-five. Then I will have full control over my inheritance.”
    Vincent turned on him. “At this rate, you won’t have an inheritance to control!”
    “Then I will have to continue to rely on the promise you gave Father, won’t I?”
    Raeborn couldn’t believe his cousin’s audacity. “Have you ever thought where the money you spend comes from? Ever considered the hours of labor that go into earning the fortune you waste every day? Ever considered the hard work it takes the tenants
you
are responsible for to earn even enough to pay for the clothes on your back?” Raeborn took a step closer to his cousin. “Evidently not,” he said, his voice holding as much regret as anger. “Because you have always had everything handed to you as if it took no effort on anyone’s part to provide for your pleasure. A mistake I intend to rectify.”
    The young wastrel had given him no choice. He needed to be taught a lesson. Needed to learn responsibility before it was