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Concerned for me, indeed! The only thing Mark Halesworth is concerned about is money. Don’t look at me like that, Justin. I know that as a wealthy widow I am at risk. But there is something about Lord Ashford that draws me to him. And I have been very lonely without you, my dear.”
     

Chapter 4
     
    Mark left the house feeling somewhat reassured. He knew that Claudia had loved his cousin, and although it had been two years since Justin’s death, it was possible that she felt no desire to remarry. That did not mean she never would. But if she did, he meant to see that she married him.
    When he was very young, Mark was not fully aware of how close he was to the earldom. His mother did not speak of it much, although she always carefully checked Justin’s letters for any references to eligible European women, and when she found none, would fold them up with a sigh of relief. But as Mark got older and Justin remained single, his mother encouraged him to think of himself as heir to everything: title, estate, and business. And Mark did. In school, he acted as though he were already the earl, and only socialized with older sons. He took his position so for granted that when news of the marriage reached him at school he lost not a moment’s sleep over it. But when he returned home that summer, his mother’s reaction began to wake him up to the reality: Lord Fairhaven had married a much younger woman and would likely produce an heir.
    When he made his courtesy visit, he began to take his mother’s complaining seriously. He would watch his doting cousin with his new bride, and the resentment planted by his mother grew.
    Summer after summer went by, with Mark watching for signs that Lady Fairhaven might be increasing. After seven years and no heir, Mark began to relax. And when, a few years after that, Justin tacitly acknowledged him, introducing him to estate matters, Mark again began to take for granted that he would get what was due him when the earl died. And he deserved it, damn it, after all these years of waiting and insecurity.
    His cold hostility toward Claudia, which he had kept very well hidden, began to diminish. After all, she kept his cousin happy. She would probably inherit a tidy amount, go off to London, and marry again.
    No one was more surprised than Mark when the will was read, and no one hid it better. He offered both his sympathy and congratulations and acted as though he had only expected the title and estate. After all, he had made quite a bit of money in his position as manager already since, like the late earl, he was a shrewd investor.
    His mother was beyond consolation, however. “I can’t believe Justin would do this to you,” she cried, when they reached the privacy of her home. “To raise our expectations all these years and then to give it all away to that devious little conniver.”
    “Claudia is hardly that, Mother,” responded her son. “Even you must admit that she was devoted to Cousin Justin. Her grief is quite genuine.”
    Mrs. Halesworth, whose temperament was volatile, burst into tears and cried out that she was a terrible cousin-in-law indeed to be thinking of money at a sad time like this.
    Mark, whose reserve had developed as a reaction to his mother’s tendency to overdramatize every little shift in her emotions, patted her shoulder automatically and waited for her to dry her eyes.
    “Although, Mark, I wonder…she said, lifting her head, her face transformed once again. “Fairhaven cared about you very much. Look at how he paid for your education and promoted you so quickly. Perhaps the will was his way of suggesting—which he could never have done in any other way, of course—that the title and fortune come together through you and Claudia?”
    Mark might work to keep himself aloof from his mother, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t a strong influence on him. The opposite, in fact. He had allowed himself to believe he would inherit everything. And now? Well, there was a