The Rakehell Regency(12)

She gasped and glared at him. "I didn't gambled myself away! I can't see how I can be obliged to agree to such a monstrous arrangement! And I shall certainly not do even further harm to my reputation with that ghastly lie."



"And I've told you, if we don't hurry, Clifford Stone will turn us out of here," he lied.



"I will speak with him-"



"He won't see reason. I'll be left with nothing. We'll both have to move out of here by the end of the month. Stone will either turn us out, or everyone in the neighborhood will have nothing more to do with us, since we will be branded dishonorable for reneging on the wager." Gerald grew more puce with every word.



"Please reconsider before all is lost. If you don't do this, I'll have no choice but to throw myself in the river or hang myself. Without my estate, I have nothing, and therefore nothing to live for." He managed what he hoped would sound like a convincing sob.



Vanessa gazed at her handsome but dissolute half-brother and judged him to be in a desperate frame of mind. "There are many who have far less than you, Gerald. You have only to look at the poor people on badly run estates, or the beggars in London. Or the veterans who fought in the Americas and on the Continent and came back wounded, and are expected to live on a paltry pension that would barely keep a cat alive. The coat on your back would feed several families for a year."



Gerald glared at her, but hung his head humbly, hoping he looked sufficiently abject for his kind-hearted half-sister to take pity on him.



"On the other hand," she said, looking at him thoughtfully, "it would be difficult, though not impossible, for you to adjust to such a life, to lose all that has been familiar to you. Since I'm in a position to prevent that from happening, I shall do so."



He began to grin smugly then, but she fixed him with a hard stare.



"However, make no mistake, Gerald. This is the last time I will assist you in such a way. Thus far you have made nothing of all of your privileges and advantages. I'm ashamed of your gambling and your weaknesses. I refuse to pay a penny more to encourage you in your life of reckless abandon.



"If I agree to marry Clifford Stone, then there are certain terms you'll have to agree to. After all, it won't be enough to alleviate those debts. Even if I paid off the entire mortgage, you need to have some sort of steady income. You need to find a way to earn a living. You encumbered this estate without any thought for the morrow. The house has been left to fall into ruin since Father's death. The farm has been sadly neglected, when it could have gone a long way to providing for your wants if only you had taken the trouble over it. If the family home is so important to you, you need to stay away from the gaming tables. And if you can't be bothered to husband your own resources, then we need to find you a good steward who can stop your life of endless squandering."



Gerald's bland smile hid the seething inner workings of his devious mind all too well. "Whatever you say, Sister," Gerald forced himself to reply meekly.



All the while his brain whirred at the prospect of steady income for the first time in ages with which to fund his endless rounds of pleasure.



Even if Vanessa remained adamant about not helping him, he could cause trouble for his new brother-in-law in all sorts of ways if he did not help him. And of course, there was his lucrative little hobby on the side... Risky, but he did enjoy it so. And some of the benefits were even more pleasurable than money.



Vanessa looked at her half-brother carefully, then rose to pace in front of the fire restlessly once more. She was appalled at the situation she had found herself thrust into, and completely at sea.



But Gerald expected some sort of an answer. She was sure she would get no peace from him until she gave one.



"Very well," she said at last, sitting down once more and crossing her arms over her chest. "I'll do as you ask, and have the papers drawn up. However, you won't be setting the terms as you had hoped. You aren't married, and have no heir. Cousin Peter is well off enough in his own right. There was never anything in Father's will to prevent a female from inheriting.



"Therefore you will sign this estate over to me, and live here as a life tenant, with the property to revert to any heir you may have, male or female once we're both gone. Or to my heir if you die childless. Failing both of those circumstances, one of our cousins or their children, if they ever marry, can inherit."



Now it was Gerald's turn to get up and pace. "I don't understand, what am I to do if I sign-"



"In return for the property, you'll be granted an allowance, which shall be no more than one half of the income of the estate. You must learn to live within your means, and learn how to manage the estate. You must ensure that none of the tenantry are left to suffer, as they apparently have."