Disreputable
Adjective: Not respectable in character or appearance.
"This is BBC Radio 4 and here is the news read by Chris Aldridge."
"The artist son of The Duke of Shettleham, Jasper Neyve, who is the Marquis Prybourn was photographed by the press early this morning rescuing a runaway horse at the gates of Hyde Park. It seemed that the rescue happened on the spur of the moment as Marquis Prybourn was naked except for a pair of women's red silk and lace underwear. He ran across the road and jumped on the back of the horse to stop it, running into traffic. When asked about his attire, the Marquess said that he jumped out of bed and his girlfriend's pants were the first thing he picked up. He said the safety of the horse and keeping it away from the traffic was paramount.
The Prime Minister flew to Brussels last night…"
It was a slow news day.
Edwin Neyve closed his eyes in fury and despair. He forced his breathing to be even and slow, his bone-white knuckles as he clenched his fists were the only sign of his rage. God help him if the nurse caught sight of his anger, she would fuss and faff around him as if he was drawing his last breath. Edwin knew that moment was not too far away, but it wouldn't be today.
For his son, however, if he could get hold of him, drawing his last breath might come sooner than he ever thought it would. Once again, Jasper had disgraced their name. Edwin was sick of seeing his only son in the Daily Mail' column of shame'. In fact, that wasn't the only tabloid newspaper Jasper was in this morning, his charming features and irrepressible grin also graced The Sun, The Daily Mirror, and The Daily Express. Edwin refused point-blank to look in The Daily Star. Worst of all, he was on the front page of The Daily Telegraph.
He was seething. What the hell did Jasper think he was playing at? It wasn't the fact that he was tearing around Hyde Park on the back of a horse, but the fact that he was naked except for a pair of red lacy knickers which probably belonged to one of the two topless floosies hanging out of his bedroom window cheering him on!
Did he have no respect for his heritage, for his title, and the name he bore? How could he trust him to take care of the house and land after he'd died? His behaviour was appalling! It was just not good enough, not by a very long shot!
He took a deep calming breath and soothed his anxiety by looking around his ancient study. It was, he thought, the very best part of Shettleham Manor. Just sitting at his desk watching the early morning sunlight refracting rainbows through the mullioned windows, brought a sense of peace and continuity somewhat dispelling the feeling of anger and irritation caused by his son. The light bounced off the glass-fronted shelves, housing his leather volumes depicting the history of his home and ancestors. The house had been standing here since 1346 AD, a reward for knightly and valiant service at the battle of Crecy by Edward III.
There had been numerous alterations over the seven hundred years that a Neyve had been living here and this wonderful room was added in during the reign of Henry VIII.
They had fought for the monarch, upheld the law, tended the land, and looked after the tenants. The past Duke's of Shettleham had been warriors and landowners. There had, of course, been the odd rogue in their ancestry. The fifth Duke, Thomas, had upset King Henry VIII, which, according to hindsight, was not a very bright thing to do at the best of times, but after spending several months in the Tower of London Henry forgave him. Edwin could only imagine that he had been a real charmer. Just like his son. The Holbein painting of Thomas in the great hall was the spitting image of Jasper.
He moved the mouse to click the X, banishing The Daily Mail's picture of his grinning son from the computer screen. He had to do something to rein Jasper in. Time was short for him, the cancer was eating at his body despite the chemo, but he had made peace with God, he wasn't afraid of dying. He'd had seventy-five years of life, and it was a good life. Twenty years older than his dear wife Rosslyn, she had put up with him all these years, loving him even though he had been a lousy and unfaithful husband. He hoped that once he was gone, she would find someone to love her, someone to comfort her.
Now though, it was his errant son whom he needed to control. For a moment, his mind drifted to another boy, some eighteen months younger than Jasper. He still felt the stomach-churning shame after all these years, that just six weeks after she had given birth, he had cheated on his wife. He had been incredibly selfish, not to mention stupid, in enticing and seducing one of the stable girls. Rosslyn had been exhausted after a prolonged and difficult birth, and although Jasper was looked after by Nanny Grisham, his wife was too tired to see to him and his needs, so he went elsewhere.
Over the years he had repeatedly blocked the whole episode from his mind, mostly when Jasper went away to Eton and he didn't seem him for weeks at a time. However, occasionally, it blasted to the forefront of his consciousness, causing him to lose his thoughts and to endure the shame again and again. The boy and his mother were far away in Yorkshire, and perhaps still living in the house he had secretly bought for the girl. He hoped that she had used the lump sum of fifty thousand pounds to live well, she had been an intelligent girl, mostly, and promised him that she would make use of the money to the best of her ability. Now, in the twilight of his life, he wondered about the boy and if he had made a success of his life, was he married, did he have children of his own, was he happy? What did that girl call him? Grant? Yes, that was it, Grant Dawkins.
'Braxton, the butler, had driven her to the train station with her luggage, not that she had much. He had forbidden her to tell Braxton why. He had threatened her with the loss of the house and money if she told a soul. Rosslyn's knew nothing about this, although she was too exhausted to bother much about anything except her baby.
There was no need for anyone else to know the boy wouldn't be entering the family. By-blows were swept under the carpet. He knew that wasn't a very modern way of looking at it, but he was old fashioned enough, and maybe shameful of the fact that he had cheated on his wife over and over again. His wife, who loved and adored him. However, it might be prudent to have his lawyer, Henry, do a discreet search and find out just where he was especially if his firstborn didn't pull himself together.
Maybe telling Jasper that Grant might be taking over the dukedom if he didn't alter his ways would shock him into behaving himself. For God's sake, the man was thirty-three years of age, and he should be married with a couple of children by now. Father to a son who would take the reins eventually of this house and land. But then, that brought another problem.
The girls that Jasper associated with were ghastly! They had absolutely no class whatsoever! Showing everything they had in those ridiculously short frocks, had they never heard that imagination is everything as far as a man is concerned. He did not doubt that the parties these young people went to were on a par with a Roman orgy full of drugs and sex. Well, he had some influence on who Jasper married, even if he was dead and buried. He would phone Henry, and he would change his will. He would put a stop to Jasper's shameful ways, and he would teach that boy a lesson.
AudacityNoun: Rude or disrespectful behaviour.
Inside, the whitewashed church of St James was cold, and the glare of the sun against the walls was excruciating for Jasper, who had forgotten to bring dark glasses. As funerals go, it was going well enough. Jasper slumped in the family pew of the village church, breathing slowly and trying to keep nausea at bay. He spent most of the service with his eyes closed until his mother elbowed him in the ribs to tell him that it was his turn to do the reading.Jasper stood up and sightly staggering because the sun shining through the stained glass window hit right in his eye, or so he told himself. He walked towards the ancient and straightforward pulpit. He was so tired his eyes were half-closed, which is why he half tripped up the steps to the pulpit. The silence was broken by coughs which spread across the church and muffled giggles at the back of the church.In the pulpit, Jasper's eyes narrowed sharply, and he glared towards the sound of the giggl
Jasper watched the girl as she looked around his studio. He was furious that she was late but relieved that she had turned up. He stared at her, what the fuck was she wearing? The cheap and poorly fitting navy business suit seemed odd for her to wear. His life models came dressed in more bohemian and usually very sexy clothing, depending on their age.He stood quietly, waiting for her to notice him. She'd not heard him come through the door from the roof garden, probably due to Mick Jagger belting out 'Start Me Up' which must have covered the sound of his footsteps.He studied her again she might look as if she had dressed in a skip, but she was beautiful, classically beautiful. Jasper was Grace Kelly but with rich conker coloured hair, which unfortunately was scraped back into a precise bun. He wanted her hair down the curls cascading over her shoulders. Jasper couldn't see much of her figure; it was lost in that awful suit. She was slim though, and of average h
During that first week, Ellie settled in quickly and true to his word Jasper stayed mainly in the studio painting while Ellie familiarized herself with the house and the other people who worked there. Mrs Blakeney, or Betty, was the head of the cleaning staff at the London house. Betty was a fierce cockney who refused to hear a bad word about Jasper."Don't you take any notice of what it says in the papers." She grumbled one morning after she had seen a report in the Daily Mail of all the women who had been in his life."'Neyve of Hearts' indeed, he's just a boy doing what boys should at his age," she scoffed. "He just hasn't found the right one yet, and I know" she lowered her voice "that he doesn't believe in divorce." Betty marched out of the kitchen, "How dare they say undignified things about Jasper." she muttered as she went back up the stairs.Ellie glanced at the paper. There was nearly a full page of headshots of women. Some were members of the aristocr
"Ahh there you are," Jasper said as he poked his head around the door to Ellie's office. He hung on the door half in the room and half out waiting while she finished typing.She was up and working already, and it was only just eight o'clock.Where else would she be? Ellie thought as she looked up from her typing.
Jasper sprawled on the sofa in his study, he'd left the door ajar, and he could hear Ellie moving about opening the filing cabinets and gently humming a tune. She had the afternoon off, and she wasn't even supposed to be in there.He should tell her to get out of that suit put her jeans back on, and that sexy shirt that showed off those gorgeous breasts, and he would make sketches of her. He would paint her wrapped in his ducal blue velvet robe, which would spill open to reveal her delicious creamy skin and just the edge, or maybe one, of her raspberry coloured nipples. He wouldn't want too much showing there had to be something left to the imagination. He wondered if she waxed, did she have a landing strip like Georgie, which he always thought looked ridiculous, trimmed to within a millimetre of its life. What Ellie needed was a small neat triangle of silky curls. Or nothing at all.Jasper closed his eyes as he imagined his hands running up the smooth contours o
It was dark in the club, dark and noisy, well, it was Friday night how else was it supposed to be? Jasper had almost changed his mind on the way over to the club. The only reason he had come was to have sex, get his rocks off and get Ellie out of his mind, and now even that had lost its allure.He made small conversation with Tom on the way over here, though he hadn't apologised for losing his temper. Tom was weird like that; he was a typical Hooray-Henry. Tom was an Honorable. His father had been made a Lord for services to the community or some such thing. Tom had taken his Honorable title to heart, and he enjoyed people bowing and scraping before him. It just made Jasper feel uncomfortable, but he was born into it, so he didn't take much notice and unless people made a big deal out of calling him 'Your Grace' he never really bothered.He got a couple of beers from the bar, and he knew it wouldn't be long before Tom would be ordering champagne, well let h
Ellie tossed and turned until midnight when she woke up and discovered that she was still dressed. Ellie staggered, still half asleep, to the bathroom, she pulled her suit off and made the usual comforting process of cleaning her face and brushing her teeth. Pulling her nightdress on, giving her hair a final brush Ellie got back into bed. The conversation she had heard, played over and over in her mind. She was painfully aware of the saying that eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves. Well, that wasn't entirely true, what they had said about her was all very good they thought she was gorgeous, it's what they wanted to do to her that made her feel sick. It was so embarrassing as well that Jasper had seen her, why hadn't he said anything? The thought made her blush, and she was so suddenl