He paused, and Diana looked at him expectantly. “Yes indeed, I understand that, Mr. Muldoon. And because my brother predeceased our father, the entire estate now passes to me. Is that not so?”

The solicitor cleared his throat. “It’s not quite so simple, I’m afraid.”

Something monstrous was beginning to take shape in Diana’s head. She sat bolt upright, her gaze fixed upon him. “How so? Jem had no heirs.”

“Your brother, Jeremy Sommerville, made his own will, leaving his half of the estate to Colonel Rupert Lacey, a close friend from childhood and a fellow officer, I understand.”

And the monster was now roaring, fully formed. She was white as a ghost, her eyes strangely blank as she stared at him, for a moment unable to speak.

Muldoon looked at her anxiously. “Can I get you a glass of water? Perhaps a cup of tea . . .”

Diana declined with a gesture, her hand pressed to her lips as she gazed blankly into space. “It’s not possible,” she murmured, so softly he could barely hear her. “It’s not possible that Jem would do that to me.” She shook her head vigorously. “You must be mistaken, Mr. Muldoon.” But she knew he was not. Muldoon did not make mistakes, and certainly none of this magnitude. And Rupert had warned her, after all, although he hadn’t had the courage to tell her himself.

“I’m afraid not, my dear.” He slid a sheet of paper from the pile across the desk to her. “This is a copy of your brother’s will. It is signed and witnessed, quite incontestable.”

Diana picked it up with nerveless fingers and forced herself to read it carefully. And then she read it again. It was in Jem’s handwriting and it was signed by him and witnessed by two of his fellow officers. Jem was nothing if not thorough when he set his mind to something. But why would he do this? Oh, she knew he and Rupert were close, and remained so even after the debacle between his sister and his best friend, but never in her worst imaginings could she have believed he would betray her in such a fashion. Half of everything, even Kimberley Diamond, the racehorse they had bought together, trained, whose racing career they had planned. Their joint project over which brother and sister had spent hours of time together.

She handed the paper back. “Nothing can be done?”

He shook his head. “Of course, you might be able to come to some amicable negotiated agreement with Colonel Lacey . . . a division of the various properties, or perhaps the sale of some of them and a division of the proceeds. I would be more than happy to facilitate such negotiations and draw up the necessary agreements. In any way I can be of service, my dear. I have served the Sommerville family for over twenty years.”