For a long while, the silence stretched between the brothers, interrupted only by the shy chimes of the carriage clock on the mantelpiece and the mellifluous morning song of the wood pigeons awakening in the trees outside.
The household would be stirring soon, and Max hoped to be away before a single other soul could even think about breakfast… and exchanging the gossip of the ball over their eggs and toast. Perhaps, the brothers could make it to Westyork before Daniel Barnet heard about the scandal too, to avoid the possibility of a duel.
“Anna would agree with me,” Max said quietly. “She adores Lady Caroline. It would break her heart to see her dear friend ruined because of her very own brother.”
Dickie lifted his mournful gaze. “But… I did not do anything. For once, it was an… innocent exchange between acquaintances.”
“The heavens do have a taste for irony,” Max said, feeling somewhat sorry for his brother. Just not sorry enough to let him off the hook.
He could not be weak now when a young lady’s future hung in the balance. True, Caroline was not his favorite person in theworld, and hedidblame the rash behavior that he had warned her about a few times before, but she did not deserve to suffer because his brother had been equally careless.
“You are an earl now,” Max continued, removing all warmth from his voice. “You have responsibilities, you have duties, and you are a representative of not only your own character but your family’s too. I am not asking you to marry Lady Caroline; I am telling you, as your brother, and as the man who can take this earldom away if you push me to it. But I would prefer it if you did the righteous, proper thing of your own volition.”
Dickie narrowed his bloodshot eyes. “You would not.”
“I wouldrathernot, but if you leave me no choice, then so be it.” Max had no idea if retracting the earldom was even possible at this juncture, considering everything had been signed and sealed at the Royal Court, but he needed his brother to believe that it could be done. And more, that he really would do it if he had to.
Throwing the blanket off himself with a face like thunder, Dickie sat there in the center of the bed, looking every bit like the petulant little brother of bygone days. And, for a moment, Max feared that his threats and commands and wishes would be soundly refused.
“I suppose you ought to saddle our horses then,” Dickie muttered.
“You will not run?”
Dickie sniffed. “I did not promise that.”
“Dickie…” Max’s eyes flared with anger. “This is not a game. Do not vex me more than you have already. I have never made demands of you, and that is my fault, but this is the day when all my… leniency from the past has finally been used up. Youwilldo as you are told.”
A ripple of something unfamiliar crossed Dickie’s face. A fear that Max had not seen before. “You really mean to make me do this…”
“I do, and if you are not at the stables in twenty minutes, I will find you and I will drag you to Westyork myself. Kicking and screaming if that is what it takes.”
Dickie’s throat bobbed. “Fine.”
That single word sounded an awful lot like, “I dare you to try,” but Max had a feeling that Dickie would not like what his older brother could actually do if pushed.
“Twenty minutes,” Max repeated coldly, hiding his breath of relief as he headed for the door. On the threshold, however, he turned and offered a small smile to his brother. “For what it is worth, Dickie, I am sorry it has come to this, but I warned you often enough. This was a matter of when, not if.”
“I am sorry, too,” Dickie replied tersely. “Though I am sorrier for Caro, for you are about to dash any chance she might have to find true love.”
Max sighed. “Then it is fortunate that I do not believe such a thing exists, and nor do you.”
“I havealwaysbelieved in love!” Dickie protested.
Max shook his head. “No, you believe in infatuations, in fleeting loves, in brief bouts of passion that fizzle as soon as they have sparked, and perhaps you might still carry on in that regard if you can convince Lady Caroline that yours will be a marriage of convenience.” He paused. “But youwilltreat her well and you willnotdisgrace this family—now, get dressed. At once!”
CHAPTER THREE
“Apologies for the intrusion,” Max said, standing from the drawing room settee as Daniel entered with a puzzled look on his face. Dickie, meanwhile, remained seated, his gaze cast down as if he had just been summoned to the headmaster’s study at Eton.
Daniel smiled hesitantly. “Not that this is not a rare pleasure, but may I ask what brings you here at such an hour? Did I leave something at Greenfield House?”
Behind him, a feminine gasp cut through the air. Caroline darted forward, halting in front of her brother as if she could prevent what was about to happen with her body alone. Guarding her brother against the truth and the scandal that was about to break.
“I can explain,” Caroline pleaded, clasping her hands together. “It was not a headache that led me to leave early last night, it was?—”
“Dickie and Lady Caroline are to be married,” Max interrupted, swiftly detailing the events of the ball that Daniel had clearly been unaware of.
As Max spoke, Daniel’s face clouded over, his gaze hardening as he met his sister’s wide eyes. Unlike Dickie, Daniel obviously knew what such a scandal would do, and would not take much convincing. It was something of a relief to Max as he concluded, “So, as I am sure you understand, we must remedy this without delay. Dickie, is there something you would like to say to Lady Caroline?”
