“And why is it not possible?”

His mind went blank. “It… because…” He closed his mouth. “Because it just isn’t,” he managed to force out. Bloody hell, he felt like a blasted green boy. Gabriel tugged at his suddenly too-tight cravat. A relationship with Jane was as preposterous as…well, he wasn’t sure just what it was as preposterous as, just that it was.

His brother continued relentlessly. “I expect being wedded to the lady will at the very least result in…er…more, at some point.”

That brought Gabriel blessedly back to the reason for Alex’s presence. He squared his shoulders and regained control of his tumultuous thoughts. “That is why I’ve asked you to come. We will not be marrying.”

Alex opened and closed his mouth several times, looking like a fish plucked from the sea. “What?”

He waved a hand dismissively. “We will not be marrying.”

His brother’s eyebrows dipped. “Alas, if you’ve brought me by with the intentions of righting your wrong, my marriage to Imogen prevents any such assistance,” he said in ill jest.

Contained within the depths of his green eyes, there was so much disappointment and disgust that Gabriel shifted. It should not matter what his brother believed or didn’t about Gabriel and yet, it did. He’d not have this man whom he’d just reestablished a connection with, believe he’d not at the very least try and do right by Jane. “It is…I offered,” he bit out.

“And she said no?” Shock underscored Alex’s question.

He nodded once, recalling Jane as she’d been last evening, bold and proud and wholly uninterested in marriage to him. “And she said no, which is why you are here.” Gabriel slid his gaze to the closed door and then returned his focus to Alex. He found his brother watching him with curiosity with eyes that may as well have been a mirror of Gabriel’s as similar as they were. “The lady has no interest in marriage.” To me. An inexplicable pressure squeezed his chest. Why should that matter?

“I would say the lady is a bit past that decision.”

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And yet, it did.

“I never expected you to become this proper gentleman,” he said with droll humor.

“I know.” Alex grinned. “Love does peculiar things to a fellow.”

In an unexpected moment of camaraderie, they shared a smile. Then Gabriel recalled what brought him by. His grin slipped. “I need you to take her.”

His brother cocked his head.

Gabriel sighed. He was blundering this. “I need you and Imogen to allow the lady to remain with you until I speak to her father.”

Alex stilled and then a sharp bark of laughter escaped him. He slapped his hand upon his knee and laughed so hard tears seeped from his eyes. “Th-the lady’s father? You’ve gone mad.”

Gabriel bristled. At least one of them could find humor in anything after last night’s disastrous turn of events. “She is the Duke of Ravenscourt’s daughter,” he bit out on a tense whisper.

That brought an immediate cessation to Alex’s laughter. He snapped a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped off his cheek. “Beg pardon?”

What was so really difficult to follow about the admission? He glanced about. “She is…” He frowned, torn between explaining why he required Alex’s support and protecting Jane’s secrets. “She is illegitimate.” A memory flashed to mind of her, as she’d been when she’d made that very admission, embarrassed, braced for his disdain. Gabriel took another long swallow of his drink.

Dawning understanding lit Alex’s eyes. “Ahh.”

An overwhelming urge to knock his brother on his bloody arse for that single syllable utterance filled him. He planted his elbows on the edge of his desk. “What?” he snapped.

Alex held his palms up. “I did not say anything.”

“He has settled funds upon her,” he continued on, opting not to debate the telling “ahh” Alex had uttered. “The lady desires her independence. She can no longer stay here.” As it was, she should have never returned home with him and Chloe. However, the world had been so topsy-turvy last evening the rights and wrongs of her being here had been lost to confusion.




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