“I can say the blasted word,” he argued as Alex steered him to his office.

“Oh,” Alex drawled as they came to a stop beside the closed door. He quirked an eyebrow. “Then say it.”

“I…” He tried once more. “Oh, go to hell,” he growled as Alex launched into another round of hilarity.

“Here,” Alex said and opened the door. With a hand between Gabriel’s shoulder blades he shoved him inside. “I daresay a talk is in order.”

“A talk?” As he stepped further into the room, he loosened his cravat. “I’m hardly a child requiring any kind of talk.”

With the heel of his boot Alex shoved the door closed behind them. He stalked over to his sideboard and fetched a bottle of brandy. Decanter in hand, he jabbed a finger at the leather button sofa. “Sit.”

Gabriel bristled, but then with the blasted day and previous night he’d had, the last thing he cared to do was launch into a childish debate about tones of voice and orders to sit. Especially not when Alex had been far more magnanimous than Gabriel deserved in not having a good deal more fun at the scandal at the opera house. He sat. The room filled with the sound of crystal touching crystal as Alex poured a drink. “I hardly see what there is to talk about,” he said, grateful when his brother thrust a glass under his nose.

With his own glass filled, Alex claimed the King Louis XIV chair opposite Gabriel. He swirled the contents of his glass. “Oh, I suppose your Jane would be as good a place as any.”

He sighed. It was too much to hope that the discovery, the offer of assistance, and the limited jests would be enough. “She is hardly my Jane.”

Over the rim of his glass, Alex gave him a look. “That isn’t quite true.”

No, no it wasn’t. Not when tomorrow morn, she’d belong to him forever. He wiped a tired hand over his face. “What in blazes were you and Imogen and Chloe doing wandering the corridors during the performance?” Then, it hadn’t really mattered. Not when two of the most notorious gossips had also stumbled upon him and Jane locked in one another’s embrace.

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His brother frowned. “The Earl of Montclair visited our box.” Bloody Montclair. “He indicated that you’d called for your carriage and advised me to escort Chloe to the entrance of the theatre.”

He curled his fists into tight balls. A hungering to hunt down the man who’d quite adroitly destroyed his and Jane’s life thrummed through him with a life-like force. “I’ll kill him.”

Alex rested his hands on his knees and leaned forward. “Montclair’s machinations aside, you were, in fact, the one in the alcove with the lady.” Some of the fight left him, replaced with a stinging shame. “Montclair should not be the matter of discussion but rather your marriage to Mrs. Munroe.”

Oh, Christ. Gabriel took a long, fast swallow of his drink and welcomed the burn of liquor down his throat. Why did Alex have to be right in this regard? He expected more laughter from his affable, always in a good humor brother. Except when he looked at his brother, there was an uncharacteristic solemnity to him.

“All these years we’ve spent thinking we are nothing alike,” Alex said quietly. “I was the rogue and,” he motioned to Gabriel, “you were the responsible, always in control marquess.” His lips formed a wry grin. “And yet, only now do we discover how very similar we are.”

Gabriel stared into the contents of his glass. Alex had been the brave, indomitable one who’d put an end to their father’s abuse. Gabriel had merely been the sniveling, cowardly, pathetic excuse of an older brother. “We are nothing alike,” he whispered, and as those words filtered about them, he looked up hastily. His brother studied him through those mirror-like eyes of his own shade of green and Gabriel silently cursed. “I did not mean it as an insult.” He’d mucked up his relationship with Alex long ago. Though they’d begun to reassemble the broken pieces, neither had they fully healed. Perhaps they never would.

Alex waved him off. “But we are. No matter your protestations and the cool mask you’ve donned. Both of us, all of us, have protected ourselves these years.” He waggled an eyebrow. “Oh, you’ve done a rather impressive job of convincing me and likely most of the world that you don’t care. But you do. We all do. We’ve just protected ourselves in different ways.”




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