Chapter 3

Jasper St. James, the Duke of Norwood, was almost done receiving a shave from his valet when his brother Felix strode into his room, face glowing with happiness.

It had been a few weeks since they’d seen each other. At the end of the Parliamentary season, Jasper had retreated to the family seat at Harrogate, while Felix had opted to stay in London.

“Brother,” Jasper said, careful not to swallow as Stephens was currently running the razor over his Adam’s apple. “You look… happy.”

“I just met the girl I’m going to marry,” Felix burst out.

How fortunate that Stephens happened to have lowered the razor for a rinse because Jasper whirled around. “You’ve what?”

He would have to wait for his answer, because at that moment, the mastiffs went bounding up to Felix.

Felix immediately bent down to greet the dogs—not that one had to bend particularly far when it came to the mastiffs. Benedick came up to the top of Jasper’s thigh, and Jasper was not a short man.

“Bea!” Felix exclaimed, scratching her behind the ears. “Benny! It’s good to see you! Yes, I missed you. Yes, I missed you, too.”

Jasper frowned. “Their names are Beatrice and Benedick. They don’t like being called that.”

“Of course they don’t,” Felix said as Benedick rolled over on his back, looking up at Felix hopefully. Felix complied by scratching the dog’s tawny belly.

“Beatrice! Benedick!” Jasper pointed a commanding finger toward the pair of large corduroy cushions positioned beneath a window. “Bed! Now!”

The dogs both gave him a woeful look… although, honestly, their wrinkly, squished faces always looked woeful, even when he gave them each a joint of beef.

Whatever their feelings might have been, the mastiffs both obediently trotted back to their beds.

Felix was definitely giving him a woeful look, but Jasper ignored it. Accepting a hot towel from Stephens, Jasper sought to bring the conversation back on course. “What was that you said about meeting a woman?”

Just like that, Felix was glowing again. “Yes, and not just any woman—the future Lady Felix! I can’t wait for you to meet her.”

Jasper groaned. This wasn’t the first time Felix had informed him that he had found his future bride.

Far from it, in fact.

“Who is she this time?” Jasper asked, wiping his face with the towel.

Felix recoiled, looking wounded. “It’s been seven years. Are you ever going to let that drop?”

“Apparently not. Nor do I think that I should, considering that you were convinced you were going to marry three different women in the space of a year.”

Jasper used the term women for the sake of civility, but he thought leeches was more apropos. None of those women had cared about his brother. They had proved as much as soon as Jasper put them to the test.

Felix blew out an exasperated breath. “I was seventeen! If you can’t be a fool in love at seventeen, when can you?”

Jasper strode over to the wash basin. He happened to believe that one should never be a fool, not at any time, nor under any circumstances. But he doubted Felix would appreciate him saying as much.

“So,” he asked as he peeled off the shirt he had traveled in that morning, “who is it this time? Another actress? A member of the ballet corps? Or, my personal favorite, a long-lost Russian princess?”

Felix appeared in the mirror behind Jasper’s shoulder. He was glowering but refused to rise to his brother’s bait. “She is a fellow guest of Lord and Lady Milthorpe. Her name is Pippa. Pippa Weatherby.”

If Felix had just met the chit, Jasper would like to know why the hell he was already referring to her as Pippa.

But then, he recalled what was familiar about Pippa’s last name. “Weatherby? Wait—she’s not one of those Weatherby Wallflowers, is she?”

Felix laughed. “She’s not a wallflower at all. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Honestly, Jasp, I just met all four Weatherby sisters, and they’re actually quite handsome. It’s obviously just a stupid nickname someone made up to sell newspapers.”

“I was not asking to ascertain if she’s pretty. I’m asking because those Weatherby Wallflowers are penniless and grasping. I would wager that the only reason they’re at this house party is to try to trick some man into marrying them.”

Felix crossed his arms. “Is that not the very reason you’re at this house party? To find a bride?”

“That’s different,” Jasper said, accepting a fresh towel from Stephens and drying off his torso.

Standing next to his brother in the mirror, Jasper was struck by how differently they looked. Whereas Jasper was stocky and swarthy, with dark brown hair he kept clipped short and a good sprinkling of hair upon his chest, Felix was lithe and fair and wore his light brown hair in a fashionably windswept cut. The only trait the brothers had in common was their brown eyes, which they had inherited from their father the duke.

The reason they looked so little alike was because they had different mothers. For his first bride, the sixth Duke of Norwood had chosen a scion of the aristocracy. Gwendolyn Cavendish was the daughter of one duke and had the blood of two more flowing through her veins. She had been raised from birth for the role of duchess and had performed her duties with an impeccable sense of dignity.

But she had been carried off by a fever that had swept the house when Jasper had been just six years old. His father had remarried quickly, this time to the daughter of a vicar whose main qualification to the role of duchess seemed to be that she was extremely beautiful.

But Jasper hadn’t resented his stepmother. She had always been kind to him, and he had been pleased to get a little brother out of the arrangement. He was seven years older than Felix, so his role had always been more of a respected guide than a pure playmate.

But then, when Jasper had been sixteen and Felix nine, the duke and duchess had both died when their carriage overturned. Jasper had hurried home from Eton to find his little brother alone and disconsolate.

He had insisted that Felix come with him back to Eton. Nine was a bit earlier than most boys started, but Jasper hadn’t known what else to do. He didn’t like the idea of his brother being raised by servants, and, as his father and stepmother had both been only children, there wasn’t even one aunt or uncle who could take him in. The brothers were the only family they each had left, and they were going to stick together, damn it.

But Jasper had to admit that this series of events had lent a paternal quality to what should have been a fraternal relationship and that Felix did not always appreciate Jasper’s efforts to guide him. He wished things could be simpler with his brother. Felix was his only family, and Jasper loved his brother more than any other person on the face of this earth.

But that meant he wanted to protect him. It had gutted Felix when he found out that all of those women had thrown him over the second they found out that he wouldn’t come into his fortune for another eight years, and that they had all accepted the hundred pounds Jasper had dangled before them like a carrot in exchange for going away.

Jasper never wanted to see his brother in that state ever again. Better for Felix to be annoyed with him for a week than heartbroken and miserable for a lifetime. And if he had to play the villain in order to protect his brother from greater wounds, Jasper was ready and willing to assume the role.

Felix was still regarding him skeptically in the mirror. “So, it’s different when you come to a house party hoping to find a wife, but when the Weatherby sisters do the exact same thing…”

“I have something to offer,” Jasper muttered, pulling the shirt Stephens handed him over his head.

“And Pippa does, too,” Felix said, his voice becoming rhapsodic. “We have so much in common! I fell into conversation with her so easily.”

Jasper resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This hardly counted as an accomplishment. Felix fell easily into conversation with every single person he met, whether they were a duke or a dustman.

“She’s not merely beautiful,” Felix continued. “She’s kind. Genuinely kind. And she’s as passionate about animals as I am! Well…” He laughed. “Mostly she’s passionate about cats. But when I told her about the plight of carriage horses in London, she sounded very concerned. And more than that…” Felix paused, biting his lip. “When I told her about my hopes for the S.P.C.A., she was impressed. I’m certain she was. And, Jasp, that’s what I’ve always wanted! Someone who doesn’t just see me as the son of a duke who’s going to come into a little bit of money in a few years. Someone who likes me for, well. Me.”

He could see that Felix truly meant it. And—God—he hated to be the one to always put a damper on his brother’s hopes and dreams.

But it needed to be said.

Jasper tried to make his voice gentle as he asked, “And how long have you known this girl?”

Felix raised a hand in acknowledgment. “A half-hour. It’s true.”

“Felix…” Jasper groaned.

“Look, it’s not as if I’ve proposed. If she turns out to be awful, there’s no harm done. But I have a feeling about Pippa.”

Jasper tried to choose his words carefully. “I’m sure she’s very beautiful. But she’s a Weatherby Wallflower, which means she’s desperate to snare a husband—any husband. We should assume the worst.”

Felix waved this off. “She told me about all of that. Didn’t try to hide a thing. She even told me very matter-of-factly that she’s probably going to have to marry Lord Oglesby.” Felix laughed. “Paradoxically, it actually made me like her better, because she so clearly wasn’t trying to lay some trap. I’m telling you, Pippa is an open book.”

“Hmm,” Jasper said as Stephens went to work on his cravat.

“Just give her a chance,” Felix said. “That’s all I ask.”

“All right,” Jasper said begrudgingly. He cast a speaking gaze toward his brother’s dusty boots. “Shouldn’t you be getting cleaned up? Dinner starts in a half hour.”

“There’s one more thing.” Felix raked a hand through his wavy hair, suddenly looking nervous. “You know how my friends and I have been trying to get our organization off the ground.”

“Yes?” Jasper said, shrugging into his coat.

“There are a few associated expenses. Expenses that, out of the men in the group, I am in the best position to cover. So, I’d like to ask you to release a small portion of my inheritance.”

Jasper cut his eyes to Felix in the mirror. Why was it that his brother always seemed to attract “friends” who needed his money? “How much?”

Felix swallowed thickly. “Only a thousand pounds—”

“A thousand pounds?” Jasper barked, whirling around to face his brother.

“It’s only a small fraction of my bequest!” Felix protested.

“It’s a bloody fortune to most people,” Jasper countered. “What do these friends of yours need a thousand pounds for, anyway?”

“Mostly legal fees. The animal welfare laws that are currently in place have no teeth if we can’t pay an investigator to gather evidence and a barrister to press charges. People need to see that we are enacting consequences for abusing an animal. Once people see the good work we’re doing, they’ll be inspired to join. We just have to make a start.”

“And why can’t these lawyers work pro bono, if it’s such a good cause?” Jasper countered.

Felix gave him an exasperated look. “I suppose we could ask, but we could probably only prosecute ten percent of the cases we could otherwise pursue. And these animals can’t wait. They need our help now.”

“Hmmm.” Jasper turned back to the mirror, straightening his coat. “You said it was mainly for legal fees. What other expenses do these ‘friends’ of yours expect you to cover?”

“The rest of the money would go toward fundraising. We’ll make it back tenfold! But in order to organize, say, a charity sermon, you need to print handbills, you need to put an ad in the paper, you need a venue and a few refreshments. That sort of thing.” Felix cleared his throat. “So. Will you release the funds to me now?”

Jasper sighed as he turned to face his brother. “A thousand pounds is a tremendous sum of money.”

“I know that, but—”

Jasper ploughed over his brother’s protests. “It does not speak well of your friends that they would ask it of you.”

Felix’s brow was creased. “You don’t understand. I’m younger than most of the men in the group and less experienced. But this is a way I can help! This is how I can be involved, how I can—”

Jasper shook his head. “I fear you have fallen in with a fast set, Felix. A fast set who is all too eager to spend your money.”

Felix’s mouth fell open. “Did you just refer to William Wilberforce, Richard Martin, and Arthur Broome—Reverend Arthur Broome, I might add—as a fast set?”

Jasper shifted back and forth. He had forgotten that Wilberforce was involved.

Still…

“You cannot deny, Felix, that whenever I have released some of your inheritance to you, you have been cavalier with the funds.”

Felix cast his gaze toward the heavens. “Again, I was seventeen years old!”

“You bought a rock, Felix! A very plain, very unextraordinary rock. For three hundred pounds!”

Felix held his hands out in front of him, placatingly. “I honestly thought it was an ostrich egg.”

“It was not an ostrich egg!” Jasper snapped. “It was a rock! And even considering the remote possibility that it was an ostrich egg, why in all of God’s green goodness did you need to buy it?”

Felix scowled. “The man selling it had only the smallest paddock. I wanted to give the ostrich sufficient room to run around, to have a good life—”

“You are too soft-hearted,” Jasper snapped. “You get all worked up over imaginary ostriches and alleged Russian princesses, and you cannot see when people are taking advantage of you.”

“Again, brother, I was seventeen!”

Jasper shook his head. “Well, you weren’t seventeen during the unfortunate moose incident.”

Felix lifted his chin. “That was merely a slight misadventure—"

“You could have died!” Jasper snapped. “And you were the subject of a cartoon. It is still available for sale over at Ackerman’s Repository.”

“I thought the mother moose had abandoned those calves,” Felix protested. “I was only trying to help! Besides, I escaped up a tree—”

“Where you remained for the next two days.” Jasper rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know what I was thinking, letting you go to Norway. I suppose I should be glad you only antagonized a mother moose. It could have been a polar bear.”

“Yes, well, I was only nineteen when that one happened. Not that much older. And I have learned from my mistakes, Jasper.” At Jasper’s skeptical look, he insisted, “I have! But you will never afford me the opportunity to prove it.”

“I am only looking out for your best interests,” Jasper began.

“Did it ever occur to you that I might know more about my best interests than you?” Felix snapped. “That I should have some say in my own life?”

Jasper hated to see his brother upset. “Now, calm down—”

“I won’t calm down! I will come into my majority eleven months from now. Then, I’ll be able to spend whatever I want and marry whomever I want as well. And, if you would look at my current requests with unprejudiced eyes, you would see that they are reasonable. But you won’t! You made up your mind years ago that I’m the family idiot and anything I want must be inherently a bad idea.”

The words tore at Jasper’s heart. Did Felix truly believe that? Could he not see that Jasper had only ever tried to protect him?

“That’s not true,” Jasper said. “I don’t think you’re an idiot. I care about you, Felix. You’re my brother. I only want to protect you from making these mistakes—”

“Living life on my own terms is not a mistake,” Felix snapped. “I am allowed to want different things from what you want. And just because I refuse to be mistrustful of everyone I meet does not make my judgment bad or my choices mistakes.”

“Felix,” Jasper said, reaching for his brother’s arm.

Felix shook him off. “As you yourself pointed out, I need to dress for dinner. Do excuse me, brother.”

Jasper watched sadly as his brother stormed out the door. Sighing, he turned to find Stephens cleaning up the shaving things, studiously avoiding his employer’s eye.

“It’s for his own good,” Jasper said.

“Of course, Your Grace,” Stephens agreed. He kept his eyes fixed on the floor as he filed out of the room.

Jasper turned to look at the mastiffs. Benedick was asleep.

Beatrice, on the other hand, rose from her place on the mat, turned so that her back was to him, and lay back down, effectively giving her master the canine version of the cut direct.

Even his dogs thought he was an arse.

Sighing, Jasper went in search of someone who might appreciate his company.