Kendall stood in the hallway, shoulders heaving, breaths labored, thoughts fiery and raging.
He, a venerated Duke of the Realm, had just been forcefully ejected from his own drawing-room.
His twin was theonlyperson in the world he would permit to treat him in such a fashion.
Sometimes he hated that his love for her rendered him powerless and capitulating. He wanted to pound on the door. He wanted to throw a porcelain vase, or twenty.
He should summon his fencing master a day early and run the man ragged.
Instead, he pivoted for the stairs and his bedchamber.
Hysterical female laughter trailed in his wake.
An hour later, Kendall strode down the stairs, intent on his lunch with The Chancellor of the Exchequer.
A slim hand snagged his elbow.
“A word, Tristan.” Allie dragged him into his study and shut the door.
She faced him, hands on her hips, eyes crackling with fire.
Knowing his twin as he did, a thorough dressing down was in Kendall’s immediate future.
“I’m nearly late,” he snapped. “Say what you must.”
Allie’s gray eyes narrowed at his tone. “I would like you to cease being uncivil to Lady Isolde.”
“No.” He straightened the cuffs of his coat sleeve. “Now if that is all, I have a busy schedule to—”
“No?!Do not be curt, Tristan. You love me, remember?” She pointed a finger at his face. “That means you do not treat me like a bothersome underling. I require more information.”
“More information?”
“Yes. You are practically carved of ice when dealing with other members of theton. But my friend walks through the door, and you become a raging Italian lion.”
“Precisely. Because she is not, in fact, goodton. As I have said repeatedly, she and her entire family are a blight on Polite Society.”
“Is that why you are actively seeking to ruin Hadley?”
Kendall frowned. How did Allie know—
“Lady Isolde informed me of your plot to bring articles of impeachment,” his twin continued.
“My affairs with Lords are none of your concern, Allie.” Kendall tried to sidestep her and reached for the door handle.
She jumped in front of him, blocking his path and pushing him back into the room. “Of course your dealings in Parliament are my affair! What happens there affects more than just men. You are determined to pave over our father’s memory with your own, but what happens if you find yourself similarly disgraced? What about our family name then, the family name I also bear?”
Kendall paced back to his desk, folding his arms and half-sitting on the sturdy wooden top. “I will not permit that to happen.”
“How? Again, I require specifics, not vague promises. Though you might wish otherwise, you cannot control everything and everyone.”
“Will you let it be, Allie?!” Kendall threw up his hands. “I haven’t the time or desire to outline details for you. But trust that I have always heldyourinterests and the interests of the Gilbert family name foremost in my mind!”
Thank goodness his sister was the only person who truly loved him. Managing even one person’s affections was exhausting.
“Truly? Because I fail to see what we Gilberts gain from this pettiness with Hadley. Despite your own opinions, Hadley is well-liked, both by Peers and the public.”
“His politics are rubbish!”
