“Very good.” Jeremy’s lips twitched, and Ollie’s mouth stretched into a wide grin before he scrambled across the room. After struggling only slightly to pull the heavy door open, he exited and then very purposefully pushed it closed behind him, leaving Lydia alone with Jeremy for the first time in nearly a week.
Jeremy had not moved from where he stood, feet planted wide, hands behind his back.
He looked very much the Earl of Tempest today. Imposing, haughty…
Adorably austere.
“Please, don’t tell me you came here without a companion,” he said.
“My maid is in the kitchen with your housekeeper, taking tea.” And since he appeared to be quite at a loss, Lydia folded her hands in her lap graciously. “Won’t you sit down?” she invited for the second time in less than a quarter of an hour.
…While sitting in a drawing room that was not her own.
She wasn’t going to allow him to chase her away so easily this time. She never ought to have allowed him to chase her away to begin with.
To her surprise, Jeremy took the place Ollie had vacated. If he’d wanted to continue avoiding her, he easily could have claimed the winged-back chair on the opposite side of the room.
“Ollie says he has a brother. Have you had any luck finding him?”
“Buck. And yes, I have.”
Jeremy stared down at his hands and her gaze followed. Slim and masculine with a few curling tendrils of black hair on his knuckles, she couldn’t help but notice how sinewy muscle flexed and moved beneath his skin. Lydia clutched her own hands tightly in her lap, squashing the desire to trail her fingers along his forearm, all the way up to where it disappeared beneath the folds of his sleeves.
“Lydia?”
She sat up straight and pressed her knees together. “I’m sorry. You were saying?”
But he was watching her knowingly now. Of course, she could never hide her feelings from anyone.
“You found Buck?” she persisted.
“Ah, yes.” Jeremy frowned. “He’s… trouble. Far more trouble than Ollie ever would have been. If Ollie’s going to stand half a chance at a proper life, the older boy can’t remain a part of it.”
“Oh…” She hated that Buck had beaten on Ollie, but they couldn’t very well keep them apart indefinitely, could they? “But he’s Ollie’s brother.”
Pain showed in Jeremy’s eyes, and Lydia guessed that memories of his own brother had come to mind.
“I miss Lucinda every day,” she confessed. “But I know she is happy and well. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be denied a sibling.”
She’d stood beside him at his brother’s funeral and watched him grieve. But he had survived. He’d not hated her brothers then—two men who might provide some of the companionship he missed now.
Jeremy’s throat pulsed. “Buck will ruin Ollie if he remains in his life.”
Her heart sank. She trusted that Jeremy wouldn’t say such a thing if he didn’t believe it entirely. “What will you tell Ollie?”
“The truth—that he has a choice.”
It was a very, very hard choice to present to one so young. In fact, it was a nigh impossible one.
“So, he’s going to have to choose between his own well-being—his own chance at living a meaningful and productive life—and staying at his brother’s side. I’m not sure he’ll be able to do that. I know that I couldn’t.”
“That’s why I…” Jeremy shook his head dismissively. “I’ll send for your maid.” He moved to rise but Lydia stopped him, placing her hand on his thigh.
“That’s why you what?” she asked, sensing he’d nearly told her something very important. “That’s why you what, Jeremy?”
IMPOSSIBLE
Jeremy winced.
