“Very,” Michael added. “Anyone else find it strange how our leader is all silver tongued and simpering with other woman, but not Miss Brown?”
“Shut up,” Gabe snapped, still glaring at the door. “Fairfax, make sure she doesn’t leave. Go and station yourself by the front door and look busy.”
“I believe there is a painting in need of attention there,” his butler said in his calm way.
“Which painting?” Zach asked.
“Who cares which bloody painting,” Gabe snapped.
“If it’s that horrid one with the ship, I say take it down and burn it, Fairfax.”
“That’s worth a considerable sum of money.” Gabe turned to his youngest brother.
“Value clearly does not equate to taste.”
“Please go, Fairfax.” Gabe pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t discount Dimity making a run for it.
“So, about my earlier point which you’ve ignored,” Michael said.
“She’s an annoying woman, which is why I am not silver tongued with her,” Gabe gritted out. “And I never simper.”
“If the women you met in the evenings saw the ruthless side to your nature, they would likely run in the other direction,” Zach added. “It is like you are two people.”
“I am not ruthless, I am fair.”
His brothers all laughed loudly.
“I am fair!”
“Fair, yes, but ruthless also,” Nathan added. “Dimity has never been scared of you. I find I respect her very much for that.”
“Is there a reason my character is under attack?”
“Attack is a strong word. We’re merely pointing faults out in a gentle manner so you can correct them and find a wife,” Zach said.
“You’re all provoking me,” Gabe snarled. “Don’t think I’m unaware of that. And this conversation is over.”
“Not by a long shot,” Nathan said. “So, what is the situation with you and Miss Brown? You’ve always been like circling dogs.”
“This subject is no longer under discussion. There is no situation. I was her employer, and now Abby wishes me to look out for her friend, which I am doing.”
“I’m sure one of us could do that if you wish to spend no more time in her company,” Michael said. “And indeed, why are you bothering at all? You were more than happy to release her from your employ when she was Abby’s piano teacher.”
“Abby asked me to find her,” Gabe gritted out. “And now I have, and realize her situation is dire, I cannot in good conscience let her live that way.”
“Why?” Michael asked, and Gabe thought about ending the conversation by planting his fist in his brother’s face. After all, he’d done that before.
“I’ve explained why,” he said with exaggerated patience.
“But it would be easier and more harmonious if we do it,” Zach added.
“I will do it,” he snapped. “She’ll outmaneuver you lot with ease.”
“Harsh,” Nathan said. “And she likes us, so it’s likely she won’t.”
That statement annoyed him far more than it should, because it suggested she did not like him, which she didn’t.
Looking at his brothers, he saw they were focused intently on him. “Do I have food on my face?”
