“Hello, Calder.”
His older brother turned, shock evident on the face Mungo had once known as well as his own.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Mungo.” His brother held out his hand.
Leo nudged him until he’d lifted his. It was the handshake of two strangers who would rather be anywhere but inches from each other.
“Hug the man, for pity’s sake,” Leo added, but Mungo just stared at his brother after releasing him. “I am Lord Seddon, but call me Leo.”
“Why are you here, Calder?” Mungo rasped. “In London.”
Older by five years, he’d once been Mungo’s hero. Calder was as tall as he was, and though his build was slighter, he was still larger than most. His red hair was graying and cut short, his clothes immaculate as they’d always been. He was wearing pale gray trousers, a black jacket, and a gray-and-black waistcoat. Calder had always dressed every day as if taking tea with royalty would be in his future.
The face he turned toward Mungo had more lines on it now, which was unsurprising, given the many years that had passed since they’d seen each other, but those blue eyes were as sharp as they always were.
“I need your help, Mungo.”
Five simple words, and the blood ties he had with this man came roaring back.
“Fenella is missing.”
“What?” The bellow had his brother wincing.
“She did not return to the Duncans’ after she’d gone out for a walk one day. They’d just returned from Bath, and Fenella wished to take some air.”
“The Duncans are the people she was staying with?” Mungo asked.
“Yes, and they have looked everywhere for her. Duncan continued searching every place he could think of, even getting the authorities involved, while he sent word to me to come to London at once.”
“Christ,” Mungo hissed.
“Duncan wondered if in fact she’d met someone, and this was why?—”
“No! Fenella told me how much she missed you all and was looking forward to going home to Scotland. She would never do that.”
“You saw her?” Calder asked, hopeful, and it was then Mungo saw the devastation, the dark smudges and tired eyes, and felt the desperation of a father for his child.
Mungo loved the Nightingales as if they were his blood and felt pain when they did. He understood what his brother felt, even if he did not know how to openly show it.
“I did, many times while she was here.”
“How did she know you were here?”
He thought about how to answer that and realized only the truth would do now. “Mother has always known where I am, Calder. I wrote to her often, and especially when I relocated.”
His brother stared at him in shock. “She never said anything when I talked about you.” He then shook his head. “But of course she knew, as she was the one who gave me your address before I left Scotland.”
“She did not reveal my whereabouts because I asked her not to.”
His brother shook his head slowly. “You hated me so much, it forced you to stay away from us for years and tell only her that you were alive and well?”
“Now is not the time for this. We need to find Fenella,” Mungo said, vowing silently that there would never be a time. Too many years had passed for him and his family, especially the man before him, to reconnect.
“But there will be a reckoning,” Calder said in a thick Scottish brogue.
Mungo didn’t add anything to that even as he felt the old anger and resentment stir inside him when his brother spoke that way.
