Chapter Ten
Gray took a long breath of cold morning air before he urged his horse forward and dashed past Lucien. He heard his brother’s laugh, so rare now, and then Stenfax thundered past him in return. They did this back and forth a few times, playfully racing each other. Of course, Gray knew the competition would get more serious as they neared the lake ahead. That was their traditional finish line.
As predicted, with the lake visible in the distance, both men urged their horses faster, faster. Gray pulled ahead, his heart racing with triumph, as the last hundred yards became the battleground. He would have whooped in victory, but seemingly out of nowhere another horse appeared. It was Felicity, who had been riding behind them, above all their games. Even riding sidesaddle she flew by and reached the water’s edge before her brothers.
Gray patted his horse’s side and muttered, “Next time, boy.”
All three got off their mounts, laughing and panting as they let the horses roam off to drink and rest and graze.
“Do I win something?” Felicity asked as she adjusted her hat over the blonde hair she’d inherited from their mother, rather than the dark tresses her brothers shared. “Or is it just boyish bragging rights, as usual?”
“I could give you a farthing,” Lucien suggested with a bark of laughter. “But it’s all I have. You and Gray have far more money in your coffers between you.”
Gray’s smile fell even though his brother was teasing. It was no secret that the Stenfax reserves had been dwindling for some time. Their brother had inherited gambling debts and the poor management of three generations before him. Lucien was working to recover what the prior earls had so foolishly squandered and he still refused to take help from Gray, who had built his own small inheritance back into a fortune, or Felicity, who had inherited quite a sum herself when her viscount had mercifully breathed his last.
Of course, their brother’s stubborn desire to fix things on his own was exactly why Lucien was poised on the edge of a dangerous precipice with Miss Celia Fitzgilbert. Gray scowled.
“Lucien—” he began.
“Oh Lord, he’s about to start,” Lucien said to Felicity. “Look at his face.”
Felicity smiled softly as she turned to look at Gray. “He does have a certain expression that says he’s going to start acting like the older brother instead of the middle child. That’s our Grayson, trying to save the world.”
Gray scowled at the playful words of his siblings. “This is nothing to jest about. You talk easily about the financial situation of the title, but I know it weighs on you. Without the troubles, you might not have ever chosen such a title hunter as Celia.”
Felicity moved on him, her smile gone. “For heaven’s sake, Gray, enough! Not only is Lucien well capable of making his own decisions, but you judge Celia Fitzgilbert too harshly. I’ve spent time with her in London as well as here, and she is a lovely girl.”
“Her ambition doesn’t trouble you?” Gray asked, tapping his boot.
“Not when it is made so plain,” Felicity snapped back. “She is not pretending.”
“Unlike Elise, you mean,” Gray said, ignoring how his brother recoiled at that hated name. “Yes, I agree, Celia is open as can be about her desires when it comes to Lucien. She could hardly be less interested in him and shows no romantic inclination whatsoever. I have seen him hurt before. I’ve seen youbothhurt before by the decisions you made in spouses.”
Both his siblings flinched and Felicity spun away with a soft sound in the back of her throat. Gray hated to make them relive their worst moments, but if the reminder of past suffering would help him save Lucien from a desperate and irrevocable mistake, it was worth it.
Lucien stepped toward him, hands fisted at his sides and face red with more than just the cold air. “Damn it, Gray! Did it ever occur to you to askwhyI chose Celia?”
“The money,” Gray said flatly.
Lucien shook his head. “No, you ass, it’snotjust the money.”
“Then what?” Gray threw up his hands in frustration.
“I don’t want any of the damned romantic entanglements you say Celia doesn’t show. She and I are clear on what we both want. On what we expect from each other.”
Gray huffed out his breath. It seemed Lucien had an answer for everything. “But doesn’t it make you question her character that she is so driven to marry a title and title only? And if there is a crack in her integrity in that arena, what others could exist?”
“You think Celia is walking around with a passel of secrets tucked in her reticule, waiting to pop out and hurt Lucien’s reputation?” Felicity faced him again, her eyes wide and bright with unshed tears.
Gray rocked back at the sight of them and clenched his hands together behind his back. What his brother and sister didn’t know, at least not yet, is that wasexactlywhat he feared. He’d even launched an investigation back in London to address that very concern. He’d hoped to have some answers before he departed for Caraway Court, but when that hadn’t panned out, he’d arranged to have a friend who was attending the wedding pick up his investigator’s report before he made his way to the country estate.
Of course, if he told them that, they would both tear into him about his actions and motivations. So it was best to wait until he had something concrete to share.
“You mock me,” Gray finally said, glaring at her. “But in truth, we know little about her past or her family. Her grandfather has a good pedigree, but you cannot say that he is a solid person. I walked in on him arguing with Rosa—with Mrs. Wilde just a few days ago. It was heated enough that I was forced to stop and check on the lady.”
He cut himself off before he said more. After all, what was he going to confess? That he’d kissed Rosalinde in the parlor as some kind of comfort? That he’d done so much more last night in the library?
He doubted that revelation would help him in this argument with his siblings.
