“So I see,” Katherine said, placing her fingers to her husband’s cheek.
Morgan scowled. If his brother had brought him here in order to show him the joys of the bond he had with his wife, he was wasting everyone’s time. Not that Morgan didn’t like Katherine. He did like her, enormously. No one could deny her kindness and welcoming demeanor, nor question her utter beauty. She had come through a great deal, it was rumored, but she didn’t seem embittered by it all. Morgan sometimes wondered how she did it.
“I found him,” Robert said, motioning to Morgan, who still stood in the doorway.
Selina moved to him with a soft smile. She caught his hand and squeezed briefly. “Good morning. You look terrible and you smell worse.”
“I hear I have you to thank for sending the nursemaid to collect me,” Morgan said with a frown for her, even as he squeezed her hand in return.
I’m sorry, she mouthed, though she looked anything but as she flitted away to the sideboard, where she poured him coffee without asking how he took it. Unlike his relationship with Robert, his bond with Selina had been established years ago and had always been strong. They were so very alike.
Katherine approached him next. She flitted her gaze over him and her concern was written more gently on her face. “You weren’t injured? You’re well?”
Blood heated Morgan’s cheeks at her question, asked with such sincerity. That connection she created with her kindness wasn’t one he’d sought very often. So he flashed her a smile that pretended away any negative response to her query. “I’m right as rain, Your Grace.”
Her lips pressed together and she looked unconvinced, but she nodded regardless. “So you say. I’m just glad you’re here.”
She seemed honest in that response even as she stepped away. She moved to Robert’s side and touched his arm, lifting her gaze to him and creating a world of unspoken communication. Robert’s expression relaxed and he smiled at her with pure adoration.
Then his gaze turned to Morgan and all the softness bled away. “I’m concerned about you,” he said.
Morgan rolled his eyes and strode over to the sideboard. “I need a bloody drink.”
“That’s what started all this, isn’t it?” Robert snapped, and Morgan felt him watching him as he dug under the sideboard for a bottle of whisky.
He came up with it in his hand and slammed it on the tabletop before he pivoted to face his brother. “I know I wasn’t at my best,” he barked. “I’m not a fool, no matter what you think of me. But I don’t need a father,Roseford. And if I did, it wouldn’t be you.”
Roseford flinched, as did Selina at Katherine’s side, and for a moment they all stood in the wake of Morgan’s imprudent retort. One he wished he could take back as he saw its impact. Too much, too far.
The story of his life.
Robert drew in a long, shaky breath and Morgan waited to be kicked out of his parlor once and for all. Instead, his brother ran a hand over his face as if he were very tired. Then he said, “I would never try to be that to you,” Robert said softly. “I’m too young, for one.”
Morgan smiled slightly at the attempt at the joke. It cleared the room of some of its tension. “You’re seven years older than me. Thirty-three is ancient.”
Robert shook his head. Seemed he wasn’t willing to play away the serious issues at hand as easily as it had originally seemed. He glanced at Selina and Katherine, almost with uncertainty.
“Morgan, when you started having trouble last year, when I got wind of…of the problems you’d caused. Of the consequences you were about to face, I never judged you, did I?” Roseford asked.
Morgan flinched.Thatwas how the two of them had come to meet face to face. He’d gotten into some trouble with that same friend who had been at the club last night. Roseford had been the only place to turn in order to avoid…well, to avoid a dire outcome, indeed.
“You didn’t,” Morgan agreed through clenched teeth. “Though it appears you intend to do so now.”
To his surprise, Roseford’s expression softened. “No,” he said quietly, holding Morgan’s gaze. “I would never. Not only because I have no leg to stand on when it comes to behaving badly.”
At the fireplace, Katherine let out a tiny snort and Robert shot her a playful glare.
“But also,” he continued, “Because I have no idea of what would make you feel you have to behave in this manner. I know you’ve lost in your life—”
Morgan held up a hand. “I will not discuss that with you.”
Robert inclined his head, though Morgan thought he saw a flash of hurt in his eyes before he hid it. “Very well. Perhaps one day you’ll trust me with some part of yourself that isn’t the act you present to the world. Or not. That’s your choice. Whatisn’tyour choice is how your behavior affects those around you.”
“Like you,” Morgan sneered.
Roseford shrugged. “Yes. Me and our family name—”
“It’s not my family name,” Morgan interrupted.
