“This is my house.”
“How the devil—?” He cut himself off as his brain put the pieces together. “Dove-Lyon.”
“She sent a missive that my oldest friend had risen from the dead and I should come collect him.”
Bloody hell.
“Imagine my surprise to find she was speaking the god’s honest truth.”
Bishop stared into the dark gaze of his childhood friend, Brent Madden, the Marquess of Knoxley, known to his friends as Knox. The man might as well have shoved a fist through his chest, grabbed hold of his heart, and squeezed. Almost the same as with Alyssia but also completely different. In one day, he’d come face to face with all he’d been robbed of twelve years ago.
Knox moved farther into the room, stopping beside the window where the curtains were drawn half open. He gave him another quick once over. “You look like hell.”
“Feel like it, too,” Bishop muttered, dragging a hand down his face.
“Good, seeing as you were meant to bedead.Did the devil not want you and spit you back out?”
Bishop gave a humorless laugh that turned into a cough. “Something like that.”
Knox’s jaw clenched. “I spent half the night convincing myselfyou’re a ghost and I’ve entered a nightmare.”
“Well, thank you very much.”
“You think this is damn funny? In twelve years, you couldn’t send a bloody missive that you’re alive?”
Bishop sighed. “Could I? You must have figured out my uncle’s hand shaped all this. I couldn’t take the chance.”
“So you waited twelve years?”
“Should I have come back as a boy with no power?”
“You have power now?” Knox taunted.
He possessed more now than he had before he met the Duke of Crane, before he learned who the man’s half-brothers were. The seven Furys. The Bastards of Brighton. He might not need to call in a favor, but he would if he had no other choice. Also, if he married Alyssia, he would have the backing of her father. That was, if her father forgave him. But Bishop would rather not count on his in-laws.
Then there was Knox. “I have you.”
The man snorted. “Aren’t you a lucky one.”
“Aren’t you one of the reasons my uncle’s petitions to claim my title have been blocked? I imagine he declared me dead after seven years.”
“Naturally, but enough uncertainty lingers that I’m not the only one. Your uncle hasn’t gathered a full house of support, and while Dare and I are still alive, he never will.”
“If I were a weaker man, I’d shed a tear at your support.”
“Blackguard.”
Bishop hitched up his lips. He’d kept tabs on the situation in London through Crane’s name and knew what Knox said was true. He supposed he’d have to send word back now to explain himself and tell the duke that he would have to find another man of affairs. However, Crane was no fool. He had long suspected Bishop’s identity was not as simple as it seemed.
“Good a name as any to call me. How have you been all these years?”
“Don’t you dare turn the conversation back to me. I’ve been well. What were you doing at the Lyon’s Den? How long will you be here? Have you returned for good?”
“I’m back for good and wedding in a few days. Perhaps you could help me procure a special license.”
Knox arched a brow. “Dove-Lyon?”
Bishop nodded.
