“Suit yourself, Caro.” He tossed back the liquid in first one glass, then the other. “Your loss.”
“It is morning,” she pointed out acidly.
“Never a better time to indulge,” he said, unrepentant. “That tasted like another.”
She was sure Jasper was needling her as a means of distraction, but Caro was not pleased.
“Our father was a souse,” she called to his retreating back.
Jasper did not pause his stride. At the sideboard, he filled both glasses once more, before turning back to her. “I ain’t a souse. Merely a brother who doesn’t want to listen to your nonsense. Our guest can’t recall a bleeding thing. He’s safest where he is. Christ, you’re the one who stitched him together again. You ought to know better than anyone that whoever attacked him wanted ’im to cock up his toes. It’s best if the bastards believe he did.”
She watched as her brother drained the replenished glasses, wincing on the last. “It is best for whom, however? Do you not think the Winters capable of protecting him? And do you not think he would be well-pleased to be among his people, to know who he is?”
Her brother crossed his booted feet at the ankles, leaning against the sideboard, pinning her with a glare. “No, I don’t think, Caroline. Else I would have returned ’im to the bloody Winters the moment I recognized ’is mangled carcass.”
Caroline.
Her brother’s use of her full given name rang like a reproach between them, more surely than his tone of voice. Every Sutton had a shortened name except Jasper. But that was to be expected, for he was their leader. And as Rafe had once pointed out,what the devil shall we call him,Ass? Everyone had guffawed except Jasper, who had scowled and threatened to cut off his brother’s ballocks and feed them to his dogs.
In this moment, Caro did not think such a sobriquet would be wrong.
She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “And why should he not go to his family? If someone had found Logan and kept him from us in the same way, how would you feel?”
Shadows passed over her brother’s countenance. Without answering, he presented her with his back and filled the glasses a third time.
“Jasper.” She moved toward him, loving her brother, hating to see him filled with such torment, for it was the same pain that had been plaguing her ever since their brother had gone. “I know you miss him. Pray, think of how wrong this is. Think of Loge out there somewhere, hurt as badly as Gavin Winter, or worse. Think of someone keeping him from us—”
Her brother spun back to face her with such haste, the gin splashed over his hands. “He is bloody welldead, Caro. Gone to Rothisbone. Thinking about Loge out there somewhere would be for naught. He ain’t out there. He’s gone. This is different. Gavin Winter is a separate matter entirely, and I’ll thank you to trust me to ’andle it.”
Tears bit at her eyes at the vehemence of Jasper’s response, the sharpness in his voice. He had just spoken aloud the words none of them had been willing to say, to openly acknowledge.
“You do not know for certain that Loge is dead,” she countered, swallowing down a lump of emotion—sadness, fear, she knew not what. “He could still be alive. The Winters are likely fearing the worst about Gavin. He has been here with us for almost a fortnight, with no word. Would you truly wish the agony we have experienced upon others?”
“It isn’t your affair,” her brother said, and then he drained the glasses he held in quick succession.
She had known that Logan’s disappearance had taken a toll upon them all, but Jasper had seemed to take it especially hard. Almost as if he felt responsible for what had happened. This ruthlessness he was exhibiting now, extraordinary even by his previous, dubious standards, troubled her.
“But it is my concern,” she argued quietly, worried for her brother. “You have made it so by forcing me to continue to lie to Gavin, to pretend I do not know who he is and that I am keeping his presence here a secret from my family. He wants to speak with you, to explain himself, and he is capable of walking about on his own strength now. We cannot keep him forever trapped in a room. What shall we do when he heals completely?”
Wisely, she refrained from mentioning that he had been walking about naked when she had entered his chamber. Jasper’s mood was volatile enough without such an inflammatory revelation.
“You let me worry about that when the time comes,” her brother said, stern and commanding. “We are Suttons, Caro. Our loyalty to each other is first. Always. Do not forget you promised me you would allow me to ’andle this.”
She clenched her jaw, knowing there was nothing more she could do for now. When the walls came down inside Jasper, there was no more talking, no more bargaining. He had decided, and that was that. And he was not wrong. Shehadmade him that promise.
She would concede this battle with him.
But not the war.
Caro nodded. “As you wish it, brother. I will leave you to your work. But please, I beg you, no more spirits this morning.”
“It’s as itmustbe, Caro. Never doubt that.”
But as she left her brother’s office, the doubt was rife and heavy upon her, weighing her down more than ever. She was not going to surrender. Gavin Winter deserved better.
* * *
He knewhe did not deserve the glory which had been delivered to the chamber. But he was going to accept it, just the same.
