“Aren’t they all?”David asked before downing the rest of what was in his glass of grappa.
“Surprisingly, no,” Donald replied.“Edoardo is doing rather well despite his father’s mismanagement of the D’Avaloscontea,” he added.“And there are others who do well from their vineyards and farms.”
Despite his eyes still appearing glassy from too much drink that evening, David seemed to understand his brother’s hint.“You think Lucianowantedto be caught with Lady Vittoria?So he would be forced to marry her?”he guessed.
Donald nodded.“For her dowry,” he whispered.“I have to reason to believe Edoardo has set aside a rather generous settlement for his only daughter.”
David jerked back as if he had been slapped across the face.“Damnation,” he murmured.
“Damnation is right,” Donald agreed.“But you being there last night—in that alcove—means you were in just as much danger of a false accusation asDonLuciano.”
“From the lady herself,” David groused.“She is convinced my intentions were not honorable when I was merely trying to...to help,” he claimed.
“And if you had been caught with her?”
David blinked.“What are you asking?”
Donald chuckled softly.“Would you do the honorable thing?Take her to wife to save her from ruination?”
His brother’s scoff was loud.“NotnowI wouldn’t,” he replied.When he noted how Donald continued to stare at him, as if challenging him, he sighed loudly.“Well, she’s a rather unpleasant creature, in case you haven’t noticed,” he added in a quiet voice.
“I hadn’t,” Donald stated.
David’s responding scoff was quieter.“She’s ashrew,Donald.A spoiled rotten brat, and far too beautiful for her age,” he said as he leaned forward, his arms resting on the tabletop.“Argh.”
“Vittoria cannot help that she is beautiful,” Donald replied.“You need only look atDonnaArmenia and Nicoletta and her cousin, Elizabeth Bennett-Jones, to know that exquisite beauty runs in that family.”He paused before adding, “As for being spoiled, I suppose Edoardo has indulged her.She is his only daughter, after all, and it’s been hard for him since the death of his wife.”
Screwing his face into a grimace, David sighed.“That doesn’t give her the right to be a shrew.”
Donald covered his mouth with a hand, the crinkling at the edges of his eyes giving away his humor.
“What?”David challenged.
“She is the first, isn’t she?”Donald asked, rubbing his hand over the side of his face as he grinned in delight.
“What are you talking about?”
Donald chuckled.“She is the first woman who hasn’t fallen at your feet and claimed undying love for you,” he said, grinning.“The amiable and lovable Viscount Penton humbled by an Italian aristocrat’s daughter.”
David’s eyes rounded.“Take that back,” he demanded.
Donald sobered, but he shook his head.“You have never been challenged by a woman before, have you?”
A growl sounded from his brother.“In case you’re not aware, and despite my brief betrothal to Lady Jane Fitzsimmons, I’ve not exactly had a lot of opportunities when it comes to women,” David stated.
“I am aware, as I shared that same problem prior to meeting Nicoletta,” Donald countered.
“I intended to use this Grand Tour as a means to...to?—”
“Sow your wild oats.To meet lots of young ladies all over Europe and have your way with them,” Donald finished for him.
David furrowed his brows.“Well, not likethat,” he responded.“I would have...woo’d them,” he added, before his eyes suddenly rounded.“Is that what you did?”
Donald dipped his head.“I fear our Father instilled in me the need to be extra honorable.Remember, I am the bastard in the family.”
Wincing, David shook his head.“He’s done the same with me.And since he’s been chaperoning our cousins and me during this entire trip—instead of you, I might add—I haven’t exactly had the opportunity to spend time in the company of the other sex,” he complained.
“If you had, would you?”Donald challenged.
