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That brought one of Devin’s barks of laughter. “I used to feel that way about my older sister. Now that she’s married and has two children of her own, it’s all different. I find myself looking forward to supping with her on Sundays.”

Jonah thought about clarifying his feelings toward Regina, but what was the point? She had a fiancé. “I didn’t realize you were coming here tonight.”

Devin slung an arm around Jonah’s shoulder. “After the way I pummeled you this afternoon, I thought I should check on your health. It’s my Christian duty, although I didn’t know you intended to continue to Almack’s. Accompanying you there would be the action of a saint, not a mere Christian.”

Jonah snorted. “You pummeled me? I remember pulling you up from the mat as weak as a newborn babe.”

“You have a punishing right arm,” Devin agreed. His easy grin acknowledged the fact that the two of them were evenly matched, as well they should be, since they’d been boxing together since they were youngsters. “I suppose I could come with you to Almack’s for a few hours, if you’ll come to the Pantheon after.”

“l must wait until the supper dance,” Lennox said. “I’m taking in Regina.”

“Why haven’t you handed your sister over to a female relative?”

“She has a chaperone, of course. But I try to accompany her the way my parents would have.”

His answer had nothing to do with that young lady he met. Beatrice Valentine, his sister’s—

No. Nothing to do with her.

“Are you planning to dance with anyone other than your sis?” Devin continued, walking over to the sideboard and pouring himself a drink. “You do know that every time you dance with a lady, they add her name to the betting book in White’s, don’t you? The duchess sweepstakes are growing larger by the moment.”

“Regina told me as much. I promised I’d join her there, but that doesn’t mean I have to dance.”

“You should dance with the whole lot of them,” Devin said, his eyes glinting over his glass of brandy. “Set the dowagers into a frenzy of speculation.”

“Why would I do that?” Jonah inquired.

“You have to marry at some point,” Devin pointed out. “If you’re determined to go around with your sister, you should get something out of it. Wrap up the business of finding a wife.”

It wasn’t an entirely stupid idea. He needed an heir, as he’d be damned if he allowed the estate to fall into the hands of his cousin, who was a piss-poor judge of character and a gambler to boot.

Not when he was spending every possible hour mending the damage his father’s reckless behavior had caused.

But take a bride? The idea was stomach-churning. He didn’t like the girls one was supposed to marry. They wielded nasty words like assassins’ blades.

He tolerated it in his sister Regina because what else could she do? Powerless people fought for the little power they had, like dogs over scraps. They battled for the power of a title, and “duchess” was a very great title, as those things went.

“You went to the Sheffield ball last night, didn’t you?” Devin asked.

Jonah nodded.

“Did you dance with anyone?”

Once again Miss Valentine’s clear eyes came back to him. She had spoken to him as if his title didn’t exist. Twice he saw a flash of scorn in her eyes, though most of the time she looked at his shoulder, not his face. And then when she laughed—

“Once, upon the request of my sister,” he replied. “I spent the rest of the night in the card room.”

“You can’t do that,” Devin said, scowling at him. “If you don’t dance, you’re supposed to keep an eye on your sister. Stay in the ballroom.”

Jonah loathed the conversations that happened at balls. It wasn’t merely because he couldn’t hear from his left ear after being deafened by cannon fire, either. He didn’t like the sort of things that were said. The cruelty, the gossip, the foolishness.

“You should stay in the same room as your sister at all times,” Devin stated.

They’d been friends for most of their life, but Jonah sometimes thought that they were a different species. Devin was sunny, charming to everyone he met. Full of goodwill.

“The hell I will,” he retorted. “I hired Mrs. Hastings to chaperone her. As I see it, I take my sister to market—”

“That’s a damned denigrating thing to say about your own sister,” Devin said sharply.