‘I didn’t think it appropriate,’ said Arthur stiffly. ‘I had to make the best decision I could in the circumstances.’
Arthur was hopeless. Jacob turned to his other brother.
‘You knew I was on my way to my cottage, Will. I saw you in London just the other week. Couldn’t you send a message if King Arthur here was too busy with his kingdom?’
‘Jacob, this isn’t helpful.’ said William in a low voice, a warning not to lose his temper, but Jacob didn’t have it in him to let this pass.
‘Damn you both! He was my father too!’
That shout went out over the sands, startling them all. Jacob was usually cold in his anger, sarcastic with his cuts, not prone to a hot-blooded response. He didn’t regret it as it let out some of the pent-up grief.
Arthur swelled with importance, a cock about to crow. ‘He was also, Jacob, father to two unmarried girls in a delicate stage in their lives?—’
‘I’m their brother– not some Richardsonian rake!’
‘But you travel in low company, you must admit that. If you brought her here with you, they could be ruined by association.’
Jacob wanted to punch that self-righteous expression off Arthur’s face.
‘If you say one word against Dora Fitz-Pennington, I’ll call you out, brother or no!’
Arthur waved that threat away. ‘Don’t be absurd, I’m sure she’s very well in her way. I too have admired my fair share of actresses.’
‘Yes, we all know about your little love nest in Marylebone,’ said Jacob bitterly. ‘Have you given Marian hercongé?’
‘We aren’t talking about me, but yes, Marian and I have parted ways a few months ago. The problem is that you are doing more than admiring– you are going into business with your actress, harnessing our name to hers in a way that cannot be ignored. Society talks, Jacob.’
‘Really? And has it mentioned that she’s a hero? She’s saved this country at the risk of her own life, twice now.’ She had first done so to bring down the Hellfire plotters and then again but a few weeks later to foil the French spies after Elgin. They were hoping for a quieter summer.
‘And so does many an ordinary seaman or soldier facing the French without flinching, but I don’t move them in with my family.’
Jacob span on his heel and took three steps away, afraid that he might push his supercilious brother over the edge– literally, in the case of the cliff. ‘Will, you’ve met her. Tell him.’
‘Dora is a lovely young woman. Charlotte adores her,’ said William gamely.
‘As a married woman, Charlotte may do as she wishes– with your approval, of course.’ Arthur clasped his hands behind his back in his sergeant major stance.
William raised a brow. ‘Have you met my wife? My approval is moot.’
‘It’s what everyone assumes if you receive the woman in your home– and no one is scandalised. Bringing the actress here, at this time of public mourning, is beyond the pale.’
‘There was never any question of dragging Dora into this. She’s got too much pride and sense for that,’ said Jacob.
‘That’s not the impression William gave me. He said you were inseparable.’
And the rub was that Jacob didn’t want to be separated from her. With her wit, she’d cut Arthur down to size and charm the family, as well as comfort Jacob in his grief. He had thought the arguments would start when he broached with his brothers the subject of wanting to marry her, not for merely associating with her.
‘Don’t you get tired of considering everyone as types, rather than individuals, my lord? Can’t you make your own mind up about someone without dismissing them sight unseen all because a gaggle of people you don’t care for might disapprove? What’s the point of being a viscount if you can’t rise above all that?’
‘We don’t have the luxury of living in isolation.’
‘But I’m your brother: don’t I count for more than society gossips?’
Struggling with his frustration, Arthur marched a few steps, turned, then came back. ‘I’m not unfeeling, Jacob.’
‘I realise that.’Just unbearably rigid.
‘Why can’t you simply install her in a nice house in a quiet part of town as your mistress?’
