Page 118 of Miss Wylde and the Wynd

“We took a mail coach to London, as you know.” From there he explained what he had learned and how they had traveled to Liverpool, then Greenock, leaving out as many details as possible. Many of them were too personal to share.

“I am quite happy that we were able to visit Greenock,” he said in an effort to change the subject from Georgie to a topic more related to Trade Wynd. “There I was able to tour John Scott & Sons.”

“Who are they?” Jules asked.

“Shipbuilders,” he answered. “They also build steamships, which I am not yet prepared to introduce to Trade Wynd.”

He paused only long enough for the first course to be placed before them. “We visited the customhouse as well. Greenock is a thriving port with refineries to process sugar. I left with ideas on how to better improve Trade Wynd.”

“What else happened in Greenock that led you to Dublin?” Sterling asked as if he were not at all interested in what Damian may have learned.

“We found Fisher,” Damian answered. He’d already told them the reason they set sail for Dublin.

All three brothers studied him. Sterling’s eyes were narrowed and his head cocked as if he was trying to reason something out. Avery frowned as if perplexed, but not certain why, as if Damian were a specimen to study.

As for Jules, sadness filled his eyes as he shook his head.

What had he said that was so bothersome?

“Why are you here?” Jules asked.

That was an odd question. “I live here.”

“Why are you not in Dublin or Carrera?” he clarified.

“I have no reason to be in either place.”

Since when was Jules interested in anything or anyone other than his sculpture?

His brother shook his head again, disappointment in his blue eyes.

“It was obvious from the beginning that Georgie was for you,” Sterling said. “My question, why are you not with her or why is she not here?”

Damian stared at his brother as if he had lost his mind. “You saw our interaction all of one day. How could you possibly have decided that we were a match?”

“Because I have never seen you react to any woman the way you did Georgie. You were overly protective. She irritated you, exasperated you, argued with you, and you were not quite certain what to do with her.”

“I would have been the same with any argumentative, stubborn woman,” Damian defended.

“No, you would not have been,” Sterling answered. “I have seen you encounter women who were difficult, stubborn, and infuriating, and you dismissed them. Put them from your mind.”

“None of them wanted to go off on their own to London, or anywhere else, where they would be quite lost and in danger.”

“You could have arranged for a footman or two to accompany her, use the carriage even.”

“You denied her the carriage!”

“I denied you the carriage. Had you made arrangements for her to have security while you returned to work, I would have let her have use of it. It was the fact that you felt someone, who was not a servant, should accompany her that was telling.”

“It was too soon for me to tell anything,” he argued. “Why did you not suggest a servant go with her?”

“I was waiting for you to reach that conclusion.” Sterling smiled. “You did not, thus, you took responsibility for her, thus, she already meant more to you than any other woman you had ever met.”

He was wrong, but to argue with Sterling would make his brother more confident that what he had decided was accurate when it was not. At least it had not been then.

“That was the reason Caroline and I thought the two of you should be forced to spend more time together. Just like mother manipulated me and Caroline because she saw what we had not.”

Damian glared at Sterling. He would never have anticipated that his eldest brother would use such a tactic on him. Could Sterling ever be trusted again?