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“I attended mother’s dinner last night.”

Richard swallowed his jealousy.

“That you are here the next morning suggests something happened. Or perhaps someone. Who did you meet?”

Andrew knew his brother was not stupid but this was impressive.

“Lady Napier.”

They were walking, both staring ahead, allowing Richard’s grimace to remain unseen. He would have been extremely pleased to dine with the lovely Lady Napier. Returning to the matter at hand, and the reason they were walking at this ungodly hour, Richard waited for his brother to give him more. The Earl was not getting any younger and neither of them were as yet married. He knew that Andrew, as the heir, was under increasing pressure to marry.

“I think I offended Lady Napier.”

“Offended? At a dinner at Matlock House?”

This seemed unlikely.

“Too strong. Disappointed might be a better way of expressing it.”

Rather than drag the whole thing out, the Viscount recounted their conversation.

“You said that she dropped the matter and that the conversation remained friendly?”

“You have told me of your exploits, about how on occasion you have had a sense that something was not quite right. Let us call that military intuition, yes?”

Richard knew what he meant, he had shared stories with his brother of exactly that. He nodded in agreement.

“I have been out in society for more than a decade. I think I have developed societal intuition. It was the momentary look of annoyance, blink and you would miss it. It was the underlying disdain to her question. And the way she said ‘I see’. It was as if I had been judged and found wanting.”

Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam wanted to scoff and mock his brother, internally he was doing just that. The bad news of not attending had been superseded by the good news of Andrew blotting his copybook.

“Tell me why I am here Andrew? And not a repeat of last night. What has you this agitated?”

The walked in silence for more than a furlong, Richard knowing the power of silence.

“I was taken with her.”

This was not unexpected, he knew this to be the case. His actions earlier in the season made that clear. He also realised that despite that evening, Andrew had dragged him out of bed. It was good to see that Andrew was as tactless as when he was a youth.

“What in particular?”

“Everything. She is a few years older than the normal debutante, at least six I think. She is a woman, a widowed woman and is able to dress herself in colours that suit, not the bland pastels of the maiden. She is clearly a lady, in the sense of being gentle-born and well educated. And she is clearly a woman.”

This last was said in a much quieter tone.

“I do not know Richard, there was something about her.”

His brother was a senior officer and a gentleman, the son of an Earl, but he was also a soldier.

“You mean more than a big bust and an even bigger bank account?”

That the Viscount looked angry at this jibe told him more than any fancy words.

“Do not talk like that Richard. There is too much truth to that statement for it to be funny.”

Richard knew this. Part of the reason for the jibe was because Richard had been equally taken with both.

“I do not know what to tell you. I know this is not going to be an answer you wish to hear, but I think you need to talk to Mother. Stop, let me explain. How else are you going to get the opportunity to talk to this young lady otherwise? You need the assistance of Mother.”