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He risked a glance at her, and scowled at her small, polite smile. He did not know what it meant and he could not ask her, because some things he did not want to know.
“I’ll talk to Isaac,” he said and made for the door. At the door, he stopped and turned back to say something more, but he didn’t know what that was, so he left.
* * *
How irritatingthat he was now Cassandra’s messenger boy, as well as her stud, Joshua grumbled to himself as he went in search of Isaac. Good to see he was so bloody useful to his wife.
He found his brother in the stables, saddling a horse, apparently under instruction from one of the grooms.
“What in blazes are you doing?” Joshua asked him.
“Re-learning horses,” Isaac said. “Last time I rode, I was nine, and now I’ve forgotten half of it and have a gammy leg besides. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Be my guest.” He glanced at the groom, who melted away. “Cassandra doesn’t like that you took Lucy to visit the witnesses.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucy is a genteel lady, and genteel ladies are meant to be accomplished at dancing and watercolors, not bribery and intimidation.”
“Shame, because she is very good at them,” Isaac said. “You did say to use whatever works, and they would have said anything to make her happy.”
“Bloody hell, I don’t have to worry aboutyouwith her, do I?”
“Never fear.” Isaac laughed. “My sense of self-preservation is far too strong for that. But I had to do something with her. She gets that look in her eye, like she’s planning to burn down the house.”
“I know the look. But listen. Isaac. Society: It has rules. Lots of them. Stupid rules, but if you get them wrong, you can upset everything.”
By “everything” he meant “Cassandra.” He had never cared about the stupid rules before she came along.
“Have you managed to locate Buchanan yet?” he asked, changing the subject.
Isaac brightened. “Yes. The muttonhead confessed. Said he stole your documents because Lord B. offered him a piece of the winnings.” His mouth twisted. “And a piece of Lady B., too, if I understood correctly. For a man who’s suing you for adultery…but maybe it’s not adultery if the husband watches.” Isaac let out a long, low whistle. “I saw some things in the Navy, but I tell you, it’s nothing to what the fancy folk get up to.”
Joshua snorted. “Lord and Lady B. can do whatever they want with whomever they want, but I wish they’d bloody well leave me out of it.”
“And you can bloody well leave me out of it too,” came the voice of a third man.
The horse threw up its head and whinnied, and Isaac and Joshua turned to see their father, the Earl of Treyford, marching into the stable yard, brandishing a walking stick at them like a sword.
“What in blazes are you doing here?” Joshua said.
“I demand that you stop your wife from writing to my wife,” Treyford said. “Whatever trouble you’re in, it’s not my business.”
“Make it your business, you selfish shuffler,” Joshua snapped. “And if my wife writes to your wife, your wife should bloody well have the courtesy to write back.”
“Is that him?” Isaac said.
“That’s him.”
Treyford glared at Isaac. “Whoever you are, get out of my conversation with my son.”
Isaac’s head jerked back. “I’m your son too. Isaac.”
Their father looked momentarily perplexed, but quickly recovered. “Get away with you. I don’t need another one hanging around.”
“You wouldn’t,” Isaac said. “Each time you see us, you’re reminded of your own shame.”
“Well said, brother,” Joshua said, his anger fading. His mood lifted further when Lord Hothead’s color rose.
