“Oh, I will tell you. She is upstairs in her bedchamber. With Lucia, I imagine. Waiting for me to tell her that you are well and finally gone.”
“I will tell you one last time, brother, she is my ward. I will have the constable fetched if you continue with this nonsense.”
Rafael gave his twin a very lazy smile. “What constable would remove a girl from her betrothed?”
Damien grew rigid. He felt rage, and the blood of his rage pounded at his temples. “My God. You would marry her, you bastard, just to thwart me?”
“You think so little of Victoria’s charms, brother? Well, it is of no consequence. Indeed, she has already agreed to marry me. The wedding announcement is in today’s Gazette, I believe. I had assumed that the announcement would be the way you would discover her whereabouts. Well, no matter now. The wedding is this Friday. As Victoria’s guardian, I am formally asking your permission to wed her.”
“I do not give it.”
“Your own brother? You believe your own flesh and blood a fortune hunter? Hardly kind of you, Damien.” Rafael paused, giving Damien a long look. He said quietly, “If you require a scandal, I will give it to you. Indeed, I will rock the land with a scandal. Now, my pleasure at seeing you after five years is about what I expected, except that you have become even more of a rotter. If you weren’t my brother, I would kill you for what you have done to Victoria, doubt it not.”
“You damned bastard.”
“The fifteen thousand pounds, Damien. See that it is returned to Mr. Westover by Friday. Trust me, if you don’t return the money, I will make your life a misery. You might even find yourself in Newgate.”
Damien couldn’t think straight. His fury was so great he was shaking with it. His damned brother. He cursed long and fluently. Rafael didn’t move, merely looked at him, his expression remote. The gods were against him. And he wanted that money, wanted the money as much as he wanted to bed Victoria. Now both would be lost to him.
No. He would think of something. He had to.
“The fifteen thousand pounds—you want it for yourself.”
“Don’t paint me with your own brush, Damien. But as for the fifteen thousand pounds, it will be mine. As her husband, all her earthly goods belong to me.”
“I will give you this round, Rafael,” he said, turned on his heel, and strode from the drawing room.
Rafael stood quietly, staring toward the empty doorway. “Damien, it is the final and last round,” he said. He heard the front door slam. Such a damned pity, he thought, remembering the two young boys, so alike they could even fool their parents. But Damien had changed. Or perhaps it was he himself who had done the changing. Perhaps Damien had always been as he was now, and Rafael just hadn’t wanted to see it. Until they were sixteen. He shook himself. The memory was faded now.
“Are you all right, Rafael?”
He looked up to see Victoria slithering into the drawing room.
“Yes, of course.”
“I saw him leaving from my bedchamber window.” She shivered. “He looks so very much like you. It’s frightening.”
“Come here,” he said, and opened his arms to her.
She paused but an instant, then grasped her skirts in her hands and skipped toward him. She fitted herself against him and rested her cheek against his shoulder.
“Thank you,” she said. “You’ve saved me.”
His arms tightened about her back. He breathed in the jasmine scent of her hair. So sweet and innocent she was. Gently he lifted her chin with his fingers. He smiled down at her, and kissed her.
He felt h
er surprise, then a slight quiver of pleasure in her body. To awaken her was a heady experience. He lightly glided his tongue over her bottom lip, but didn’t seek entrance. Not yet. He didn’t want to scare her. He had all the time in the world. He said as he raised his head, “No more fear, Victoria. We shall deal well together, you and I.”
She gave him a dazzling smile. “Yes,” she said, “yes, we most certainly shall. Even though you’re a handful.”
He arched a black brow. “I beg your pardon?”
“Frances said she would give me advice on how to deal with you if you became too much of a handful for me. She, you know, has had a good deal of experience, married to Hawk.”
He laughed. “Poor Hawk. How the mighty have fallen.”
“Somehow I don’t believe your Hawk minds at all.”