of any fortune! I’d rather starve!’
‘And well you might.’ There was still no inflection in Alex Delahaye’s voice. The fire crackled. ‘Have you forgotten that you’ll not get another penny from me if you do not marry?’
‘Marry, yes-but that?’ Philip’s eyes were wild. He slammed the glass down and the amber liquid jumped. ‘Have you met Miss Verey, Alex? Do you really dislike me so much as to condemn me to that?’
Alex Delahaye raised his brows. ‘I have not seen her since she was fifteen and I’ll allow she was a little on the plump side then-’
‘Plump! Surely you mean monstrous fat! A great whale of a girl tricked out in pink satin!’
Alex winced. ‘Must you always judge on appearance, Philip? I confess I have had no speech with her, but Verey assured me that she was of pleasant disposition and well to a pass-’
‘Ha!’
‘And that she was not unwilling to the match-’
‘Maybe not, for what other chance will she get?’ Philip drained the rest of his brandy in one gulp. ‘No wonder she is not yet out! No wonder the Vereys had been hiding her away there in the country these years past! And now Lord Verey is dead and beyond retribution and I am promised to that fright!’
The Duke sighed with the first sign of irritation he had shown. ‘As well he is dead, or you would be answering to him for your insults to his daughter! Philip, I will not carry on financing your escapades about town indefinitely. The alliance with Jane Verey is a sound one.’
‘Oh, I know you want me to settle down.’ Philip put his empty glass down with a sulky snap. All his remembered grievances were jostling in his mind, pushing forward, demanding to be heard.
‘It is all very well for you to dictate to me, keeping me short of funds, making me beg to have my debts settled! You, with all the fortune and all the estates-’
‘And all the responsibilities,’ his brother finished, a little bitterly. ‘Yes, it has been truly enjoyable for me, Philip, with five younger siblings to see settled creditably and three estates to return to profit! And then there have been fortune-hunting suitors to discourage on behalf of my sisters and the extorting landlords to deal with over breach of promise-’
‘There was only one landlord,’ Philip said crossly, ‘and I never promised to marry his daughter!’
Alex did not trouble to reply. He stretched out his long legs towards the fire and sighed. His brother eyed him with disfavour.
‘You have been married,’ Philip said suddenly. ‘How can you then condemn me to a loveless match?’
There was a sharp silence. ‘I would have thought that my own experiences were the perfect example of the evils of a love match,’ Alex said expressionlessly. ‘I would spare you that, little brother.’
Philip said something very short and very rude. His brother only smiled.
‘I sometimes find it difficult to believe you are only my senior by ten years,’ Philip said, with a final vicious spurt of malice. ‘You seem so very much older!’
Alex laughed. ‘The weight of obligation!’ he said lightly, but his eyes were cold.
‘But devil take it, Alex, you like living like this! You choose it!’ Philip reached for the brandy bottle, staring at his brother aggressively. ‘You never go out, you never entertain…You cultivate your reputation as a recluse! And yet the toadies still try to tempt you with their daughters and their entertainments and their wine cellars!’
Alex shrugged, indifferent again. ‘A Dukedom is perceived to be always in need of a Duchess,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately for the matchmakers, I am not in need of a wife! Which is where you enter the play, Philip!’
‘Damned if I see why I should marry just to oblige you!’ his brother said, aggrieved. ‘I know Madeline played fast and loose, and after she died you wanted no more to do with women! But you hold the Dukedom-you provide the heir! Damnation take it, there are hundreds of women panting after you!’
Alex Delahaye stretched, crossing one ankle over the other. ‘You’re wasting your time, Philip! I hold the purse strings and I want you to marry! It’s as simple as that. Now, you will renew your courtship of Miss Verey-’
‘I can’t do that!’
‘Because of your aversion to her appearance? You will find that there is more to marriage than a pretty face,’ his brother said coldly.
‘It’s not just that.’ Philip’s face was turned away, suddenly suffused with colour. ‘I have told everyone-told the others how it was with her. I shall be a laughing-stock if I renew my suit!’
‘The others? Whom?’ Alex’s voice cut like a whip.
‘Ponsonby and Malters and Cheriton,’ Philip muttered. ‘It seemed a good joke-Verey tricking you into agreeing an alliance between the Delahayes and that pudding-faced wench! They found it amusing, at any event…’
‘No doubt,’ Alex said, with biting sarcasm. He got to his feet, towering over his brother’s chair. ‘Your drinking cronies have seldom been graced with wit and taste! Well, you must make your choice, Philip! Either you are a rich laughing-stock or you are a penniless one!’
Philip was out of his chair in a second, confronting his brother. Alex had moved away and stood before the fireplace, one arm resting idly on the mantelpiece. He was the taller, which gave him an immediate advantage, but for once Philip was too angry to care.
‘Damn you for dictating my life,’ he said, real hatred lighting his blue eyes. ‘I wish you had died along with our parents!’
For a moment they stood as though frozen. Philip was the first to look away.
‘I’m going,’ he muttered, ‘and do not think to try and pass off one of your candidates for matrimony on to me again! Damned if I’ll ever marry, to oblige you or otherwise!’
‘Damned if you don’t,’ Alex said expressionlessly, moving over to the fireplace and pulling the bell for the butler. ‘Tredpole, my brother is just leaving. Be so good as to lock up after him. You may go to bed. I shall not need you again tonight.’
After the impassive Tredpole had shown Philip out, Alex resumed his seat but did not pick up the book that he had been reading. Instead, he sat staring into the dying embers of the fire.
Miss Jane Verey…She had been little more than a child when he had seen her at Ambergate, but she had seemed a pleasant and unaffected girl. Alex smiled a little as he remembered the first glimpse he had had of her, riding across the fields close to her home. She had had a good seat on the horse and was clearly enjoying both the fresh country air and the company of her brother, who rode alongside. She had seemed exactly the type of sensible girl who would best keep Philip’s wilder excesses in check. Lord Verey had been flatteringly eager for the alliance, but they had agreed to wait a few years for Jane to reach her eighteenth year. All had seemed set fair.
Verey’s death had thrown the plan slightly, but when the year of mourning had elapsed, Alex had been glad to find that the widow was still as receptive to the match. Philip had been giving increasing cause for concern over the years, with his deep play and unsuitable friends, and now that he had attained the age of four and twenty, Alex had decided it was high time that his brother settled down. Nor had Philip seemed particularly reluctant at first. Alex gave a rueful grimace. Money was the only currency that Philip understood and the inducements that he had offered alongside Miss Verey had obviously been attractive. More attractive than the girl herself, evidently!
Alex sighed. Perhaps he had been mistaken, in both Miss Verey and in the strength of Philip’s feelings. It was not always easy to know what was best in the matter of his brother and sisters. There had been an ageing roue whom his sister Eliza had sworn was the love of her life. Alex had disapproved of the man but had not liked to oppose the match when he could see that his actions made Eliza so unhappy. Yet the very next season she had met a young baronet and was now happily married and living in Herefordshire. The other two girls were also married and the middle brother, George, was serving with Wellington’s army. There was only Philip…
Alex strode over to the bureau beside the window. One of the desk drawers was half-open, a pile of papers almost spilling over the top. His expression hardened. Philip had been granted endless credit on the strength of the Delahaye fortune and now he was the one they were dunning for payment. He slammed the drawer closed, sending several of the bills tumbling onto the carpet. He would not stand for any more nonsense. The Verey match would be put forward once again and Philip forced to comply. Alex’s jaw tightened. His brother’s day of reckoning was approaching in more ways than one.
Chapter Two
