Sherbrooke Twins

She stamped her foot again. “That’s ridiculous and you know it, James Sherbrooke! Finances don’t conform to my abilities? I have worked for at least four years with Uncle Simon’s man of business! I know all about his bloody finances! Why did no one bother to mention mine to me?”

James realized that stoking the blaze wouldn’t get him what he had to have, and that was her agreement. It didn’t matter that he didn’t want it, he had to have it, no choice. A bit of conciliation, he thought. “Well, maybe. You could have a point, but that’s neither here nor there. My father told me about it because he wanted me to keep my eyes open here in London, to get rid of the fortune hunters if I saw some sniffing around you. My father said that where money was involved, there were no secrets. He’s right. It was a matter of time before rumors of your personal wealth got out, and believe me, Corrie, you’d be besieged.”

Corrie, rarely angry because it upset her stomach, forced herself down to a simmer. “Well, those rumors can’t be out yet since I didn’t even know about it.”

He smoothly delivered a discreet salvo. “And maybe the rumors won’t come out now in any case.” He looked at her beneath his lashes, but she was tapping her foot, unaware of what he’d said so very well. James sighed, looked down at his hands, clasped on top of the covers. He said without looking up, “There are many rapacious men on the hunt in London, never forget that, Corrie.”

Corrie threw her handkerchief on his face and began to pace back and forth in front of his bed. “Even though I am no longer yelling, I am still very upset about this, James.”

“I understand, but you have to admit that my father’s reason for telling me is a sound one. My father also told me, laughing his head off, what your Uncle Simon had said before he brought up the subject of your inheritance.”

“And just what was that, pray?”

“You heard it already this morning. ‘She’ll be hunted down like a rat.’ ”

That brought her to a halt. “Uncle Simon said that?”

“Yes. He was worried about your, er, lack of experience in the wicked ways of London, not for long, naturally, since he had a new scientific journal that had just arrived in the post.”

“Hunted down like a rat. What an image that brings to mind.” She started to laugh. “Hunted down like a rat,” she gasped, and held her stomach she laughed so hard.

“It has a certain effect,” James said. “My father laughed his head off too.”

She was still laughing as she walked to the door. She said over her shoulder, now hiccupping, “Tell me, James, if finances don’t conform to my meager female abilities, then what does?”

He said, his voice deep and rich, “You would have been the parfait gentil knight.”

That brought her up short. Her face flushed with lovely color. She opened her mouth, then closed it. She nearly ran to the door, threw a big grin at him, and waved her hand. “You should rest now, James. I will see you tomorrow, if, that is, you don’t mind me coming to visit you without an escort of twenty brawny young men to protect me from you and all the gossips,” and she laughed some more, the witch, and was gone.

He could hear her whistling. She’d left him before he’d said what he’d had to say.

He cursed to the empty room. But not for long because Corrie’s departure meant Juliette’s return. His father gave him a look, and left him to his fate, which included Juliette’s mother. James wished Petrie would come in and shave him again.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CORRIE ARRIVED AT the Sherbrooke town house the following morning to be told by Willicombe that the younger lordship was in the estate room, doing a bit of work to resharpen his brain.

“He doesn’t need papers to sharpen his brain, he needs a good argument,” Corrie said, and waved Willicombe away when he would have a

She opened the door quietly to see James sitting at his father’s desk, a piece of paper in his right hand, a pen in his left hand, his head resting on the desktop. He was sound asleep.

She started to back out of the room, when he jerked up, stared at her, and said, “It’s about time you got here.”

“Why aren’t you in bed?”

He stretched, rose, and stretched again, then yawned.

“You’ve lost weight, James. I will speak to your mother about this.”

His arms dropped to his sides. “Don’t worry. My mother is stuffing food down my gullet every hour on the hour. You lost weight as well. Where have you been?”

“I chanced to meet Judith McCrae, you know, she’s the girl who’s very interested in Jason, if I don’t miss my guess. Of course, every girl in London is interested in both you and Jason, but she seems different, more suited to him, perhaps.”

Whatever that meant. He said, “She’s the niece of Lady Arbuckle. How did you meet her?”

“She was coming out of a milliner’s shop with Lady Arbuckle. They were having a very intense discussion, but when Judith saw me, she was all smiles. I don’t think that Lady Arbuckle was pleased to see me. I suppose Judith knows that I’m a childhood friend and thus someone to be cultivated.”

“Jason hasn’t spoken much about her lately.”

“No wonder, since his brother disappeared and could very well have been killed.”

“I think he quite likes her too. Now that he sees I’m well again, he’ll resume his course with her.”

“I wonder what course that will be. Was Juliette camping out in the drawing room when you woke up this morning?”

“Well, she and her mother did visit not long after breakfast. I was in bed.” He struck only a very slight pose since he was still too weak to goad her to his normal standards. “Do you know, I believe she enjoyed my company, her mother sitting comfortably in the corner, benignly watching the tableau.”

“And I don’t suppose you enjoyed all that dripping attention? All the cooing? Did she smooth her palm over your poor brow?”

“I can’t recall a single coo, except maybe from her mother.”

“Well, yes, that makes sense. You’re the heir, after all. You know, James, I really can’t imagine that she would want to marry you.”

“Why ever not?”

“Juliette is very rightly aware of her own beauty. The problem is that you’re more beautiful than she is. Just imagine, both of you could be looking into a mirror and she would come in a very poor second. I can’t see her tolerating that.”

James streaked his fingers through his hair, standing it on end. “Bloody hell, I’ve already let you distract me. You open your mouth and I forget where I was going. Now, be quiet and sit down, Corrie. I have something to say to you.” He started to walk to her, to tower over her, intimidate her a bit, when he felt a wave of dizziness and quickly sat back down in his father’s chair. He cleared his throat, then plowed forward. “Jason told me he saw you riding in the park with Devlin Monroe.”

She sat herself down, spreading the lovely pale green skirt of her gown over the cushions beside her. She crossed her legs and began to swing her foot. She eyed her lovely slippers. They made her feet look positively small; and no heels. She could run and leap in these lovely slippers. She examined her thumbnail, whistled a little tune, waiting for him to explode. She’d known the signs since he was fifteen years old and so furious with his brother he’d put his fist right through a stable wall. Now that she considered it, she realized that she hadn’t seen him lose control in a very long time, in fact, not since he’d become a man. He was now more reasoned and-

“Corrie, would you please pay attention to me?”

She looked up and smiled at him. “I was praising my slippers. They could chase down Augie and his cohorts. Aren’t they lovely?”

Actually, they were, but he said, “Pay attention. Why the hell were you with Devlin Monroe? I told you to stay away from him.”