“I thought you might.” She found the right page, cleared her throat, and began. “This evening, Robert Hathaway sent his brother in his stead, obviously hoping I would not notice. I do not yet know Robert well, but I can already tell the difference between the brothers. I hope this is not some cruel joke on their part. We shall see.”
“You knew?” Harry stared. “From the beginning?”
Amelia smiled and turned the page. “Harry again appeared in Robert’s place although the reason has at last become clear to me. Robert, who, to my observation, is not the least bit lacking in wit or confidence around others, becomes tongue-tied and uncertain when in my presence. I find it most endearing.”
“Well, I find this most disconcerting.” He huffed. “Is there a point to it?”
“Patience, Harry.” Amelia flipped through the pages. “This evening Harry told me my eyes were as blue as a summer sky and my lips were like cherries ripe for the picking. I wonder how long, and to what purpose, Robert and Harry will continue their charade, as Robert has well and truly won my heart.” She glanced at him. “Goodness, Harry, couldn’t you have thought of something more original?”
“It was original the first time I said it,” he muttered. “You do realize, everything I did was in an effort to help my brother win your hand? Indeed it was at his request that I attempted to engage your affections. Robert knows all about this.”
“I suspect Robert doesn’t know everything,” she said mildly and turned the page. “Harry kissed me tonight, and I cannot believe it was in Robert’s interests but I was too startled to protest. I have had enough of these games. I shall tell Robert that I know of their deception and tell him as well of his brother’s liberties although I fear the consequences of such confession.”
Harry considered her for a long moment. “Why didn’t you tell him?”
“Why?” She shrugged. “I couldn’t tell him about your kiss because to do so would have revealed that I knew of your deception all along. Which no doubt would have made Robert feel like a fool, and I didn’t want that. Furthermore, I doubt your actions were what Robert had in mind when you took his place. To tell him might have created a rift between the two of you.” She shook her head. “I am too close to my own sisters to ever want to do that to anyone and his brother.”
“Thank you,” he said simply.
“You are most welcome. Now, however, it’s been six years, and as much as my reasons for keeping silent haven’t changed, I am, as I mentioned, desperate. I am not above using the revelation of this incident to Robert to gain your assistance.” She smiled in a cordial manner.
His eyes narrowed. “This is blackmail.”
“I know,” she said brightly. “It’s quite invigorating.”
“As I have no choice, I’ll do what you want.” He rose to his feet. “I shall have flowers delivered later today.”
She stood. “Anonymously of course.”
“Of course.”
“And you won’t repeat a word of anything we’ve said to your brother?”
His jaw tightened. “Of course not.”
“I have your word on that?”
He nodded. “You do.”
She moved to the door and pulled it open. “Then I assume you’ll want to be on your way. You have a campaign of seduction to plan.”
“Apparently.” He stepped to the door, then paused. “Just out of my own sense of importance and curiosity, was there ever a moment when you considered choosing a different brother?”
“Do you wish me to be honest?”
“As painful as honesty might be,” he said wryly, “yes.”
“As you wish.” She drew a deep breath. “When I looked into your eyes I saw desire. Flattering, but not at all different from what other women saw. When I looked into Robert’s, I saw forever. Robert is like a good English oak. Strong and sturdy, and you know he will be there always. You are akin to an ornamental specimen tree. Quite pleasant to have in one’s garden and most amusing, but not at all dependable in a storm.”
He winced. “That’s rather harsh, isn’t it?”
“Is it?”
“Perhaps not.” He stepped through the doorway. “Good day, Amelia.”
“Good day, Harry.” She closed the door behind him and sank against it, the smile fading from her face.
She had no idea if the course she had begun was brilliant or foolish to the point of stupidity. She only knew that there was an awful fear inside her, and she had to do something, even if that something was wrong.
Amelia Bannister Hathaway had never in her life doubted herself. And she had never dreamed she would doubt her husband. Now she was in the dreadful position of doubting both, and for the first time wondered if this would end well. And tried to ignore the thought that perhaps it would simply end.
Chapter 7
“And I want you to be her lover.”
“You want me to what?” Harry stared at his twin. “Me?”
“Yes, you.” Robert plucked a cigar from the marble and bronze smoking stand on his desk, neatly trimmed the end, and handed it to his brother.
Harry looked at it skeptically. “If this is a bribe, it’s not enough.”
“This might well be the best idea I have ever had.” Robert selected a cigar for himself, clipped it, then took a match from the stand. He struck it, lit the cigar, then leaned back in the chair behind his desk. “I tell you, it was like a bolt from the blue. A stroke of genius, if I do say so myself.”
“Genius?” Harry lit his cigar. “There’s a fine line between genius and idiocy.”
“Perhaps, but this was brilliant. I thought of it at once, you know.” He puffed on his cigar and blew a wobbly smoke ring. “Brilliant ideas do tend to strike with blinding speed. At the very moment I offered to help her find a lover, I realized you were the perfect choice.”
“Me?”
“You’re repeating yourself Harry, but yes, you. As I said, you’re perfect.”
“Dare I ask why?” Harry said with a feeble smile.
“I should think that would be obvious. You’re experienced in such matters. You’re charming, clever—”
“Not to mention handsome,” Harry muttered.
Robert laughed. “I was going to mention handsome. From my observations, women are usually eager to fall into your arms.”
“I’m not sure I would use the word eager but I have had a certain success with the fairer sex.” Harry blew a smoke ring somewhat less wobbly than his brother’s.
“All of which makes you the perfect candidate.”
“See here, Robert, I don’t think—”
“Fortunately, I have done the thinking for us both. Indeed, I have done a great deal of thinking in recent days.”
“Too much thinking has always gotten us into a great deal of trouble.” Harry puffed his cigar. “So what is the result of all this thought?”
“If I were to present Amelia with a man who was less than charming, clever, and handsome, she would know at once that I never intended to help her find a lover. You, however”—Robert grinned—“are well known for your amorous adventures. God knows your reputation does not preclude a liaison of this sort. As I said, you’re the perfect choice.”
“Even so, there are some limits to my disreputable character. Prime among them, avoiding the seduction of my brother’s wife, which I am certain I have mentioned before.”
Robert chuckled. “You don’t think I intend for you to actually seduce her, do you?”
Harry stared at his brother. It was obvious that was exactly what he had thought. “No?”
“Of course not. I intend for you to do exactly what you usually do to get a woman into your bed without actually taking that final step. And by doing so, keep my wife too busy to seek a real lover. In the meantime, I shall be doing my best to regain her affections.” Robert met his brother’s gaze firmly. “Once again I need your help, Harry. There is no one else I can trust with this.”
“I am not the least bit trustwor
thy.” Harry groaned. “What have I ever done to give any of you the impression otherwise?”
“Nonsense, you’re my brother. I trust you completely. I can depend on you just as you can depend on me.”
Harry stared at him for a long moment, then shook his head slowly. “In most matters, indeed, you can depend on me, but I am sorry, Robert, I won’t do this. It’s a mistake to become embroiled in affairs between a husband and a wife. I want no further involvement in any of it.”
“I daresay you’ve been involved in a lot worse,” Robert said mildly and considered his twin. He wasn’t surprised at Harry’s refusal. In fact, he had expected it. But he knew his brother. And refusing to help him in one respect always made Harry more agreeable to helping in another. “Very well.”
“Very well?” Harry said slowly. “You’re going to accept my refusal without so much as a word of argument?”
“I would never want you to do something you found morally objectionable.” Robert shrugged. “Therefore I shall have to do this myself.”
Harry’s eyes narrowed. “Do what yourself?”
“I shall have to be you.”
“Me?”
“You do realize you need to start answering with something other than me.”
“And yet appropriate,” Harry snapped. “What on earth do you have in mind?”
“If you will not shower my wife with the type of attention that you are so skilled at, that inevitably leads to seduction, thus keeping her too busy to seek out a real lover, then I shall have to do so.” Robert puffed his cigar and blew a perfect smoke ring. It was most satisfying. “But I will do it while pretending to be you.”
“M—what?”
Robert chuckled. “It’s really quite simple, Harry. I shall pretend to be you to keep her from becoming involved with any other man. While, as myself, I shall endeavor to regain her affections.”
“It seems to me”—his brother chose his words with care—“if you are really concerned that she has come to the realization that she fell in love with the wrong man, pretending to be that man is not the way to assuage that fear.”
“On the contrary, being you will provide me with the means to determine if my concern has any validity at all.”
“Regardless.” Harry shook his head. “It will never work. She knows the difference between the two of us. She’ll know immediately that you’re not me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, brother dear. She’d know immediately if you took my place. That might have worked when she and I were first getting to know each another—”
“You’d be surprised,” Harry said under his breath.
“—but that would never work today. She knows me entirely too well. However, to my observation, while you and she are cordial enough, she scarcely knows you at all.” Satisfaction widened Robert’s grin. This was really good. Indeed, it might well be brilliant. “Therefore, whereas you can never again take my place, I can more than likely take yours.”
Harry puffed on his cigar in a thoughtful manner. “But to what end?”
“The first, obviously, is to keep her occupied and away from other suitors. Beyond that…” Robert thought for a moment. “I’m not entirely sure. Yet. But I flirted with her last night and she flirted with me. I don’t think we’ve flirted with one another for years. It was rather exciting.”
“Flirting with your wife of six years was exciting?” Harry scoffed. “I find that hard to believe.”
“As did I.” And yet it was remarkably exciting and brought back all sorts of feelings and desires he had almost forgotten. Feelings and desires that had nothing to do with comfort or contentment. “I shall quite enjoy flirting with her as you, and if you are right about her true purpose—”
“Her true purpose?” Unease sounded in Harry’s voice.
“Yes. You said it yourself. This is all a scheme to divert my attention from a mistress she refuses to believe I don’t have back to my wife and perhaps make me jealous as well. She doesn’t really want another man.”
“Nothing but speculation on my part, mind you,” Harry said quickly.
“You were right about something else as well.”
“Was I?” Harry grimaced. “How clever of me.”
“I need to go back to the beginning. Oh, there’s no need to be a bumbling idiot again. I daresay I couldn’t if I tried.”
“Oh, I’m certain with the proper amount of effort…” Harry murmured.
Robert ignored him. Even his brother’s sarcasm couldn’t dim his confidence at the moment. “But I do need to win her heart once more. I need to make our lives together less comfortable and more exciting. Oh, we will never go off to explore the jungles of Africa, but complacency has no place between us. Not now, not ever, regardless of how many years go by. What I feel for her has not dissipated with time, it has simply been…untended.”
“Like a garden gone to seed.” Harry had something of a secret passion for designing gardens. It was Robert’s fondest hope that one day he would put that passion to a useful purpose. “The plants are still there; they just need to be uncovered and nurtured.”
“Exactly.” Robert nodded. “Last night I saw desire in her eyes, and even if I hadn’t noticed before, it hasn’t been there for some time. Nor, do I suspect, has it been in mine.” He met his brother’s gaze firmly. “I shall not let it slip away again.”
“That’s all very well and good but…” Harry blew a smoke ring as good as—if not even a tiny bit better—than his twin’s. “I still don’t think you pretending to be me is a good idea.”
“Perhaps not, but it’s the only idea I have.” He thought for a moment. “If indeed this is a ruse on her part, it will be easy enough to discern. And if not, well, I shall cross that bridge when it presents itself.”
“Still—”
“Aside from everything else, Harry, I had more fun sparring with her last night than I’ve had in a long time. And I suspect she did as well. Playing this game with Amelia, well, it might be just the thing to recapture what we once had.”
“Most couples seem to find the renewal of their marriage vows to be sufficient,” Harry muttered.
Robert laughed. “We have never been most couples. I fear I had forgotten that. Admittedly, while I might have been somewhat inept at it in the beginning, the pursuit of Amelia was the most fun I’ve ever had.”
“This could end badly,” Harry warned.
“No, it can’t. There has never been a divorce in this family and there never will be.” The muscles in his jaw tightened. “She is the most important person in my life, which is yet another thing I had forgotten.”
“Perhaps you should be telling her, not me,” Harry said quietly.
“I fully intend to but not quite yet.” He tapped the ash of his cigar into the tray affixed to the cigar stand. “In this game of ours, that is my trump card. The last trick of the hand, as it were.”
“I wouldn’t wait too long to play it if I were you.”
“Ah, but you aren’t me. However”—Robert cast his brother a wicked grin—“I fully intend to be you.”
“I still think this is a bad idea. But, as you are my brother and you did ask for my assistance, and as you’ve probably forgotten exactly what it takes to turn a woman’s head”—Harry considered Robert for a thoughtful moment—“I shall take on the burden of showering your wife with flowers, gifts, and whatever else comes to mind. Anonymously, of course.” He shrugged. “I think that would be best.”
“Anonymously?” Robert considered the idea. It had a great deal of merit. “Perfect.” He chuckled. “It will accomplish exactly what I need to accomplish without your direct involvement.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“You will have my undying gratitude.”
“As well as your immediate reimbursement for my expenses.”
“I intended as much. The game is on, Harry. And rest assured”—Robert leaned back, blew another smoke ring, took a quick puff on his cigar, and shot anot
her directly through the first—“victory will most definitely be mine.”
Chapter 8
“I would say that very nearly everyone of note is here this evening.” Amelia sipped her champagne and surveyed the crowded ballroom from their vantage point off to one side, in front of the columns that separated the ballroom from a long gallery. “Mrs. Amherst must be quite pleased.”
“If indeed a crowd too large to allow movement without bumping into a dozen people, the sense that one is part of a herd rather than a gathering of sentient beings, coupled with overly stuffy conditions, indicate a successful event, then she should be beside herself with joy.” A dry note sounded in Robert’s voice.
Men really had no idea what constituted success when it came to functions like this. Mrs. Amherst was no doubt chortling to herself over the size of the crowd. Her ball was indeed a rousing success.
“I noted the flowers that arrived today. Dare I ask who they were from?”
She bit back a satisfied smile. “There was no card.”
“An unknown admirer then?”
“Apparently.” She sipped her champagne.
“I thought we had agreed that you were not going to begin your search for”—he cleared his throat as if he couldn’t quite get the word out—“a lover until tonight.”
She shrugged. “I don’t recall agreeing to any such thing. Besides, as I said, the flowers were sent anonymously. I have, as yet, done nothing to encourage anyone.” She paused. “Perhaps I simply caught someone’s eye.”
“Someone with no sense of decency or decorum,” he said coolly. “Sending flowers to a married woman.”
“And yet I found it delightful.” She paused. “Are you jealous?”
“Absolutely. He’s probably here, you know.” Robert narrowed his eyes and surveyed the gathering. “He could be anyone.”
“It’s rather nice to know I have caught someone’s eye.”
“You, my dear Amelia, would catch anyone’s eye. You always have. If I recall, you caught my eye the moment I first saw you. At a ball very much like this one.”
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