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Though tempted, Caden hadn’t. While he suffered with an unreasonable desire to not allow Anna out of his sight, his pride didn’t relish the idea of anyone else knowing.

Besides, he and Zeke had unfinished business concerning Caden’s—and thus Anna’s—future.

Hand resting atop the white table linen, Zeke lifted one finger in a silent command. In an instant, waiting footmen set about clearing dishes and cutlery and serving the brandy goblets, before departing and closing the doors behind them.

Zeke drew his glass toward him, eyes on the shimmering aromatic liquid. “I gathered from our earlier conversation, you have some things to say concerning your allowance, brother?”

“I say, m’boy, Caden only arrived home today. Surely such matters as quarterly allowances can wait?” The earl smiled an apology at Caden.

Caden held up a hand. “Please don’t worry on my account, my lord. Zeke has the right of it; I have some things I need to say—to both of you.”

The earl’s bushy grey brows shot up. He leaned back in his chair and lifted his snifter to his lips. “Go on, then. ”

“The thing is—” Caden cleared his throat. This was harder than he’d anticipated. Best to get the worst part out. “The thing is, Zeke, a large part of what you observed about me was true.”

He had the momentary pleasure of seeing Zeke’s dumbfounded expression. That was something.

Bolstered, he continued. “I have spent these past several years following my education in negligence and disrepute. Rather than pursue any proper vocation or calling, I squandered my time, fraternizing with a certain class of women, frequenting house parties and the like.” He paused.

“Gambling for the fun, I’ll admit, despite the incident you bailed me out of.

“I want you to know, however, It’s the former I regret. I don’t have a gambling addiction, Zeke. I have, however, lived a meaningless existence. Recently I tried to change that.”

Zeke nodded once. “By change, do you mean you needed one last large withdrawal from the family account to cover a gambling debt? Because, I have to tell you, that screams of a gambling problem.”

“The money wasn’t for a gambling debt.”

Zeke closed his eyes briefly in a silent show of relief.

“You needed to pay off, or house a woman, then?” The implied whom you impregnated, remained unspoken.

“Best we know now to minimize any damage going forward. Your wife will certainly not thank you for your bastard child showing up on her doorstep.”

Caden told himself he deserved this. The good news was, for once, Zeke had the key points all wrong. “No—on both counts. Though I can see why you’d assume as much.”

“But—”

Caden held his palm out for silence. His grandfather, he noted, gratified, had not uttered the first word. “Let me finish, please. I am coming to my point. ”

“Very well.” Zeke drummed his fingers on the white tablecloth.

He couldn’t help himself, Caden supposed..

“Go on, son,” the earl said, with a tap on Zeke’s forearm, bless his grizzled heart.

The drumming ceased.

“I think I’d come to the same conclusion as you. No, I had. I took stock of my life and realized it was past time for me to change, thanks, in large part, to your influence, Zeke.”

“Mine?” Zeke sounded dumfounded.

“Witnessing your metamorphosis after Kitty came into your life, seeing you”—Caden searched his mind for the right words—“allow yourself to be vulnerable, showed me a strength in you I’d never realized until then was missing.”

Zeke shifted in his seat, his cheeks turning a dull shade of red. He made no denial. To do so would be to lie. His brother was no liar.

“It caused me to contemplate my own future. Well, that, and Kitty’s relentless humanitarianism.”

Both Zeke and the earl chuckled knowingly.

“When I looked in the mirror, I saw a shallow, self-absorbed man. One I’d thought was so different from our father, but who was really the same—minus his unluckiness.”

The earl looked sad at the mention of his son, but Zeke looked downright thunderous. “You are nothing like our father. He was a weak, selfish man.”

Caden’s brows shot up, as if to point out Zeke had made his point for him.

“Zeke’s right, Caden. I loved your father. But you are not like him. Granted, you are blessed with some of his better traits, his charm, a jovial attitude that draws the fairer sex, and more than his share of luck, but the rest,” His grandfather broke off, shaking his head in vehement denial.

Caden fought down a rush of emotion he hadn’t expected. He grasped his forgotten snifter and took a large swallow. The heady liquid burned its way down to his belly. It helped.

Zeke spoke again. “So, you lost a bundle of money, perhaps in an investment gone awry. It’s just money, Cade. There are worse things. Thankfully you don’t make a practice of racking up debts. I can only hope, now that you are engaged—”

“Zeke, for God’s sake, will you let me finish?” Caden’s words sounded gruff, but his heart did not carry the heat of anger it once had—except for a small portion aimed at himself.

Why had they not talked like men about this before Caden left, half-cocked? Oh. Because Caden had erupted like a child instead of broaching his grievances like a man.

Zeke clenched his jaw, and gestured for Caden to get on with it. He picked up his glass and drank.

“The money—which I was forced to raise on my own, pilfering my own investments, and yes, I’d like to be reimbursed, did not cover a debt, gaming or otherwise. Neither do I have a woman clamoring for my support.”

Not yet at any rate. He pushed the thought of Anna, swollen with his babe in her womb, from his mind as Zeke and the earl exchanged brief, relieved looks.

“Then…?” his brother’s one-word query dangled, open-ended in the air between them. “Why the secrecy?”

“I wanted to surprise you, as a sort of wedding present. I needed the money for equipment, ordered, and due to arrive any day, for the quarry. ”

Zeke frowned. “By God, I got word from the foreman of some unknown shipments which started showing up late last week.”

“You refer to the limestone quarry?” The earl asked, frowning.

“Exactly. Excellent. I hadn’t realized the machinery would arrive so quickly,” Caden mused.

Zeke propped his elbow on the table, closed his eyes, and rested his chin on his fist. A small smile played at his mouth. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with my wife, now, would it?”

Caden arched a brow. “I take it you’ve heard her grumbles over the estate’s longstanding contract with the military? A contract she sees as inhumane—nay—barbaric?”

“What’s this?” The earl demanded. “The Claybourne estate has a long history of supporting the Royal Navy.”

Zeke sat upright and drummed his fingers on his knee under the table. He simply couldn’t help himself, Caden mused.

“Something Kitty detests, old man,” Zeke said. “She claims the military uses the limestone to, and I quote, poison, blind and maim.”

The earl’s expression turned considering. After a moment he nodded with reluctant agreement. “I see.”

Caden went on. “She painted an all too vivid picture for me. It got to where I couldn’t sleep at night imagining the horrors propagated by our unwitting association.”

One corner of Zeke’s mouth kicked up. “My wife. She does has a way about her.”

Caden spread his hands wide. “She does, indeed. During your honeymoon, I did ample research. Turns out the estate itself, and the villages under the Claybourne mantle, can benefit from the limestone in a multitude of ways, benefits which would not only offset any loss of funds caused by terminating the contract with the crown, but should out-pace the lost income.”

“How so?” The earl asked.

“Besides the usual shoring up of roads and buildings, Limestone uses include purifying drinking water, re-mineralizing farm soil, and enhanced metallurgy.”

Zeke’s eyes sharpened on Caden. “Mayhap this is true. But such an over-haul can’t happen on its own, equipment or no.

Someone with the wherewithal to manage what promises to be a massive undertaking would have to take charge.

Production, transport, implementation, oversight. In short, every aspect.”

Finally . He spread his arms wide. “That’s where I come in, brother. Meet your new overseer of operations.” Caden sent the earl and his brother his most magnanimous smile. “All I require—”

Zeke barked out a good-natured laugh. “This ought to be good—”

“Is the deed to the cottage where Anna’s family once lived, signed to me, a hefty salary, free rein to run the quarry as I see fit, and…” He met first his grandfather’s, then Zeke’s, eyes. His smile vanished. “…your trust.”

A pregnant pause ensued.

Then his grandfather stretched out his hand to Caden. “You have mine.”

They shook, then both turned expectant gazes on Zeke.

He pushed away from the table and stood. He rounded the corner approaching Caden.

Caden rose, uncertain what to make of his brother’s odd silence.

Zeke dragged him in for a rare, warm embrace. “You have my trust, along with my thanks, and, my apologies. You were right. I should not have given up on you and I should have asked why you needed the funds. It goes without saying you’ll be reimbursed. ”

He pulled back and met Caden’s eyes. “You grew up while I was away, chasing my mines and running from my life. I should have noticed. Kitty did.”

“Did she?”

“She told me I’d underestimated you. Said I shouldn’t make assumptions about why you needed the money and”—He shook his head ruefully—“said I should ask you about your future plans. One thing’s certain.”

“What’s that?”

“Her I told you so is going to be of epic proportions.”

Caden, the earl, and Zeke all burst out laughing. They roared until tears leaked out of their eyes, because they knew what he’d said was nothing short of the truth.

***