Page 37 of My Secret Duke

C harles was in his usual place, the office at Cadieux’s Gambling Club. Ivo climbed the stairs, ignoring the interested looks of the staff. No doubt everyone had heard about his run-in with the Revenue Service. He knocked on the door and entered at Charles’s invitation.

“Northam,” he said and smiled. He was in his shirtsleeves and wearing his usual colorful waistcoat—this one a sapphire blue—but it appeared as if he had been running his hands through his hair, because it stuck up in all directions. “Thank you for coming to see me at short notice. I had wondered if you were busy.”

“Staying out of prison, do you mean?” Ivo replied dryly, closing the door behind him. “You said in your message that it was important.”

“Yes, it is.” Charles looked uncertain for a moment and then rushed into speech. “I am going to ask for Justina Ashton’s hand in marriage.”

Whatever Ivo had been expecting—a business discussion perhaps or the need for more French brandy—it was not this. “Congratulations.”

Charles smiled thinly. “Well, I hope so, but there is an impediment to our happiness called Gabriel.”

Ivo wasn’t entirely surprised. He remembered their discussion at Whitmont, when Charles had told him Gabriel was stuck in the past and did not believe Charles could be faithful to one woman. There was a time when Ivo would have believed that too, but he knew that since he set eyes on Justina, Charles had been a changed man.

“You thought that might be the case. Can’t you talk him around?”

“I haven’t tried. Yet. But there is something else, and that’s the reason I’ve asked you here. I need to be honest with Gabriel and Justina. I need to tell them that I am your half brother.”

Ivo considered this. Some months ago, he had been reluctant for the truth to come out, but now Adelina knew, and she had told Lexy. The three of them had discussed whether or not to tell their mother and decided not to. But he did intend to tell her eventually, when she had recovered from his arrest. Yes, she would be upset, but she was already aware of some of his father’s worst traits, so he was sure she would recover from this one too.

“If you want to tell the Ashtons, then you have my blessing.”

Charles looked relieved.

Ivo went on, feeling a little awkward, “Do you need me to be there? I have never had a brother before, but I believe that is the sort of thing they do for one another.”

Charles’s smile was back, and suddenly, it wasn’t awkward at all. “Thank you. That would mean a great deal to me. I’ve told Gabriel I will call on him at Ashton House at seven o’clock, although he doesn’t know why.”

“I will be there.”

Charles raised an eyebrow. “It may be a short visit.”

Ivo leaned forward in his chair. “I’m sure he won’t refuse you permission without listening to you first. You can persuade him, Charles.”

“Perhaps. He is very protective of his sisters. This is a man who gave up his gambling club to take care of them. Even if he didn’t still think of me as the rake I once was, he’d hem and haw about it, ticking off all the pros and cons.”

Ivo considered his own situation. What would happen if he asked Gabriel for Olivia’s hand? He’d probably be shown the door quick smart and told never to darken it again. He suspected Gabriel had already warned her to stay away from him, and honestly, he couldn’t blame him.

Irritably, Charles pushed aside some of the papers on his desk. “Have you heard anything more from the Revenue Service?”

“Lieutenant Harrison is conspicuously absent, but that doesn’t mean he’s given up.”

“You have friends in high places,” Charles reminded him.

Ivo hoped that was true, but before he could answer, there was a perfunctory knock on the door, and Will Tremeer entered.

He stopped, gray eyes wide. “Oh, sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize you were here, Northam. Have you come to check on your investment?”

Charles gave him a hard look. “Mind your manners, boy. Northam is just as much your boss as me. Do you want to return to Cornwall?”

Will shuddered at the thought but didn’t seem too worried by the threat. “Apologies,” he said, and gave Charles the information he had come to deliver.

Ivo stood up to leave. “I will see you tonight,” he told Charles.

“It is seven o’clock,” Charles reminded him, with an anxious look.

“On the dot.”

Will followed him out.

“You are enjoying your employment here then?” Ivo asked him, just for something to say. He did not know Will well, but he found him a pleasant young man. He was certainly dedicated to the club, and Charles had come to rely on him a great deal.

“It’s the best thing that’s happened to me,” Will confided. “Charles is the perfect employer. I miss Gabriel being in the office sometimes, but I still see him at home. And I’m grateful for both our sakes that he married Vivienne.”

“I think he made the right choice,” Ivo said.

Will beamed. “So do I!”

As he walked away, Ivo found himself mulling over Gabriel and Vivienne, and now Charles and Justina. He wished his own situation could end happily, but how was it possible when things were such a mess? He hadn’t spoken to Olivia since that awful night, and although he had picked up his pen a number of times, the words would not come to him. Should he apologize? Should he tell her again he was a better man? How could she believe him now?

The sobering consequences of his many reckless actions, of his foolish mistakes, had truly come home with a vengeance when he learned Jacob Rendall was behind his arrest. He had realized just how far-reaching the consequences of his unthinking decisions could be. He must keep Olivia well out of it.

Whatever hopes he had for a future with her, he must put them aside.

Ivo was a little late arriving at Ashton House. Before he left, he had made the hasty decision to tell his mother about Charles, realizing that word might get out after the proposal. The truth was better coming from him than some malicious gossip. His revelation had brought on a bout of hysterics. Once his mother calmed down, and even seemed resigned to this fresh disclosure about her husband, Ivo left her in his sisters’ care.

The Ashtons’ butler informed him that Charles and Gabriel were together in the library, and Ivo hurried to join them. As soon as he walked in the door, he could see that Charles’s request had not gone down well. Gabriel was frowning in an intimidating manner, and Charles had lost his usual even temper. In fact, they were leaning into each other as if they were about to start shouting.

When Gabriel looked up and saw Ivo, he barked, “What do you want?”

Ivo raised his eyebrows. “Charles asked me to come.”

“You’re late,” Charles said quietly. “I told you seven.”

“And I’m sorry, but I had to tell my mother. I’m here now.”

Gabriel shot his friend a puzzled glare.

Charles ignored it. “I asked Northam to be present while I speak to you, Gabriel. In case you have any, eh, questions.”

“Questions about what? I think I know you well enough by now, Charles.”

Ivo couldn’t help himself. “You may have known the child you lived with at St. Ninian’s, Grantham, and your partner at Cadieux’s, but this Charles is a changed man.”

Gabriel looked even more unimpressed. “Is he indeed?”

Ivo took a steadying breath. Charles needed his help. After a lifetime of cock-ups, he was determined to redeem himself.

“Furthermore, I have the right to speak for him, because he is a Fitzsimmons. Charles and I are brothers. Well, half brothers, if you wish to be technical.”

“Good God.” Gabriel looked shocked, which was amusing in a way because Ivo knew how much alike he and Charles were in appearance. “Are you serious?” He looked from Ivo to Charles and back again, and then gave a huff of laughter. “I see it now. When did you find out, Charles, and why on earth didn’t you tell me?”

Charles shifted uncomfortably. “I found out after the picnic at Grantham when I accompanied Northam back to Whitmont. There was a portrait there of his father… our father, and it was like looking into a mirror. I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t something Ivo had spoken about to his mother and sisters, and I thought it should be left to him. Not that I believed I needed to take out an advertisement in The Times ,” he added irritably. “It makes no difference who my father was to those who know me well.”

Gabriel seemed to accept that, but he still sounded reluctant when he said, “Nevertheless, my sister—”

“Yes, your sister,” Ivo interrupted, deciding it was time someone took control of what seemed to be a stalemate between the two men. “Charles wants to marry Lady Justina. He is sincere in his affection for her. I have seen that firsthand. Now he is a proprietor of Cadieux’s, he takes his responsibilities very seriously. I think you are aware of that too, Grantham, or you would never have sold him the club. You trust him. I can’t speak for your sister, but I assume she trusts him too, and is ready and willing to be his wife. Is that not so, Charles?”

Charles looked a little rattled by the turn of events. “She does… she is.”

“Yes, I am aware of the affection you hold for each other.” Gabriel’s voice had gentled, but he wasn’t giving in yet. “I had hoped it would pass.” He must have heard how blunt that sounded, because he pulled an apologetic face at Charles. “Sorry, but I find it difficult to accept you are a changed man. I remember too well your nights on the town.”

“We are both changed men,” Charles retorted. “Why is it so hard to believe I could fall in love and want a happy life? Family, children, a home. We never had that, Gabriel, did we? Now you have it, and I want it too.”

No one said anything for a moment. Gabriel mulled over his words, and then abruptly he held out his hand. Charles clasped it, and his relief was palpable. “You have my blessing,” Gabriel said. “I will speak to Justina in private, and if she is content with the arrangement, then you have my permission to marry her.”

Ivo watched them hug, pounding each other on their backs. He was very happy for Charles, but he once again suspected that, had it been he who requested permission to marry one of Gabriel’s sisters, he would not have been given a favorable answer.

There was no point in thinking about it anyway, not when he was dealing with the matter of Mystere/Rendall. He couldn’t even fight for Olivia, because who knew what would happen next? Ivo loved her too much to involve her in this dangerous situation. For now, he would keep her at a distance. That was safest, melancholy as it felt to be without her.