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Was that true? A little deflated, Jed stepped back and dropped his hands into his pockets.

If he kept them there, he might not strangle Henry.

Keeping control was a pain in the arse. He wanted to do something to someone .

He scowled at the road, trying to decide whether his pride would let him ask Henry if he could borrow a car.

He simply needed to be with Eden. Partly because he was curious…

Why had she fled from a party she’d been looking forward to?

But mostly because whatever upset her, upset him.

Shit, this caring-for-a-woman was complicated. He remembered now why he’d always steered clear. But he had two choices: to go back to the party or follow Eden. It wasn’t much of a choice.

‘Can I borrow a car?’ he asked, gesturing to the now-empty driveway. ‘I need to… check up on her.’

Henry tipped his head to the side and handed Jed a strange smile. ‘Let’s walk around the house, that way we won’t get waylaid by guests.’

Since he didn’t want to speak to anyone but Eden, Jed quickly agreed.

They headed away from the party and toward the back of the enormous house.

As they moved away from the expertly manicured front of the property into what Jed called the business end, he noticed the broken fences, farm implements that had been left to stand in the rain too long, and the missing gutters from what was once a grand stable block.

The open garage had space for ten, maybe fifteen cars, but only two were used.

One held Henry’s Land Rover, the other, a beat-up, a breath away from disintegrating into a heap of rusty parts.

Henry gestured to his top-of-the-range Land Rover. ‘Keys are in the ignition.’

Jed took a step toward the car and stopped, frowning. He looked at Henry and noted the tension in his face, the frustration and humiliation in his eyes. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Why do you care?’ Henry whipped back.

‘Henry? There’s something you want to tell me so spit it the fuck out,’ Jed said. Yes, Eden needed him– or he needed to know what was up with her– but Henry looked… lost? Yeah, lost. And out of options.

Henry rubbed the back of his neck and tipped his head up to look up at the sky. And Jed watched frustration chase anxiety across his face. Henry was going through something. He opened his mouth to ask what, then abruptly snapped it close.

He needed to get to Eden; he didn’t have any time to spare. And why did he want to? Henry meant nothing to him.

He’s your brother…

Henry’s eyes met his, his expression now flat. He nodded at his Range Rover. ‘Try to get the car back to me as soon as you can,’ he asked, his voice flat. ‘I need to be in London tomorrow.’

Jed, off balance and confused, watched him walk away. He looked so damn alone, the same way Eden occasionally did. Growing up, he’d had Troyden and his sibs, while Henry, like Eden, seemed to have had no one.

‘ You can easily accept people who aren’t your blood, but not me. ’

Maybe it was time to change this status quo, to open his mind up to the possibility of connecting with his half-brother.

Maybe find some common ground. Maybe Henry was the wanker he believed him to be, but maybe he was just a guy trying to play the best hand with the cards he’d been dealt.

Jed believed in fair play, that all men needed a chance, but he hadn’t been prepared to give his brother one, choosing instead to punish him because of what the Fucking Duke did.

‘Henry…’

Henry stopped but didn’t turn around.

Jed rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Thanks for lending me your car, I’ll get it back to you as soon as I can…

’ How to say this? What words could he use that would not box him into a corner, that wouldn’t raise his expectations?

He didn’t want to give the guy false hope, but neither could he leave him like this.

‘Maybe we could get that beer sometime, talk some more.’

Henry whipped around and his glower burned a hole straight through him. ‘Why don’t you take your fucking pity and fucking patronising attitude and just fuck off?’ he asked, but Jed heard the heat, his banked frustration.

Jed liked that he’d chosen anger, that he hadn’t lost his pride, and that he wasn’t prepared to take any shit.

‘You’ve been bugging me to get one, and now you’re being pissy,’ Jed said, pushing him. He opened the door to the car, climbed up and settled in. He rested his hands on the steering wheel and lifted his eyebrows at the high-tech dashboard. Nice.

‘Fuck you.’

Jed’s smile broadened and he shook his head as he pulled the seatbelt across his chest. Stubborn too. They definitely shared some of the same personality traits. Turning on the ignition Jed hit the button to lower the window, remembering how they used to work off their anger as kids.

‘Then how about we climb into a ring and punch it out?’

He regretted the words as soon as he said them. It had been a hundred years since he’d boxed. With his luck, Henry had probably kept it up and would annihilate him. Ah, well.

Henry rested his tight fists on his hips. ‘Works for me. Text me a time and place.’ He pointed his finger at Jed. ‘Do not scratch my car, it’s the only asset I have that’s worth anything and I need to sell it soon.’

Huh. He hadn’t thought Henry was being serious about not being financially liquid.

They’d talk about that and a hundred other things.

‘We’ll pummel the shit out of each other, then we’ll grab a beer,’ Jed told him, looking in the mirrors as he reversed the car.

Needing to mess with him, he dramatically gasped and then winced. ‘Shit, I think I hit something.’

‘Jesus Christ, are you being serious right now?’ Henry shouted, two strips of red appearing on his cheekbones.

Jed grinned at his brother. ‘No.’

‘You fucker…’

Jed accelerated away, smiling. If he and Henry were to have any type of relationship, he’d have to learn how to take some shit. He was looking forward to imparting that particular brotherly lesson.

After he had the shit knocked out of him in the boxing ring.