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D iana adored her brother. He was one of her favorite people on the face of this earth.

That did not change the fact that right now, she wanted to kill him.

“What is wrong with you?” she snapped. “You followed me all the way to Ireland! Why can you never leave me alone?”

The duke lifted his chin, unrepentant. “I had to satisfy myself as to your well-being.”

“And you thought stalking me was the logical solution?” Diana shot back. “I was frightened , Marcus! I thought someone was trying to kidnap me!”

A trace of regret stole into his eyes. “I am sorry for that. I did not realize you had spotted me.”

Diana was not prepared to offer him absolution. “You should have known better. Subtlety has never been your forte. But here we all are. Have you satisfied yourself sufficiently that you can now leave us alone?”

“Satisfied myself?” Marcus wrinkled his nose as he flicked his hand toward the weather-beaten market stalls. “Name one thing about your present living situation that is satisfactory .”

Diana cast her eyes heavenward. “We’re staying in a perfectly nice cottage.”

“I have seen it. A cottage .” He spat the last word, as if it were a vile curse. “For the sister of a duke!”

Diana nudged Harrington and offered him a commiserating smile. “Just wait until he hears about the seagulls.”

She had expected her husband to grin.

Instead, his face fell. He looked… crestfallen.

“Harrington?” Diana pressed his arm. “What’s wrong?”

She would be lucky if he could even hear her over Marcus’s outraged shouting. “Seagulls? What do you mean, seagulls?” He rounded on Harrington. “I should like to know how you can possibly justify this foul mistreatment of my sister!”

Harrington held his hands up, palms out. “I know it’s not what she deserves.”

Diana would not have thought it possible to feel more annoyed than she already was. She would have been wrong. What was wrong with Harrington? She had explained multiple times that she much preferred her life with him to her gilded cage in London.

What was it about her brother that made Harrington fold so easily?

She glowered at Marcus. “I deserve to be happy. And I am. Here.” She looped her arm through Harrington’s. “With Harrington.”

Harrington shot her a look of desperate gratitude.

Marcus looked baldly skeptical. “You cannot convince me that you are happier here than you would be in London, with servants to wait on you and every luxury at your disposal.”

“Isn’t it amazing how that works?” Diana shot back. “You refuse to listen to a word I say, and then you have no understanding of what I actually want!”

“I was surprised, too.” Harrington’s voice came out gruff, and he looked somewhat startled to find that he had spoken.

“But she assured me again and again that she prefers adventure to comfort.” He rubbed the back of his head, not meeting Marcus’s eyes.

“I mean, she did grow up with Aunt Griselda. When you consider that, it’s not surprising that she isn’t some wilting flower. ”

Diana squeezed his arm encouragingly. That was more like it.

Marcus’s blue eyes narrowed to two frosty slits as they fixed themselves on Harrington. “Even if that is the case, the fact remains that you are unworthy of my sister. And you know it!”

Harrington’s gaze was fixed upon the ground. “I… I…”

Diana glared at her brother. “Marcus! Stop!”

Ignoring her, Marcus took a step forward, and Harrington shrank back. It fell to Diana to pull on his arm so he did not retreat into the wall of a nearby booth. “Why do you not do the decent thing for once in your life and leave my sister alone?”

Harrington swallowed, and his eyes were defeated as he said, “Because I love her.”

Marcus frowned. “Because you… you what ?”

Harrington spoke to Marcus, but his eyes, which were full of sorrow, were fixed on Diana.

“I love her. I know I shouldn’t have done, but…

” He waved a hand. “How could I help myself? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but your sister is incredible.

She’s perfect. She’s”—he ran a hand over his face—“everything I’ve ever wanted. ”

Diana stepped closer to him, pressing his arm. “I love you, too, Harrington,” she said softly.

She wasn’t sure if he heard, for he continued, “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her.

I’d crawl through the mud. I’d step in front of a bullet.

I’d dress in motley and perform jests if she asked it of me.

” Blinking, he shifted his gaze to Marcus.

“What I’m trying to say is, I don’t have the strength to leave her.

Frankly, I don’t understand why she wants me around, either.

But as long as she does, I’m going to be right here. With her.”

Diana had heard enough. Harrington’s speech had left her feeling elated and frustrated in equal measures.

Elated because his feelings for her were everything she could have hoped, a perfect echo of what she felt for him.

But frustrated because, in spite of her reassurances to the contrary, he persisted in believing that he was unworthy of her.

Something was going on. She suspected it went deeper than all those childhood pranks he had played on her brother.

She meant to get to the bottom of it. Today .

Tightening her arm around Harrington’s, she pulled him toward the main street. “Come, husband. We have things to discuss.”

Marcus started to follow them, but Diana rounded on him, jabbing a finger in his chest. “I cannot stand the sight of you right now! Go back to… wherever it is you’ve been staying.”

“With Lord Bandon,” Marcus supplied.

Diana sighed. How like Marcus, to show up on the local lord’s doorstep, expecting to be accommodated, and for the local lord to be delighted. “ If I am able to set aside my ire, I will summon you tomorrow.”

“Diana!”

She could hear Marcus shouting behind her. She ignored him.

She meant to resolve whatever it was that was troubling Harrington, once and for all.