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Freddie made a noise he was sure he had never made before, a sort of wheezing denial.

Yes, for as long as he could remember, his body had longed to be in contact with Emily’s in a very desperate, visceral way, but marriage had never crossed his mind.

Or at least it had crossed his mind, but he knew it was not something that she wanted.

He was a bad fit for her; even he could see that, even after all the brandy.

That it was obvious it was always going to be him who married her couldn’t be obvious to everyone because it certainly wasn’t clear to him.

‘That is not… I did not…’ The brandy had been a bad idea; he could not find the words to argue with Edward. ‘It was not meant to happen.’

Edward’s grin was rapier sharp. ‘Ah, she just happened to fall into you, did she? And then, when your mouth landed on hers she what…?’ His brother tapped his chin in mock thoughtfulness. ‘She could not get away because you are so good at kissing?’

Christopher and Edward laughed but Freddie didn’t; they shouldn’t be making light of something so serious. ‘She did not mean to kiss me…’ He waved his hands around. ‘It sort of happened.’

Edward’s grin deepened. ‘I see. It was the sight of your manly chest that made it impossible for her to resist you.’

Even Tobias guffawed at that one.

The only thing Freddie had to throw at his brother was one of the hideous blue cushions, but he wasn’t sure his aim was as good as it could have been, given the three large brandies .

‘I made the first move.’ He wasn’t sure that he had; he had no recollection of moving and yet one minute he’d been standing on one side of the clearing with her on the other side and the next he had been in the middle, his arms wrapped around her, his fingers in her hair and finally, finally with his mouth on hers.

He could have died in that moment and he would have been a happy man. ‘I am not good enough for her.’

Edward rolled his eyes. ‘Of course you are not, but you have been adoring her from afar for years, so it is high time you got on with it and made her your wife.’

‘I have not.’ He had been doing just that, but a man had to have some dignity.

‘Freddie, you look at her like this.’ Edward pulled a face that had his other two brothers laughing.

Two laughs in one evening was possibly a record for Tobias, but the brandy and the swirling thoughts made it hard for Freddie to focus on that miracle. Besides, his skin was hotter than the surface on the sun at the sight of Edward’s awful impersonation. ‘I do not!’ He paused for a beat. ‘Do I?’

‘Perhaps not quite that bad,’ said Christopher, still in contention for position as his favourite brother, although the competition was not high.

‘Exactly that bad,’ said Edward, definitely Freddie’s least favourite.

‘But Tobias…’ Freddie turned to look at his oldest brother, who was swirling the amber liquid around in his glass, a hint of a smile on his lips, or perhaps Freddie was imagining it, because the room was slightly blurry around the edges.

He was never drinking again; it was making it dashed difficult to follow the conversation or make rational observations.

‘Freddie,’ said Edward, leaning forward, resting his forearms on his knees.

‘I am going to save you some time trying to work out what we are saying. The brandy has clearly addled your brain. It has been clear to all of us that, for some time, years actually, you have been dangling after Emily Hawkins. Anything that has been said by any of us regarding Tobias and Emily has been to irritate you for the benefit of our entertainment and not because our older brother had any serious intention of courting her.’ He turned slightly towards the duke. ‘Is that correct, Tobias?’

The duke nodded gravely. ‘It is.’

‘See?’

‘I see that you all think I am foolish and a half-wit and…’

‘No,’ said Tobias. ‘We do not think that, Frederick.’

Edward and Christopher nodded in agreement, Edward’s smile finally fading away.

‘You think that,’ said Edward quietly. ‘The rest of us do not.’

Oh. Freddie’s heart expanded painfully. This was the precise moment into which he should say something profound, but once again, nothing came to mind. Edward cleared his throat, followed quickly by Christopher as the noise made the moment less sentimental and more manly.

‘You are quite the artist,’ said Edward when no one else said anything at all.

Freddie frowned. How did Edward know about that?

‘You leave the drawings all over the house,’ Edward explained. ‘They are good, by the way; we all think so. You have a remarkable talent.’

‘They are just sketches,’ Freddie mumbled, not quite ready to believe that someone other than himself or Emily saw any merit in his creations.

Tobias stood and made his way out of the room without saying anything, the topic of Freddie’s drawings clearly not holding his interest. Which was fine.

Obviously. Tobias was a busy man who was not his father; there was no reason for him to talk about Freddie’s sketches or his impending wedding.

He gazed down at the bottle of brandy by his feet, his fingers twitching with the urge to put the bottle to his lips.

Before he could spiral into another rambling monologue, the sound of Tobias’ clipped heels sounded in the corridor outside, as if he was returning to the Blue Lounge.

Sure enough he returned, carrying a rolled-up piece of paper under one arm.

He made his way over to a larger table towards the back of the room, which was surrounded by dimly lit lamps.

Tobias rearranged some of the items on it and spread out the large piece of paper, smoothing out the edges carefully.

He gestured for Freddie to join him; Edward and Christopher followed close behind.

When Freddie caught sight of the paper, his heart constricted before beating painfully.

It was Freddie’s garden, the one he dreamed of and the one he had drawn that day in the library, the day Emily had first touched him.

Tobias pulled a lamp closer so that they could all see the details.

Freddie said nothing as he peered at it critically.

The brandy was slowly seeping out of him, but it was still making him fuzzy on the details.

This was his creation, a part of his mind that he had kept hidden from his family, or at least, he had assumed he had.

He hadn’t quite known what to expect from them.

He’d only ever been ridiculed for his attempts at work before and he hadn’t wanted that for this.

It was far too important to him. His fingers ran over the depiction of squirrels he’d hidden amongst the roots of a large tree, the ones that had so impressed Emily, the first person to see his drawings and to make him feel as if they had merit, as if his efforts weren’t a joke.

The echo of her words was the only thing stopping him from opening his mouth and making light of the whole situation.

If she thought the place was magical, then so did Freddie and making a joke at his own expense would only sully it.

Tobias tapped the paper twice. ‘Make this happen.’

‘Yes,’ said Edward, moving his hand to a section of the drawing. ‘I want to sit here with a brandy and take in the magnificence of this place.’

‘It does not exist,’ Freddie countered, something large taking up a place in his chest.

‘It should,’ said Edward.

‘You have a plan,’ said Tobias, his words not a question, a belief, and something inside Freddie unfurled, something that felt suspiciously like hope.

‘I do. There’s a place near Berferd, but it is expensive and I do not quite have the money, not for everything that will need doing to the land. Nearly but not enough.’

‘The dowry.’ Another statement from Tobias.

Emily’s dowry was substantial and would bring him over the required amount with money left to spare, but Freddie was almost too afraid to touch it.

It was as if so long as he left it untouched in his bank account, the wedding would go ahead, but to disturb it was to invite disaster.

But the garden was something he wanted almost as much as he wanted Emily.

If he invested money in this, then it was for both of their futures.

He could build her a place she’d already told him she wanted to visit.

Perhaps if he could build it how he had drawn it, the fact that he couldn’t share her love of reading wouldn’t matter.

Perhaps she would see him as a worthy husband.

‘The dowry,’ he agreed with his brother.

Tobias slapped him on the shoulder. It would appear Freddie was going to become a landowner in his own right and a husband all within a couple of days.