Page 36 of Vanquished by a Viscount (Tales from the Brotherhood #3)

He did what he could to push his inconvenient feelings aside and joined Olivier in the line of people handing off buckets, even though he was certain their efforts were too late.

The cottage was fully ablaze. They’d pulled Barbara to safety in the nick of time.

The best Charlie thought they could do was to keep the fire from spreading to the surrounding foliage, though the rain had done its part in dampening everything in the garden.

“It’s useless,” Robert called out at last. He stood with Barbara in his arms, blinking against the continued rain as he staggered closer to those who were doing their best for the cottage. “The cottage is a loss. Nothing else will burn, though. We should return to the house.”

“Are you certain?” Gray asked, slipping in the wet grass as he brought a bucket back from the edge of the cottage.

Robert nodded. “We’ve done our best.”

The call went down the line that they were giving up, and the buckets stopped coming.

Charlie let his arms drop as he took a last, heavy bucket from Pettigrew.

He noted suddenly that Pettigrew was in only his shirt and trousers as well, and that he glanced to Bradford as if waiting for the man to tell him what to do.

It seemed as though Bradford had not been disappointed in his search for a bedmate for the night after all.

Lucky Pettigrew.

Charlie growled at himself and shook the thought away. He tossed the final bucket of water uselessly at the cottage. The flames were already dying, leaving a blackened ruin in their place.

“Thank you,” Gray said, grasping Charlie’s arm as they trudged back toward the house with the other exhausted men who had done their best.

The house was awake and alive when they made it back to the conservatory.

All of the maids and most of the ladies of the house party waited there for the gentlemen with everything from towels to blankets to hot tea.

Whatever Charlie had been tempted to think of the silly, husband-seeking young ladies of the party, he was grateful for the care they all showed the gentlemen now.

“I am certain you were quite heroic,” Lady Eudora sighed over Pettigrew, dabbing at his forehead with a towel as if she wished to wrap him up in it, and in her.

Charlie caught Bradford grinning at Pettigrew with a knowing look as he stood off to one side, dripping onto a pile of thick towels as he sipped tea. Damn the man for looking desirable even in the guise of a drown and soot-smudged rat.

“I, er, did my best,” Pettigrew mumbled, attempting to politely shy away from Lady Eudora while appealing to Bradford with a look.

Charlie would have found the scene amusing if he did not have Barbara to worry about. He and Gray both ignored the offer of towels and tea to cross the room directly to where Robert had just taken a seat on one of the settees with Barbara in his arms.

“My dear, are you well?” Charlie asked, trying again to gain his sister’s attention. He even took the towel that one of the maids was offering and wrapped it around Barbara’s shoulders himself.

Barbara was shaking, from fear as much as from cold. She turned slightly to acknowledge Charlie, but her attention was still primarily on Robert. “I am so sorry,” she wept, clinging to him. “I should have been warm and safe in your arms rather than playing shepherdess in the cottage.”

“Was that why you insisted on staying there?” Gray asked, hovering on Robert’s other side. His concern for Barbara warmed Gray’s heart.

Barbara made a sound that was something between a laugh and a wail and nodded.

She buried her face against Robert’s neck, saying, “It was foolish. So foolish.” She lifted her head and looked at Robert.

“I should have forgiven you ages ago. I know you care about me and want nothing but the best for me. I am sorry.”

“Oh, my darling, my heart,” Robert said, hugging her tightly. “I do not care. You are alive and you are safe. That is all that matters and that will ever matter to me.”

Barbara’s tears increased, and Charlie was fairly certain Robert was crying as well, as the two embraced each other.

Another of the maids came forward, offering Charlie and Gray towels once more. She looked distressed over the way the two of them were dripping all over the floor, so Charlie took the offered towel and stepped aside to wrap himself in it.

But as he did, Barbara glanced up with a gasp and said, “Don’t go!” to both Charlie and Gray. “I…I need you here with me a while longer. I was so frightened when the fire—” She burst into tears instead of going on.

“We’re right here, love,” Charlie said, hugging the towel around himself and glancing at Gray before moving back to Barbara’s side. “Neither of us are going anywhere.”

“For now,” Barbara said, weeping. “But you will go back to Downham Manor and Gray is going far away to Australia, and nothing will ever be the same again.”

At first, Charlie wasn’t certain he’d heard his sister correctly. His concerns were for her, making certain she was well and comfortable. He stroked her wet hair for a moment before his hand stopped and his gaze snapped up to Gray.

“You’re going to Australia?” he asked, barely able to push the words out.

Gray did not answer at first. His guilty silence was all the answer Charlie needed, though.

“I have a passage booked for the end of July,” he admitted, his face turning down a bit.

Charlie straightened, taking a step back from the cluster around Barbara. “That is in less than two weeks,” he said, his throat closing up.

“Um, yes,” Gray said.

Charlie felt vaguely sick. “How long have you had this passage booked?”

“A few months now,” Gray answered.

Robert glanced up from Barbara as if suddenly aware of the new drama that had arisen in front of him. Charlie caught the look and asked, “Did you know about this?”

Robert sighed and said, “Yes.”

Of course he did. If Barbara knew, Robert would know. Everyone had known but him.

Charlie looked at Grayson again. “You knew all this time that you would be departing for the other side of the world after this house party, but at no point did you ever think to inform me?”

“I booked the passage months before coming together with you again,” Gray said carefully, peeking around to see who might be listening in. “I had no idea we would…reconcile.”

“But you’re leaving for Australia,” Charlie said. “In a matter of weeks. Possibly never to return.”

“I didn’t know.”

“What was the point of—” Charlie snapped his lips shut before he continued on to say something he was certain he would regret.

But the thoughts were still there. What was the point of reconciling with Grayson, of giving his heart away to the man all over again, when he would just be leaving and tearing his heart out in a matter of weeks? Grayson hadn’t even had the grace to tell him of his plans to leave.

Charlie took another step back, clearing his throat. “Excuse me,” he said, nodding to Robert. “I believe it would be best if I dried off and donned warm clothes as quickly as possible.”

He hugged the towel tighter around himself and marched for the doorway.

“Charlie!” Grayson called after him, but quickly glanced around with a blush when he saw how much attention he’d drawn. He started after Charlie.

Charlie turned as soon as they were in the hallway and said, “It would be best if we discussed this in the morning.”

“It would be best if we discussed this now,” Gray countered him. But Lady Sandridge crossed past them, giving the two of them a suspicious look. Gray was forced to sigh and concede, “Alright. Perhaps it would be better if we discussed this in the morning. But I want you to know that I?—”

Again, he was forced into silence as Miss Kennedy and one of the maids rushed past, eyeing them as they did. There was simply too much distraction all around them for either man to say what needed to be said.

All the same, Grayson mouthed the words, “I love you.”

Charlie felt those words in the core of his being, but he was no longer certain he trusted them. He turned to go, a heaviness hanging on his heart. What good was love when he would be separated from his lover by the entire world?