His Wicked Seduction novel Chapter 22

Cedric was increasingly uncomfortable. He knew his friend was right but, damn the man, he felt terrible for not having better composure.

"Would you like me to leave?" Ashton asked.

Cedric looked back to the fire. The tense silence became suffocating. Ashton rose from his chair.

"I'll see myself out." He nodded in farewell.

Only when Ashton reached the drawing room door did Cedric call out to him. "You haven't finished your brandy."

Ashton looked back at the lonely glass on the table. "It would be rude of me to leave it half full, I suppose."

"Impossibly rude." Cedric gave the barest hint of a smile. Ashton returned and made a great scene of sitting deep into his chair, as though he would not be leaving anytime soon.

"Now, since I'm not done with my drink, there is plenty of time for us to talk."

It took Cedric a few moments to properly gather his thoughts.

"I'm failing as a brother, Ash. Horatia is dreadfully unhappy, Audrey is distressed over my boorish treatment of her would-be suitors and the truth is that I'm doing everything within my power to not end up here alone." There was the crux of the problem. He didn't want to be left with an empty house, no family, just silence and servants. He feared it like nothing else in the world, save losing those he loved.

"Let us take one problem at a time, shall we? Firstly, you won't be alone. The League is constantly infiltrating your life, and on occasion your home, for our nefarious purposes." The twinkle in Ashton's eyes was a comfort beyond words. "Just because your sisters may someday leave does not plunge you into eternal solitude. You know you may call on any of us at any time should you feel the least bit melancholy. Now, as to Audrey, you know my opinion on the matter. Marry her off to a good man soon, and if it is Jonathan, you'll see her quite often. She loves you far too much to abandon you for any husband. Hasn't our policy always been the more the merrier?"

Cedric grumbled. "Dash it all. I hate how bloody sensible you are. I sound like some mulish fop who fears losing control over something he never actually had control of."

"You're not a fop. Mulish absolutely, but a fop? Never."

"You're very lucky that I like you. Otherwise I would be tempted to point a pistol at you after all."

Ash grinned. "Yes, yes. Now, about Horatia. What is making her unhappy?"

"That's just it. I have no idea."

"Not one?" Ashton seemed surprised.

"She mopes about, sighing and her eyes often seem red as though she's been crying. And then there was this morning with Charles."

"Charles again?" Ashton mused.

"He offered to take her riding, something she usually loves but at first she declined. It was only when I mentioned that Lucien and Audrey would be down soon for breakfast that she couldn't seem to leave fast enough."

"It seems you already have the answer to her unhappiness."

"I do?" What the devil was Ash playing at?

"Of course. Horatia has no problem with her sister, does she?"

Cedric swirled his brandy glass, considering the morning's odd turn of events. "Well, no, other than the usual sisterly squabbles."

"And the only other person you mentioned was?" Ashton prompted.

"Lucien? But why would she..." Cedric didn't want to consider what that meant.

"That is what we must discover," Ashton said.

"What on earth do you mean?"

Ashton took a sip of his brandy. "We have our rules, remember, and Lucien has a sister. He understands the brotherly instinct to protect those under his charge. It is possible that he fears Horatia will someday be a target, however unintentional, of his natural charm." Ashton stroked his jaw. "Therefore he is cold to her, in hopes her declaration of love from years ago never resurfaces."

"I don't follow. Are you saying he desires my sister?" The idea of Lucien even thinking of Horatia as he would any other woman made Cedric's blood boil. He refused to believe it.

The other man merely smiled.

"Never mind, Cedric. We won't worry any more about it tonight." Ashton took another sip of his drink.

A sudden pounding on the front door alerted both men to the world outside their thoughts.

"Now who the devil could that be?" Cedric muttered. He and Ash abandoned their brandy and headed into the hall where a tired footman was already moving to open the door.

Charles stormed in, dragging a disheveled, swollen-lipped and upset Audrey. Cedric, unusually observant about his sister tonight, immediately assessed the clearly dangerous situation. Someone had been kissing his sister, kissing her hard enough to give her that singularly bee-stung plumpness to her lips. Furthermore, she was upset, though not as though she meant to cry. No, she was livid, like a spitting mad cat.

"What on earth?" Cedric began.

"Sheridan!" Charles snapped as he shoved Audrey deeper into the hallway as the footman shut the door.

"Charles?" Cedric replied in shock.

"You have to do something about your sister! Marry her to the first oaf in Hyde Park if you must, but for God's sake, get her married!" After Charles's violent outburst the hall became deathly silent.

"Oh dear," Ashton said. This would not end well.