He was only mildly disappointed to discover that the small breakfast room held only his half-brother, a decent fire and the makings of a workmanlike, but more than adequate, breakfast. Roddy was seated at the table, head bent over a plate of eggs and ham and sausages. He glanced up when Darius entered, face immediately taking on the shuttered look his older brother’s presence inevitably produced. He spoke civilly enough, however.
‘Good morning. It looks as if the sun has come out,’ he nodded to the window, where pallid sunlight was indeed putting in an appearance. ‘We might be able to get on today after all.’
‘So it seems. Did you sleep well?’
‘Surprisingly well, considering the bed was full of lumps. You?’
Darius grimaced. ‘Not a great deal better. I believe the mattresses in The Drunken Maiden need re-stuffing. The straw is clumping together.’
‘There’s tea there, freshly made. And ale, if you’re so inclined.’
‘Coffee?’
‘Unfortunately not.’
Darius collected a plate and helped himself to several thick slices of ham and a hunk of bread, which was newly made and smelled delicious. The beds in the inn may need attention but one could not complain about the food. He sat opposite his brother and poured a cup of tea.
‘I do not think that I have properly felicitated you on your engagement,’ he observed quietly, after a moment. ‘Let me offer my sincere congratulations.’
‘Thank you.’ Roddy hesitated for a moment. ‘I consider myself a lucky man. Lady Fielding is a delightful girl.’
‘Where did you meet her?’ Darius inquired casually.
‘Oh, we have known each other for years. We met in Bath some years ago and she was staying in the neighborhood.’
‘Was she indeed?’ Darius took a sip of tea. ‘I am sure your mother is delighted with the match.’
Roddy gave him a narrow glance. ‘She is, of course.’
‘Why not? Daughters of dukes do not come along all that often.’
His brother scowled. ‘I know what you are implying and you are wrong. This engagement was my idea. I encountered Beth when I returned to Birchfield Hall at the beginning of September and we… well, we hit it off.’
‘After Miss Hathaway turned you down?’
Roddy flushed. ‘Exactly so.’
Darius wanted to ask why, precisely, Miss Hathaway turned Roddy down but thought it entirely possible his brother did not know. ‘You are happy, then?’ he inquired, his voice softening.
‘Perfectly happy,’ Roddy returned stiffly. ‘I can assure you, you have no need to concern yourself.’
‘Can you blame me for being concerned? After Constance?’
His brother’s flush deepened a little. ‘Enough, Darius. I know it was a mistake. God knows, I wish I had spoken up at the time but I did not. She really did seem agreeable to the idea.’
Darius was surprised. ‘You were not happy with the match?’
‘As it happens, I was not. But I thought…’
‘Yes, of course.’ Roddy might have thought that it was a mistake but Judith would not have listened to anything her son had to say on the matter. She always knew best.
‘I should have been told what was in the wind,’ he said quietly. ‘You should have written to me.’
Roddy stared at him. ‘And what would you have done?’
‘Stopped it, of course.’
His brother shook his head. ‘You have always been so confident, have you not? I always wished that I could have even half of your assurance.’
That, too, was a surprising admission. Roddy envied him his confidence. ‘You will gather yours around you as the years progress. Indeed, I think you are doing so now,’ he observed softly. ‘You are the Earl of Allingham and you have grown into a fine man, despite your mother doing her best to quash your natural inclinations.’
Roddy studied the piece of egg on his fork for a long moment. ‘I meant to ask you something. It is… a little difficult.’
‘Indeed? What is it?’
His brother looked at him, blue eyes searching. ‘Did you have a hand in Greely’s death?’
Darius raised an eyebrow. ‘Have a hand in it? Now there’s a hell of a question. Do you think I make a habit of murdering people?’
‘I think you might murder somebody if you thought it was the only way out of an untenable situation,’ Roddy replied with unusual frankness.
‘Roddy, I am shocked.’
‘No you’re not. You are entirely unshockable. And of course I wondered. Greely died only weeks after your return to England.’
Darius shook his head. ‘Curb your imagination. Unfortunate accidents happen, especially if one is stupid enough to put oneself in danger. Greely was known for keeping unsavory company. In the end, it caught up with him.’
‘Being found with a bullet in the chest was hardly an accident.’
‘I shed no tears for him,’ Darius shrugged impatiently. ‘He was a singularly unpleasant man who kept company with men every bit as unpleasant as he was and not one person would have mourned his passing. My only regret is that Constance had to spend fifteen months in his company. I trust she is well? How’s the child?’
Roddy grimaced. ‘She came to spend time at Birchfield in October. She seemed to be in tolerable spirits and the baby is thriving.’
‘There you are then. Constance will enjoy an agreeable widowhood and Greely’s heir will be all the better for not knowing his father.’ Darius set his cup down and looked at his brother, leaning back in his chair a little. ‘Which brings me back to the subject of this engagement. I know you find it hard to believe but I merely want to be sure that you are not being manipulated into a marriage you have not orchestrated yourself.’
‘I believe I can manage my own future.’
‘I am pleased to hear it.’
There came a pause in the conversation. Darius addressed himself to his breakfast once more, wondering if his brother would now retreat into sullen silence, as he so often had in the past when he had tried to have a reasonable conversation with him. He was surprised when Roddy spoke again after a minute or two had passed.
‘I spent some time going over the estate accounts and records when I returned to Birchfield,’ he said slowly. ‘Had old Everston explain it all to me.’
‘Indeed?’
‘Yes.’ Roddy glanced up and sighed. ‘He said that you had left the place in an exemplary state. The estate was making a tidy profit and you have instituted some much needed reforms that Father had planned, but had not got around to before he died.’
‘Father was fairly sure I wouldn’t run the place into the ground when he gave me the management of it,’ Darius shrugged. ‘And it was always temporary, just until you’d found your feet. Besides,’ he added wryly, ‘he thought that by creating a need for me to administer Birchfield that there might be an opportunity for brotherly feeling to flourish. The old man was ever the optimist.’
Roddy regarded him thoughtfully. ‘I suppose there is no need for you to be in my life any more, now that the place is in my hands,’ he said quietly.
A pang, surprisingly sharp, sliced through Darius at this. He had known that his relationship with his family, specifically Roddy, for he had never had a great deal to do with Constance, would probably come to an end when his brother attained his twenty-third birthday but it was surprisingly painful, just the same.
‘I suppose not.’
‘Unless you wish to remain in my life, that is.’