West rubbed the back of his neck, which was stiff after two nights of sleeping on a lumpy bed in a cold farmhouse. “Life is hardly ever fair, little friend. As you well know.”
“Can’t you talk him out of it?” she brought herself to ask.
“Not when I would make the same decision. The fact is, once we lease the land to London Ironstone, that tiny eastern portion of the estate will become our only source of reliable profit.”
Her head lowered. “I thought you would be on the tenants’ side.”
“I am. You know I am.” West reached out to take her narrow shoulders in a warm, sustaining grip. “I swear to you, we’ll do everything possible to help them. Their farms will be reduced in size, but if they’re willing to learn modern methods, they could produce double their annual yields.” To make certain she was listening, he gave her the gentlest possible shake. “I’ll persuade Devon to give them every advantage: We’ll reduce their rents and provide drainage and building improvements. We’ll even supply machinery to help them plow and harvest.” Staring down into her mutinous face, he said ruefully, “Don’t look like that. Good God, one would think we were conspiring to murder someone.”
“I have just the person in mind,” she muttered.
“You had better pray that nothing ever happens to him, because then I would become the earl. And I would wash my hands of the estate.”
“Would you really?” She seemed genuinely shocked.
“Before you could blink.”
“But you’ve worked so hard for the tenants…”
“As you yourself once said, Devon is carrying a heavy burden. There’s nothing in this world I want badly enough to be willing to do what my brother is doing. Which means I have no choice but to support him.”
Kathleen nodded glumly.
“Now you’re being practical.” West smiled slightly. “Will you accompany me back to the lion’s den?”
“No, I’m tired of quarreling.” Briefly she rested her forehead against his chest, a close and trusting gesture that touched him nearly as much as it surprised him.
After parting company with Kathleen, West returned to the library.
Devon was outwardly calm as he stood at the table and stared down at the map. However, the pencil had been broken into multiple pieces that were scattered across the carpet.
Contemplating Devon’s hard profile, West asked blandly, “Could you try to be a bit more artful in dealing with her? Perhaps use a smidgen of diplomacy? Because even though I happen to agree with your position, you’re being a donkey’s arse about it.”
Devon sent him a wrathful glance. “I’ll be damned if I have to win her approval before making decisions about my estate.”
“Unlike either of us, she has a conscience. It won’t hurt you at all to hear her opinion. Especially since she happens to be right.”
“You just said you agreed with my position!”
“From a practical standpoint. Morally, Kathleen is right.” West watched as his brother prowled away from the table and back again, pacing like a caged tiger. “You have to understand something about her,” he said. “She’s spirited on the surface, but sensitive at the core. If you show her just a little consideration —”
“I don’t need you to explain her to me.”
“I know her better than you,” West said sharply. “I’ve been living with her, for God’s sake.”
That earned him a chilling glance. “Do you want her?” Devon asked brusquely.
West was baffled by the question, which seemed to have come from nowhere. “Want her? In the biblical sense? Of course not, she’s a widow. Theo’s widow. How could anyone…” His voice faded as he saw that Devon had resumed pacing, his expression murderous.
Thunderstruck, West realized what the most likely reason was for all the free-floating hostility and high-riding tension between Devon and Kathleen. He closed his eyes briefly. This was bad. Bad for everyone, bad for the future, just bloody awful compounding badness in all directions. He decided to test his theory in the hope that he was mistaken.
“Although,” West continued, “she is a little beauty, isn’t she? One could find all kinds of entertaining uses for that sweet mouth. I wouldn’t mind catching her in a dark corner and having some fun. She might resist at first, but soon I’d have her writhing like a cat —”
Devon lunged at him in a blur of motion, seizing West by the lapels. “Touch her and I’ll kill you,” he snarled.
West stared at him in appalled disbelief. “I knew it. Sweet Mother of God! You want her.”
Devon’s visceral fury appeared to fade a few degrees as he realized he had just been outmaneuvered. He released West abruptly.
“You took Theo’s title and his home,” West continued in appalled disbelief, “and now you want his wife.”
“His widow,” Devon muttered.
“Have you seduced her?”
“Not yet.”
West clapped his hand to his forehead. “Christ. Don’t you think she’s suffered enough? Oh, go on and glare. Snap me in pieces like that blasted pencil. It will only confirm that you’re no better than Theo.” Reading the outrage in his brother’s expression, he said, “Your relationships typically last no longer than the contents of the meat larder. You have a devil of a temper, and if the way you just handled her is an example of how you’ll deal with disagreements —”
“That’s enough,” Devon said with dangerous softness.
Rubbing his forehead, West sighed and continued wearily. “Devon, you and I have always overlooked each other’s faults, but that doesn’t mean we’re oblivious to them. This is nothing but blind, stupid lust. Have the decency to leave her alone. Kathleen is a sensitive and compassionate woman who deserves to be loved… and if you have any capacity for that, I’ve never witnessed it. I’ve seen what happens to women who care about you. Nothing cools your lust faster than affection.”
Devon gave him a cold stare. “Are you going to say anything to her?”
“No, I’ll hold my tongue and hope that you’ll come to your senses.”
“There’s no need to worry,” Devon said darkly. “At this point I’ve made her so ill-disposed toward me that it would be a miracle if I ever manage to lure her to my bed.”