The Duke is Wicked (League of Lords #3) - Tracy Sumner Page 0,85

her attic.” Case took a reckless sip, splashing gin on his wrist. “You’re ruining my newly-married existence, Your Grace. Complete devastation. Kitty and I, we’re supposed to be having fun, frolicking around the house in our skivvies. Instead, I’m trying to keep my sister from killing you after you botched two marriage proposals. Which isn’t fun.” His head fell back as he sighed. “I reckoned a duke would understand romance better than this.”

Finn grimaced as Delaney’s brother dabbed at the liquor spill with his sleeve. Sebastian guessed Finn had, never once, used his coat as a napkin.

Sebastian rotated a bottle in a slow circle on the sideboard. “How is Kitty, by the way?”

Case sprawled lower in the chair, a grin making a slow trek across his face. “She’s superb. Of course, we’re working on the getting angry and disappearing thing, but it’s coming along.”

“Does she disappear…” Finn raised a brow and tilted his head like Hep did before he rolled over on his back for a belly scratch. “You know, um, during…?”

Case fidgeted, looking away as a flush swept his cheeks.

Sebastian jammed the stopper in the decanter with a clang. “You’re not letting Delaney ride, are you? The doctor said none of that until after the baby is born. If I hear she’s been seen on Rotten Row, I’ll hold both of you accountable. You don’t want to be held accountable to me, I swear you don’t. Not the way I’m feeling.”

Finn laughed, tossing his arm over his eyes. “You think we can tell that termagant what to do? You want her to forgo her morning jaunts through the park, you race over to Mayfair and tell her. I’ll buy tickets for that sad drama. I need the entertainment.”

Case took pity and gave his head a firm shake. “No riding. But she’s impossible on every other front. I can’t believe you imagined she’d show up. Not when she’s this cross. And you gave her an order, not an invitation. Certainly not a proposal. I can’t even begin to imagine what it was.”

Sebastian turned the only remaining seat in the room, a rickety wooden chair, around and straddled it. Hooking his arm over the top spindle, he dragged his hand through his hair. Hair he’d had trimmed for the wedding, but very modestly because she preferred it long. “Was I to lie? Not let her know that I wouldn’t be coming home with her after the wedding because I fear crisping the house while she sleeps?”

Finn blew a derisive breath through his nose. “Case, old chap, can you pass me that libation the duke so kindly crafted but didn’t deliver?”

Case stumbled to his feet and crossed to the sideboard, neglecting to offer to top off Sebastian’s. Judging, quite correctly, that the duke had had enough. Sebastian grimaced, resenting how he was starting to care for the boy. If Case and Delaney didn’t look so much alike, loathing him would be easier.

“What a jumble,” Case muttered, and passed Finn his drink. “The daftest attempt at a wedding I’ve ever seen. And this coming from a man who got married in a cobbler’s parlor that smelled of boiled cabbage and dirty feet.”

Finn raised his glass in a mock toast. “Not an attempt if the bride doesn’t show.”

“I burned down my castle with your sister in the bloody thing,” Sebastian snapped, rocking the chair forward on its spindly legs. “With you and Victoria there as well. I can’t risk my family, Delaney or the babe with”—he thrust his hands out and stared at them like they were covered in blood—“this gift. One I cannot seem to control. But she will, whether she likes it or not, have the protection of my name. And she knows I love her. I told her. More than once.”

“That’s something, at least. Although we have to consider that the tone you used when admitting your undying love ruined the entire thing.” Finn lifted his head, sipping in thoughtful deliberation. “It was only two rooms you torched. Your bedchamber and a pitiful little sitting room, barely a closet, next to it. That water engine you paid a fortune for came in handy. All your training paid off. Your men were ready. It was a bloody spectacle, Your Grace, too true. But we’re fine. Life goes on. And it can go on with you having what you want, a family.”

“You don’t understand, Finn.”

“Oh, I do. I was there not so long ago, and you set me on the proper course. I