No Duke Will Do - Eva Devon Page 0,27

must have been beautiful once.

“Never say so, brother,” Jamie drawled with faux hurt. “Oi am capable of taking care of myself, and ye should know it.”

“I do know it,” admitted Heath, yanking off his greatcoat. “But I haven’t seen you in over a year.”

Jamie nodded then took a long pull of the gin bottle, sighing with dramatic satisfaction. “Oi’ve been out and about, doing things. Exploring, venturing through this world.”

“And now you’re back in London?” Heath tested.

Jamie let the forelegs of his seat fall to the floor. “Indeed. Oi thought perhaps ye can use me.”

“Use you?” echoed Heath, wary.

“Yes.” Jamie cleared his throat, perhaps with more difficulty than such a hard man was willing to admit. “A bit of tough around this place.”

“I have enough toughs,” Heath said, hanging his coat on the stand by his door. “I don’t need another man to muscle about. Especially a man like you.”

“A man like me?” Jamie queried, his brows arching.

“Yes.” Heath narrowed his eyes. For all the love he had for his brother, he knew him to be a man whose wound was still open with no semblance of healing. “One who loves trouble and who will strike first and think later.”

Jamie scowled a playful look before he put his hand over his heart. “Ye wound me, Heath. Indeed, you.”

Jamie was that rogue, that ruffian, who smiled, his death dance ever just before him. In fact, Jamie had had countless close encounters with the Tyburn jig but managed to escape every time.

Tsking, Jamie continued, “Oi don’t like to hear ye speak of me so, brother. Surely, ye can find a way to forgive your errant brother and bring him back into the fold.”

“This is not the tale of the son’s return,” Heath ground out, folding his arms over his chest.

Jamie sighed. “No, Oi suppose not, but ye’d not send me out onto the streets begging now, would ye? Think of the trouble Oi might cause.”

“You’re going to cause trouble whether I take you in or not,” Heath stated.

Jamie laughed. “True,” he said. “But don’t ye think we’d make a fantastic pair, ruling London together?”

Heath tensed.

He was not about to share in the power he had, especially not with Jamie.

Jamie was the sort of man who would unleash blood on the streets of London with gang wars and trouble between men.

“No, Jamie. I’m not about to—”

“Hear me out,” Jamie rushed. “Oi think Oi’m done with being a highwayman. It’s too much trouble, and that way of life is dying.”

“I’m glad you know it,” Heath said, listening but unconvinced.

“How could Oi not?” Jamie snorted. “The men who ensure my line of work is dwindling are out for my blood, and Oi have decided that Oi quite like living. I’m not ready to give it up.”

Heath drove a hand through his hair, feeling between a rock and a hard place. Jamie had kept him alive on more than one occasion when they were small.

The truth was, he was glad Jamie was coming to such a realization. Perhaps age had tempered him a bit, but Jamie would always be unpredictable.

“So what is it exactly that you envision?”

“Envision, is it? We have increased our vocabulary,” Jamie drawled, well-read himself. For some reason, they’d both clung to words. Newspaper scraps. Signs. . . And once they’d stolen enough, books. “Oh, a place to sleep, a good meal.” Jamie’s eyes burned like twin coals. “A chance to do a bit of good, to learn how to live civilly.”

Heath eyed his brother skeptically.

Jamie had always been wild, by far the wilder of the two, but the inescapable truth was, as small children, Heath would never have survived without his brother. So he did not think he could turn his back on him, as tempting as it was.

“Right,” Heath relented. “You may stay for a while, and we’ll see what we can do with you.”

“Ta very much, brother,” Jamie said with a mock bow from the chair. He thrust out the bottle, offering. “Glad to hear it. Besides, it looks like you need a bit of cheering up. Someone killed your dog?”

If only it were that simple, Heath thought.

“No, just a bit of bad news.”

“Well, the world is full of bad news,” Jamie agreed. “One would have thought you’d be inured to it by now. Come on, then. Have a drink. Do you good to get it right down you.”

It was tempting. But Heath maintained control. And he wasn’t about to start downing mother’s ruin when in such an odd state.