‘Perhaps he could not resist all the London festivities, Duke?’
‘I take leave to doubt that. But you shall judge for yourself. Come.’ Almost as an afterthought, Dominic said, ‘Send in some of the best Madeira, would you, Withering?’
‘It is already done, your Grace. Lord Leo—’
Dominic laughed. ‘I should have known. My brother makes free with my cellar whenever he favours me with his company.’
As Withering flung open the double doors to Dominic’s library, the solitary figure in the room rose from the leather armchair and strode towards them, grinning widely. ‘Dominic! Hadn’t thought to see you tonight, old man. Assumed the Regent would have you running round in circles until dawn.’
‘In other words, you thought you’d have hours yet to make free with my Madeira,’ Dominic retorted, trying not to show just how pleased he was to see his brother.
‘But of course,’ Leo said smoothly, throwing a questioning glance towards Dominic’s companion.
‘Forgive me, Alexandrov,’ Dominic said quickly, reverting to French. ‘That was bad manners on my part. You will allow me to present my brother, Lord Leo Aikenhead? Leo, this is Captain Alexei Ivanovich Alexandrov, one of the aides-de-camp to his Majesty the Emperor Alexander.’
The two men bowed to each other and exchanged courtesies.
‘Surprising that you are both off duty so early,’ Leo said in his accentless French. ‘Or are you?’
‘Yes. Until tomorrow morning. Is that not so, Alexei Ivanovich?’
‘His Imperial Majesty has no further need of me this evening. He dines with the Grand Duchess. However, if he rides out before breakfast, as he usually does, I shall be on duty then.’
‘No hard drinking for you tonight, then, Captain? What a pity. Thought to introduce you to some of Dominic’s better bottles.’
‘I—’
‘I must ask you to forgive my brother, Alexei Ivanovich,’ Dominic said quickly. ‘He is incorrigible. And in spite of his efforts to paint himself as a drunken sot, I can assure you that he is only trying to humbug you. And me.’
The young Russian smiled first at Dominic and then at Leo. ‘Believe me, I have had much worse from my compatriots. But I should perhaps warn you that I very rarely drink.’
Leo’s eyes widened, but he was too polite to make any comment. Dominic, by contrast, was not at all surprised. It was such a pity that they were, so to speak, on opposite sides, for Alexei Ivanovich was a remarkable and admirable young soldier, the kind whom Dominic would have been happy to call his friend. Alexandrov had an inner core of steel. In the space of only a day or so, Dominic had learned that he was not the sort of man who would conform where it did not suit him. And that he was definitely a man who should not be underestimated.
Alex put down her half-empty glass. Her invariable rule was to permit herself no more than one glass of wine, and always with food. On this occasion, she had been very tempted to break her rule for the Duke’s splendid wine. But she did not dare. Not with gentlemen as astute as the Duke and his brother.
The Duke tried again. ‘Will you have a little more wine, Alexei Ivanovich?’
Alex shook her head, smiling across at him. ‘No, Calder, I thank you. Your wine is truly excellent, but I never have more than one glass.’
‘Haven’t even had that,’ Lord Leo interposed, gazing pointedly at her glass. ‘If I were a betting man, I’d be tempted to wager that you don’t really like wine at all. Am I right, sir?’
‘I—’
‘Don’t bother to reply, Alexandrov,’ the Duke said quickly. ‘My brother has a disreputable habit of trying to provoke others, even when they are our guests. I have spent years trying to cure him of it.’ He sighed theatrically. ‘I’m afraid I have failed.’
‘Not true, brother mine. Never provoke my guests. Only yours.’
Alex, astonished, looked from one to the other. The Duke was trying, unsuccessfully, not to laugh at his brother’s wicked comment. Lord Leo had an expression that was…almost angelic. Angel laced with grinning devil. Was this what it was to be brothers, and to be truly close? It seemed more than wonderful. With no sisters, and only one, much younger, half-brother, Alex had never experienced anything like this. What’s more, as a mere female, she had been expected to spend all her time acquiring domestic skills. Even if she had had sisters, she doubted that her stepmother would have permitted anything bordering on frivolity. A girl’s role was to learn what she needed in order to be a good daughter first, and then a good wife to a man chosen by her parents. Duty was everything. Enjoyment, and laughter, had no place at all.
As she stared, wide-eyed, at the Aikenhead brothers, she was visited by a subversive thought. If her own Scottish mother had brought her back here, would her life have been totally different? Would she have been happy to have remained in the role of a girl? Her restlessness had been largely her father’s fault, of course, for he had brought her up in a military environment while he himself was serving in the Hussars. She had absorbed the life through every single pore of her body until she had been living it every minute of every day. She had ridden like a Hussar, eaten like a Hussar, thought like a Hussar. It had become the life she loved and the life she wanted. So, when her father had left the army in favour of a civil post, it had been as if Alex were cast into prison. Particularly so when her father had married again, to a shrewish woman who believed that the role of an unmarried girl was silence and sewing. And to be addressed, formally, as ‘Alexandra’, rather than the familiar Scottish ‘Alex’ that had always seemed so loving.
The butler returned to clear the plates. ‘Lord Jack has just this minute arrived, your Grace,’ he said quietly.
Calder raised an eyebrow. ‘Strange. The wine is in here and Lord Jack is not. You must have seen an apparition, Withering.’
Alex looked down at the table and pursed her lips hard, trying to conceal her amusement. Calder must not suspect that she had misled him about her knowledge of English. Oh, this was becoming so very difficult.
‘Lord Jack,’ Withering said in a lofty tone, ‘was informed that your Grace had a foreign guest at the supper table. He therefore repaired to the library.’
‘And my Madeira,’ laughed Calder, slapping the table with his hand. ‘Not an apparition then. Tell my brother, if you please, that we shall join him shortly.’
The butler bowed and withdrew.
Calder then explained, in French, that his youngest brother had just arrived. ‘I should warn you, Alexei Ivanovich, that Jack is something of a scapegrace. In fact, he’s even worse than brother Leo.’
‘Thank you, Dominic,’ Lord Leo said calmly.
Calder’s mouth quirked at the corner, by just a tiny fraction. He continued, as if his brother had not spoken, ‘Jack will lead you astray, if you give him half a chance. He is about your age, and he thinks that Leo and I are now old and staid, quite beyond redemption. He will try to lure you off to gaming hells, and heaven knows what else.’
Alex hoped fervently that she was not blushing again. ‘I am grateful to you for the warning, Duke. But I do not gamble.’ The brothers’ surprise was evident. Alex decided to give them her usual lie. ‘I’m afraid I cannot afford it. My family may be noble—as you probably know, that is a requirement for officer status in the Russian army—but that does not mean we are rich. I cannot, and will not, wager my next meal against the turn of a card. I apologize now if that is a disappointment to you.’
‘Not to me, Alexei Ivanovich,’ Calder said. ‘The Prince Regent tasked me to take particular care that the Emperor’s officers did not get