And of course, his father’s name, just as he would one day have his title.
“I’m your brother. Well, half brother,” Robert, the future Duke of Brexford, said shyly. “We haven’t met, I don’t think, unless I was a baby and then I wouldn’t remember, now, would I? Ha.”
He looked up at him hopefully.
And Lucien could not speak through the thousand emotions pulling him in a dozen different directions, as though he were stretched on a Catherine wheel.
“I always wanted a brother,” Robert confessed. “Don’t think I’ll get one now, ha ha, parents are a bit old.”
He blushed freshly. Searching hopefully for some spark of humor in Lucien’s face.
“Don’t underestimate the caprices of your father, Robert,” he said ironically.
There might bedozensof us, he was tempted to add.If he could so blithely throw me away, surely he has extras.
Robert looked a little uncertain.
Lucien felt as though he’d kicked a puppy.
“You’re a legend, you are!” Robert enthused. “The duels, the races, the g-g-girls, the—”
“Robert.” He was firm but kind.
Robert stopped at once.
“As your brother I forbid you to emulate me.” He kept the tone stern. But he hoped a little lightness shone in his eyes.
Robert searched his face for what to believe.
After a moment or two he furrowed his brow and said, “You’re not suggesting I emulateFather?”
And his eyes were lit with wicked humor.
Bloody hell.
He did not want to like this child, this future duke, current marquess, who was cherished because his mother had the right pedigree. Who, unbeknownst to him, was part of the reason the duchess had decided to try to drown her stepson—so that not one thorn, not one complication, would snag this boy’s ankles on his path to adulthood and glory as a duke. Lucien did not even want toknowthis person.
And yet here he was. Smiling shyly up at him.
Finally Lucien smiled. Faintly.
Oh, but it cost him. It seemed grossly unfair to need to do this now, in this moment.
Robert glowed, prepared to worship his exotic bastard brother.
Hisbrother. Odd to think he did indeed share blood with this person. And probably so much more. Tastes, inclinations. Humor. What would it have been like to grow up with a brother? Would he have wound up careening about the world if he’d someone to look after or someone to look after him?
Would he have wound up in a boarding house on the docks yearning after his “friend,” Angelique Breedlove? A woman who might want him, but who certainly didn’tneedhim.
Didanyoneneed him? It was as maudlin and bleak a thought as he’d ever had. And an indulgence, surely. He didn’t havetimefor those kinds of thoughts.
Surely Exeter’s world would be significantly less bright without him.
“I don’t think either your father or your mother would like knowing that you spoke to me, Robert. You strike me as an intelligent person, so I’m certain you understand why.”
“But... that’s a big part of the reason I wanted to do it.”
Damned if he wasn’t tempted to smile at his brother again.