The Captain of All Pleasures (Sutherland Brothers #1)(24)
Author: Kresley Cole

It was too much. He’d start to believe he’d made up the whole encounter if not that even now he could smell her scent and taste her on his lips. Barring the abrupt end, he wanted it to happen again.

He understood why he’d been hit, but that didn’t make him any less angry about the clubbing he and his guards had gotten on his own ship. Not to mention the rest of that hazy night. He needed to know what list she’d referred to and why she’d been all over his ship. Nicole, the daughter of his worst enemy, having free rein was a disaster in anyone’s books. Much less Nicole with an agenda. He had to find her and question her.

He’d left her in the salon with no doubt that she’d stay there. He couldn’t remember anyone ever disobeying him deliberately. Yet the little chit probably set off the minute he reached the gangway where Lydia had slapped at one of his guards to get aboard and hysterically demand even more money.

Until Lydia had shown up, he’d been so busy brooding over Nicole that he hadn’t had time to think of that witch in days, even though she’d haunted him for years .

A knock at his door pulled him from his musings.

He called out permission to enter and was surprised to find his younger brother standing in the doorway. Or rather, ducking under it. How had Derek not seen how big Grant had grown over the last four years? Grant had always been tall, but at twenty-eight, he’d completely filled out his rangy form.

Though Grant had blue eyes where Derek’s were gray, and his face wasn’t marred by hard living and resentment like Derek’s, overall their physical differences were slight. Their personalities, however, couldn’t have been more dissimilar. Where Derek appeared proud to be an irresponsible rake, given to hedonism, Grant had become a pillar of the community and had grown to be as intensely reserved as their father, the earl, had been. Still, he could remember when Grant was younger he’d been a prankster with a ready humor and a knack for finding trouble.

“Good morning, Derek.” Grant sat down in the chair facing the desk, and Derek could swear he saw power and purpose thrumming through his sibling. In response, Derek sank further back in his chair and propped his scuffed boots up on the desk.

He’d always cared about his brother, but Derek was still ill at ease that Grant had seen him so low the other night. He skipped a greeting. “What is it now, Grant?”

Grant looked around the well-appointed room before he took a deep breath. “Well, I wanted to speak to you before you sailed, but you left the house the other morning before I woke.”

“Then speak.”

“Very well.” Grant leaned forward in his chair before he cautiously asked, “You know of Lord Belmont?”

That got Derek’s attention. “Everyone knows about that crazy old bastard. What of him?”

“He came to see me this week.” Grant took a breath. “He made me a considerable offer to search for his family.”

“Christ.” Derek shook his head. “The only reason he came to you is that he’s been turned down by every other captain and ship owner in London who hasn’t already signed on for that fool’s errand. Myself included. I laughed him out of my office.” Derek examined his brother’s impassive face. “What the hell could he offer you? He’s already run through his fortune on at least a dozen different attempts.”

Grant appeared defensive when he answered. “If I was successful, he would give me the lands of Belmont Court when he passes on.”

Derek let out a surprised whistle. “He is getting desperate, then.” Rumor held that Belmont had attempted to sell the unentailed estate to finance one last search.

This conversation, Derek decided easily, merited a drink, so he rose to grab a bottle of brandy. By way of offering, he swung the bottle in Grant’s direction. As expected, Grant declined with a curt shake of his head. Although it wasn’t quite noon, Grant didn’t appear surprised when Derek began filling his own glass.

“You can’t possibly be considering his offer,” Derek said over his shoulder before returning to his desk.

“Well, I did decide against it,” Grant admitted. “But it made me think—if I had wanted to go, then I should be able to.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Derek asked. “You own half of Peregrine Shipping. You can very well go anywhere you want—”

“No, I can’t,” Grant interrupted. “I’m too busy running Whitestone and your other neglected estates.”

“Ridiculous. I have a steward—”

“Whom I fired several months ago not only for bilking you out of a pitifully large amount, but also for skimming off your tenants.” His face was shuttered. “I wouldn’t have stepped in, if not for your tenants.”

Derek sank back, dumbfounded. Not just at the news of his steward’s embezzlement, but also at the idea that Grant might not have checked his downfall. He drank deeply. “Why didn’t I hear anything about this?”

Grant nodded pointedly at the pile of correspondence on the desk that had been ignored for months. “I’ve sent word through every channel. I’m sure if you bothered to look, you’d find that several of my letters found their way to the ship.”

Derek fought to avoid looking sheepish. “Yes, well, I suppose I remember receiving some letters that I haven’t had time to get to.”

Grant shrugged. “My point is, if I hadn’t been around to hold everything together after you left so abruptly, then you’d be in a very bad spot. And I’m tired of it. I wasn’t raised to take over Whitestone—”

“I damn well wasn’t, either,” Derek cut in. It had been years since their older brother’s death, but he still had difficulty accepting that William was gone and that all those responsibilities now lay on his shoulders.

“It’s not mine,” Grant said in a tightly controlled tone. “Whitestone’s not my estate. I want to earn my own place. Make my own way. You can’t understand how hard it is to work for something that you know you have no future in.”

“What do you mean, ‘no future’? You’re my bloody heir. Everything goes to you. And I’m not exactly living as though I plan to get old.”

“One day you’ll have an heir,” Grant said quietly but with absolute conviction.

Derek’s fingers paled on the glass he grasped. “I will not have an heir. We’ve been through this. It won’t happen.”

Grant ran a hand over his face. He suddenly looked tired, and his absolute self-control was slipping. “I don’t accept that. I want to work in the shipping line, but it’s impossible when you’ve taken over what was supposed to be my place in this company.”

“This company is half mine.”

“But think back to why it was formed all those years ago. We learned to sail so you and I would have a livelihood when William was alive and the heir. Now this earldom is yours. After Lydia, you were too ” Grant stopped, uncomfortable. “Well, I took the reins. But, damn it, it’s been years. You’ve had plenty of time to adjust to your lot in life. My life is completely on hold until you decide to think of someone else for a change and free me from your responsibilities.”