Page 71 of The Unwanted Duchess

“My visit was unplanned,” he said coldly. “Is he here?”

“He is, but I do not know if he is accepting visitors at this moment.”

“That is fine by me. I am only here to speak with him for a while, and if he does not wish to, then I shall already have my answer. Would you ask him if he is able to talk?”

“I can certainly try, Your Grace.”

Graham thanked him and waited in the doorway. It was more than likely that his brother would want nothing to do with him, but he did not care at that point. As long as he knew that he had tried, he would be happy.

“Graham,” his brother said, appearing in the doorway.

“Andrew,” Graham said warmly, “it is good to see you.”

“No, it isn’t,” he replied roughly. “What do you want?”

“Can I come in? I was hoping that you and I could discuss something.”

Andrew rolled his eyes at him, but he stepped to one side and allowed Graham to enter. Graham tried to be grateful that he was being allowed that much; his brother was two and twenty and had, to Graham’s knowledge, been abandoned by all of them after the death of their father.

“So?” Andrew asked once they reached his study.

“Is it a bad time? You do not seem to be in the best spirits.”

“I was actually in quite high spirits until I discovered you were darkening my doorway.”

Graham could already tell how their meeting was going to go, but he wanted to persevere.

“Andrew, I am not here to fight. I am here to talk to you.”

“Of course, you are. That is the coward’s way, after all.”

“Excuse me?”

“Graham, you know what you did. You knew that you would get everything you wanted, and so you abandoned us. Now you have the estates and the dukedom, and we have nothing, and now you are here again. Why? Was it not bad enough that you won?”

“Andrew, I did not win anything. I did not care about it, and you know that. You hardly noticed, you were too young, but Father did it to us on purpose. It was a game to him and nothing more. I wish you could have seen that.”

“Is that what you think I am upset about? Is that truly what you think made me dislike you?”

Part of Graham was relieved his brother did not use the word hate only dislike.

“It was the competition. It had always been used to separate us, even if I did not care about it.”

“Graham, I did not care about the competition!” Andrew snapped. “I could not care less that you are titled and wealthy. I have made my own way, without the need for your father’s money.”

“Our father.”

“He is no father of mine. What did he ever do for me that made him worthy of that title?”

“Whether you like it or not, he is your father. In the same way, I am your brother, and I miss you.”

“Do you? Then tell me, Brother, why did you never try to talk to me? It has been long enough now, and I have only ever lived right here, and yet you never came to see me. For all you know, I could have been struggling financially or facing an ailment just as Mother did, yet you never wanted to see me.”

“Because I thought you all hated me.”

“Oh, Nicholas and William do. They cannot stand you.”

“So you speak to them?”

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