Page 51 of To Marry and to Meddle
“I’m not angry with her,” Julian clarified. “More with myself, for not delivering the news myself. Is Mother in a tizzy? Did Father storm and rage?”
“No, and no,” Robert said smugly, clearly delighted to be able to disabuse his younger brother of any preconceived notions he might have. “They actually seemed quite pleased.”
“Oh,” Julian said, deflating somewhat; Emily suppressed a wild desire to laugh. He looked like nothing so much as a boy who had been promised a treat and had found himself denied it.
“Did youwantthem to be upset?” Robert asked, giving voice to Emily’s own question.
“No,” Julian said. “Of course not.”
“Ah,” Robert said as if this explained quite a bit; seeing the inquisitive look Emily shot him, he added, “He wanted our father to be upset.”
“Robert, for God’s sake,” Julian said, and Robert cracked a grin.
“Am I wrong?” he asked.
“Yes,” Julian said shortly. “If I wanted to upset him, I’d hardly be—” He broke off abruptly, and Emily wished quite desperately that he’d finished that sentence. Any hope she might have had of provoking him to further speech on this topic, however, was forestalled by the sudden motion of Robert straightening in his seat.
“What the devil?” he yelped.
Startled, Emily turned to him; for a moment, she thought he might be having some sort of fit, and wondered if she should ring for help, but she soon realized the source of his distress: Cecil was dangling from Robert’s shoulder, his claws dug deep into his jacket.
“Cecil, no!” Emily cried, rising at once and reaching forward to carefully extract the kitten from the earl’s person. A fair amount of tugging was involved—Cecil seemed disinclined to let go of the secure grip he’d managed—but at last she had the disgruntled kitten in her hands, settled in her lap.
“I see you’ve met our new addition to the family,” Julian said to Robert, sounding cheerful at the sight of someone else as the victim of Cecil’s sharp claws. “If it were up to me, he’d be fending for himself on the streets right now, but Emily is tender-headed where he’s concerned, so I’m afraid we’re stuck with him.”
“Er,” Robert said, reaching up to rub at the shoulder that was so recently liberated from Cecil’s clutches. “You mean tenderhearted, I expect?”
“That too,” Julian said, unrepentant. Emily narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before returning her attentions to Cecil, who—apparently exhausted by all the excitement—had promptly turnedtwo and a half circles in her lap before falling into a deep slumber. It gave her a curious warm feeling in her chest when he slept on her lap—she liked having someone to care for, she realized. Particularly in this house, where she spent so much of her time alone, Cecil had become more of a comfort to her than a two-pound ball of fluff fond of terrorizing her at midnight had any right to be.
“Is your shoulder all right?” she asked Robert, belatedly realizing she should perhaps show a modicum of concern when Cecil took to mauling people.
“It’s fine,” Robert assured her.
“If he was bleeding to death,” Julian pronounced in ominous tones, “he wouldn’t tell you. He’s far too polite.”
Robert raised an eyebrow. “I hardly think I’m likely to bleed to death from a cat scratch, Julian.”
“You do not know that cat,” Julian replied darkly.
“He’s taken an irrational dislike to Cecil,” Emily informed Robert, rubbing Cecil behind the ears with a finger and finding herself rewarded a moment later with the sound of a faint purr.
“He does tend to get a bit stubborn about things,” Robert said to Emily in conspiratorial tones. “Consider the fact that he can’t admit he regrets burning a bridge with our father, for example.”
“Did you have any other reason for coming here today?” Julian asked his brother, irritation evident in his voice. “Now that you’ve ascertained for yourself that I am indeed wed, perhaps you might see yourself out?”
“Is he normally this grumpy these days?” Robert asked Emily in a stage whisper.
“Only when in the company of his siblings, from what I’ve observed,” Emily said quite honestly.
“I can’t imagine why they should provoke such a reaction,” Julian said dryly.
“In any case,” Robert said, rising to his feet, “I’ll leave you now—I only came by to see proof with my own eyes of the marriage, and I have indeed seen it.” He bowed gallantly to Emily, who smiled at him; Julian scowled. Robert hesitated, then added, “I believe Mother might force Father to return to town, now that you’ve married, and she’ll no doubt wish to call.”
“Of course,” Julian said at once.
“Or,” Robert said, his tone growing a trifle more uncertain, “she might wish you to come to dinner at the house.”
There was a long moment of silence. “Unless Mother is planning to come to London without an escort, I don’t see how that is likely to come about.” Julian’s voice was firm, unwavering.
