Regency Wagers by Diane Gaston

whom you approve. Good God! What possessed you and my father to contrive that addle-brained plan?’
    ‘You know why.’ Ned spoke in the most reasonable voice possible. ‘You lack control. You have always been devil-may-care. Father had the wisdom to know you would cease your wild ways when you had another person dependent upon you. A wife.’
    ‘Damn it, Ned, would you have me marry merely to get my fortune? Would you have married under that fancy bit of blackmail?’
    At least Devlin had the satisfaction of seeing his brother betray emotion. Ned’s cheek twitched. ‘Leave Serena out of this.’
    Devlin felt a pang of guilt for speaking of his brother’s marriage. He never knew for certain if his brother loved Serena, though he suspected she loved Ned. When he saw Ned and Serena together, there was such a reserve between them, who could tell? Had Ned married her out of duty? Pity Serena, if he had. Their father was behind the match, of course, and Ned would never have gone against their father’s wishes. Two peas in a pod, his brother and father.
    ‘I am not speaking of Serena,’ he said more mildly. ‘I am speaking of myself. I have no desire to marry at the moment, but I am more than ready to assume control of my property. Indeed, I long to run it. Let me take the task from Percy and work the farm. I do not give a damn if the rest of the money is under your thumb.’
    It would be an ideal solution. Bart and Sophie would fit in neatly on the estate. Madeleine and Linette would be a bitmore difficult to situate, but he was sure he could contrive something.
    Ned regained his damned composure. ‘Doing so would deprive you of an opportunity to make an advantageous match. The Season has begun and there are all manner of eligible young ladies from whom you may choose.’
    Devlin clenched his fist. ‘I have no desire to marry.’
    Ned rose and walked to the desk by the window. He fussed with papers stacked there, glancing through them, and re-stacking them. Devlin would have liked to think his brother was considering his proposal, but he suspected Ned was simply showing him who was head of the family.
    Ned did not look up from the papers when he spoke. ‘Our father’s wishes will continue to be honoured. You will receive your allotted portion on the quarter, not before. When you marry an acceptable young lady, your estate and your fortune will pass to you, and I will have no more to say of it.’
    Devlin leaned down, putting both hands on the desk, forcing his brother to meet his eyes. ‘Both you and Father were mistaken, Ned. You could at least let me work. As it is, you and our dear departed father have deprived me of any responsibility at all and have kept me as dependent as if I were still a schoolboy. Had I something of value to do, I might have reason to be steady. As it is, I have nothing.’
    ‘You will have everything you desire if you marry.’ Ned spoke through clenched teeth.
    ‘But I do not wish to marry.’
    The two men glared at each other.
    Devlin swung away from his brother. ‘You and Father never trusted me to find my own way. You knew, did you not, that he almost refused to purchase my colours?’ He fingered one of the volumes on the shelf. ‘I would have enlisted as a common foot soldier had he done so. Father could not force me to do anything and neither can you, Ned.’
    ‘You are being foolish, Devlin. This is for your own good.You have always been too wild by half and too wilful to behave with any sense.’
    ‘You dare to say such a thing to me? Do you forget what I have been doing these past years? Do you think I have been on a lark?’
    The Marquess stood. ‘I know it killed our father to have you traipsing all over the continent risking your neck.’
    Devlin shook with rage. ‘Unfair, Ned.’
    ‘You should have been seeing to your duty to the family.’ Ned raised his voice.
    ‘I was seeing to my duty to the family. How well do you think the family would have fared under