Page 66 of A Wicked Game

“And looked as if you’d rather be anywhere else,” Rhys said.

“I didn’t look like that with Harriet?”

“Oh, no.” Rhys lowered his voice to a whisper. “With Harriet, you looked the same as you’ve always done. As if you can’t decide whether to fight her, orfuckher.”

Gryff snorted, then tried to disguise it as a cough.

Morgan scowled at him. “Got something to add, Gryffud?”

Gryff shrugged. “It’s a crude way of putting it, but he’s right. Thatisthe way you look at her.”

“Do you deny you want to bed her?” Rhys demanded.

“No,” Morgan said, irritated by their teasing. “I don’t deny it. I’m just saying that I won’t.”

Rhys didn’t look convinced. He raised his brows at Gryff. “He could charm a Mother Superior. You know how persuasive he can be. Remember that time he convinced me to shave off just one eyebrow?”

Morgan snorted. “Oh, please. If anyone’s proved she can resist me, it’s Harriet. You know how stubborn she is. She can’t be talked into doing anything she doesn’t want to do.”

“But what if shedoeswant to?” Rhys pressed. “What if she looks at you in the same way?”

Morgan’s heart gave an extra thump at the thought that Harriet might reciprocate his feelings, but he kepthis tone level. “I would still never do anything to ruin her reputation.”

Gryff sent him a penetrating look. “You’ve let it be known you’re looking for a wife, and you’ve spent more time with her than with any other woman in theton. People are beginning to gossip. You need to decide what you’re going to do about her.”

Morgan bit his lip. Did his brothers suspect his feelings for Harriet ran deeper than mere lust? Should he confess his plan to marry her? They might frown on yet another Davies-Montgomery alliance. Then again, Gryff had already crossed party lines by marrying Maddie, so he must know the infuriating appeal of the Montgomery female. Rhys, however, would probably be appalled at him for falling for the enemy’s wiles.

Gryff took a meditative sip of his wine. “I know the two of you love to goad each other, but Harriet’s not some demimondaine you can trifle with and then leave. As head of this family, it falls on me to remind you—”

“God, you sound just like Father, about to launch into one of his sermons.” Rhys feigned a yawn. “Spare us.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Morgan said testily. “And the only thing I’m leaving is the navy.”

Rhys’s brows rose. “You’re resigning your commission? But you love the sea.”

“I do. But I don’t like taking orders, or having to spend months away from home.”

“What will you do instead?”

Morgan glanced at Gryff. “The Admiralty is selling off some ships, now that Bonaparte’s no longer a threat. They’re decommissioning theBriseis. I thought I’d buy her and refit her as a trading vessel.”

“And do what?”

“We currently pay other firms to transport our coal from Wales to London and beyond. I’ll do it instead. It’ll be cheaper. And it means I can choose which routes I take and how long I’m away.”

“Good idea.” Gryff nodded. “I hate being at the mercy of captains who increase their prices at a moment’s notice.”

Rhys rocked back on his heels. “I don’t suppose this decision has anything to do with the fact that Harriet said she wouldn’t marry a sailor who spent months at sea?”

Morgan shrugged. “Maybe.”

Both brothers scowled at him for refusing to give a straight answer, and Morgan grinned. Annoying them never got old. “And since we’re on the subject of Harriet, I should tell you that I’ll be staying at her house tonight.”

Gryff and Rhys adopted identicalyou must be jokingexpressions.

“Why?”

“Because her father won’t be there and I don’t want her staying on her own.”

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