“What in the bloody hell is going on?” Alistair demanded the moment Adeline slipped back into the room. “Who is that man, and what was he doing accompanying you back to London?”

“Jasper—Lord Ailesbury—was only doing what any man of worth would do when a lady is in peril.”

Her brother snorted and dropped back into his chair.

“My love—“

“Do not my love me, Theo,” Alistair barked. “I cannot have you taking her side on this. You are not fourteen-year-old girls at boarding school any longer. This could very well ruin her reputation.”

Theo flinched at Alistair’s harsh tone, and her brother immediately shrank back in his chair. If there was one constant in her life since her father’s passing, it was Theo’s and Alistair’s love and dedication to one another. At first, it had galled her to see them so close, her brother taking over a place in Theo’s life that had been Adeline’s for so many years.

“There is no harm done as yet,” Theo sighed, easing into her chair before Alistair’s desk. “No one saw her arrive in his company, and if they did, Poppy was with her.”

Alistair scrubbed at his face and gave Theo a weak smile before glancing up at Adeline. For the first time, she noted his exhaustion: the dark circles under his eyes, the hard lines of his face, and his pale skin. How long had it been since he’d found the time to venture outside the house?

However, Adeline could not let her brother loose without having her own say regarding the matter at hand. “It is your fault I was stranded in Kent, dear brother.”

“How do you support that claim?” He steepled his fingers on the desk, and his glare hardened.

She’d thought long and hard on the journey back to London about how she’d handle Alistair. “If you had not sent Arabella, Ainsley, and me off in that decrepit coach, I would not have found myself marooned along the side of the road without means to fix the thing.” She took a deep breath and continued before Theo and Alistair could cut in. “It was a blessing that Jasper happened upon us during the storm, or it could have been my cold, dead body returned to you, as I would have surely perished in the tempest.”

Alistair shook his head with a chuckle.

“What?” Adeline demanded, her blood fairly boiling at his disregard for her safety.

“There is little need to sensationalize this matter, dear sister, and I insist you cease your theatrics.”

“You think I am overreacting?” she seethed, glancing to Theo for help. However, her friend seemed intent on inspecting the stitching on her pleated skirts.

Alistair raised his hands, palms up, and shrugged.

It was his way of making her answer her own question.

Adeline huffed. She would stomp her foot and demand her brother see reason, yet she assumed he’d see that reaction as childish and it would only serve to reinforce his earlier statement.

It would be in her best interest to calm herself, especially if she thought to meet Jasper at Regent’s Park on the morrow.

She sank into the chair next to Theo and faced her brother across the desk. It was strikingly apparent they were related, as it was with all the Melton children. Their hazel eyes and light brown hair were distinctive to their family.

“Tell me more about this birthday celebration you’ve planned, Theo,” Adeline conceded, deciding to steer clear of any further argument regarding Jasper and Adeline’s time in the country at his estate.

Her friend immediately turned a bright smile in Adeline’s direction. “I cannot say it is I who is responsible for the planning of the party, only the organization of it. It was Josie and Georgie who came to me with the idea.”

“How did you convince Felton and Alistair?” Adeline was well aware that Felton, Georgie’s new husband, was still working tirelessly to make certain he could support his wife in the fashion she was accustomed to. Any funds spent on Adeline’s birthday celebration could very well jeopardize his future business plans.

“Oh, Alistair was easy to convince, and Felton falls in line with whatever Georgie desires.” Adeline laughed along with Theo. If there were a second in command of their foursome, it would be Georgie. Adeline sometimes wondered if her dear friend had been the first to arrive at Miss Emmeline’s School, if things would have been different in their friendship. “Not that my own wishes do not hold significant weight with my own husband.”

Theo winked, and Adeline laughed once more.

How far her shy, reserved, academic friend had come since her return to London nearly two years prior. As far as sisters went, Adeline was thankful Alistair had chosen this woman to join their family.

“What have you planned for the celebration?” Adeline was shocked to realize she’d all but forgotten her twenty-first birthday was upon her. She could remember it being solidly on her mind when she departed London on her way to Kent, but—perhaps because of Jasper?—the special day had escaped her mind. “And who has received invitations?”

“Everyone in bloody town has been invited—and the Lord help us all—but they have all accepted,” Alistair mumbled. “Lord Ailesbury being the last.”

Alistair gave both Adeline and Theo a stern look as if to dare either woman to invite another soul to the party.

“If you are worried about the number of guests, why extend the offer to Jasper?” Adeline asked.

“If my dear wife—and her friends—seeks to send us all to the poorhouse, who am I to argue?”

“What your brother means to say is, we noticed how you spoke of Lord Ailesbury and his kindness to you, and thought it only fitting an invitation be extended.”

“Yet, Alistair worries over my reputation—and that of our family.”

Adeline glared at Alistair, but he’d returned his attention to an open ledger on his desktop.

“It is not your reputation that worries me, Adeline,” Theo said softly. “Actually, it was your gracious words about Lord Ailesbury.”

“The man saved me from certain death. Of course, I would not speak harshly of him.”

Alistair snorted once again, keeping his eyes trained on his desk.

“You must agree it is a rare occasion indeed when you speak to a person’s merits.” With her words, Theo looked away from Adeline.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You are not known as a…shall we say, agreeable or kind lady, Adeline,” Alistair bit out. “This Lord Ailesbury being the exception.”

Adeline’s stomach hardened, and a sense of betrayal lanced through her. “How can you say that?”

“You spread word at Miss Emmeline’s School that Headmistress preferred the company of animals to people.”

“That was five years ago,” Adeline countered, crossing her arms.

“And what about insisting Amelia would only find a suitor if she painted her face like a harlot and wore clothing to match?” Alistair grumbled.

Adeline suppressed her smile. “Well, the girl is quite contrary and whines more than the stable master’s new lot of puppies when they desire their mother’s tit to feed.”

“Perhaps it is you who should be worried about gaining the notice of potential suitors,” Alistair said, returning his stare to her. “Amelia has yet to be presented to society, while you have been…”

“I have been what?” she demanded when he allowed his words to trail off.

“In mourning this past year,” Theo finished for her husband.

“Let me reassure you, Lord Ailesbury—Jasper—is a kind man. I was well cared for while at Faversham Abbey, as Poppy and Maxwell can verify.” Why did she feel the need to offer such support in Jasper’s favor? Nothing untoward had occurred during her stay in Kent—not that Adeline hadn’t daydreamed of very inappropriate things; though that was something she would not speak of with her brother present. Maybe one day in the distant future, she, Theo, Josie, and Georgie would all chat about it in hushed tones as Adeline regaled them with tales from the Abbey. “Besides, I dare say you could learn a lesson or two from the earl.”

“Be that as it may,” Alistair said through clenched teeth. “As your guardian and the head of this family, I have a duty to keep the reputation of all under this roof above gossip and speculation—or risk seeing us all ruined.”

“Adeline, please understand the immense burden placed on your brother this past year—and even before that,” Theo said, coming to her husband’s defense once more. “With your mother in a persistent state of mourning, his responsibilities to Abel, Amelia, Adelaide, Arabella, Ainsley, Alfred, Adrian—and you—have been fairly crushing.”

“And I do not have the time to contend with your childish escapades and flights of fancy.” Alistair slammed the ledger closed and turned to return it to its place on the shelf to his left.

“Then it is advantageous for everyone concerned that I will reach the age of majority in a fortnight and will no longer be in need of a guardian,” Adeline snapped, her brother’s back immediately stiffening at her callous remark. “At that point, I will endeavor to remove at least some burden from you, dear brother.”

“You cannot mean that—“

“Oh, but I do, Alistair,” Adeline responded, pushing from her chair.

“Thankfully, I am still within my rights, for at least the next fortnight, to send you to your chambers.”

“I would like to see you try.”

“Come now, the pair of you are acting as if you loathe one another,” Theo cut in.

Adeline held her brother’s narrowed glare for a moment longer but sighed and turned to Theo. “I do not, nor have I ever, loathed my brother. However, his high-handed nature has resurfaced of late, and I find it trying on my nerves.”

“Trying on your nerves?” Alistair boomed.

“Stop!” Theo commanded, jabbing her finger at her husband and then toward Adeline. “The pair of you are so similar you fail to see you both have need to be in control.” Adeline blinked several times and refocused on Theo, shocked at the woman’s outburst. “However, allow me to tell you both something. Until Adeline’s birthday celebration is over—and it is deemed a success—I am in control. Josie, Georgie, and I have worked ourselves to the very bone putting together this grand event, and I will not have the likes of either of you ruining it. Do I make myself clear?”

Theo’s brow pulled low as she turned her glare on both Adeline and Alistair.

They both nodded in unison.

“Very good,” Theo said, the tension draining from her shoulders. “Now, Adeline, if you will kindly accompany me to the drawing room, I will show you what we have planned for your special day.”

Her friend did not wait for Adeline to answer but marched from the room, leaving the door open, as if fully expecting Adeline to follow.

Which she did, with all due haste.