By the time Guy had made it downstairs and into the hallway, there was a crowd of servants about, all dressed no better than he in their night clothes. It seemed he was not the only one to be awoken by the bell being pulled incessantly. Lord, if it was Stephen pissing about, he was going to tan his hide. He didn’t care that his brother was a supposedly grown man.

“Oh, Your Grace,” the housekeeper declared upon spotting him. She moved back and the servants followed suit, parting the way so he could get to the door.

“Has no one answered it yet?”

The butler shook his head. “We were deciding whether to wake you or not, Your Grace.”

“What the devil is all the noise?” Morgan drew Guy’s attention for the moment as he entered the hallway, in no better state than the rest of them.

“We do not know yet. Apparently, everyone has forgotten how to open doors,” Guy said dryly.

“Get on with it then. I need my bed. Far too many brandies tonight, Guy.”

Guy nodded. They had enjoyed several brandies together as they mused over the state of the world and talked a little of a certain redhead. His mouth was dry and he needed a good few more hours sleep before being awake. Whoever it was would be sent soundly on their way so they could all get back to sleep.

He hauled open the door, aware of the servants trying to peer around him.

“About time!”

A vision in white glared at him. He blinked and mentally counted how many brandies he’d drunk. Four was it not? Maybe five. Not enough to make him see things, surely?

Well, this was not a thing anyway. This was a person. One with wild red hair that looked as though it had been blown about in a tempest. Her glasses were sliding down her nose and that lock of hair swung in front of them. Julia folded her arms underneath her breasts, drawing his attention downward.

A nightgown. An open pelisse. Not a lot else. What in God’s name was Julia Chadwick doing on his doorstep at nearly midnight in her nightwear. He peered behind him at the gawping servants.

“To bed,” he ordered. “Everyone to bed.”

There was no chance he was having the young footmen staring at her in next-to-nothing. Lord only knew what he was going to say to them to ensure no gossip followed. He’d have to threaten a few jobs if this got out, he reckoned.

A few grumbled when they turned away and headed to bed, either annoyed at missing whatever drama was to follow or in the young men’s eyes, probably upset they did not get a good look at the pretty woman in her nightclothes.

Morgan hung back. “Do you need me?” He glanced around the door. “Probably not. I’m going to sleep off this devil of a headache. A pleasure to see you again, Miss Chadwick. A pleasure indeed.” He winked at Guy and headed back upstairs.

Once the hallway was cleared, he eased open the door and motioned her in. “Come in before you catch a chill.”

“Actually, I am quite warm.” She blew a breath upwards as if to demonstrate just how hot she was and it sent that naughty curl bouncing on her forehead. “I had to rush over. I came on horseback.” He looked around her to see a horse munching nonchalantly on the front lawns.

“Without a saddle?” He frowned. “What’s going on, Julia? Is one of your sisters hurt?”

She shook her head. “I guess you did not realize he was missing then.”

“Missing?” He groaned as realization hit. “Stephen. What the bloody hell has he done now?”

If his coarse language surprised or bothered her, she did not show it.

“I believe he mistook our house for yours. Not sure how. It’s a minor miracle he did not fall in the moat in the state he is in. He is currently passed out in our parlor.”

“Christ.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Give me a moment. I’ll return home with you.” He had already slipped on breeches and was wearing a nightshirt, so all he needed to do was snatch up a jacket and put on boots. He dressed in about the quickest time he ever had done and joined Julia outside. He found her already upon her horse, both legs on either side of the animal. Her black boots covered her ankles but in the light of the half moon, he was given a fine view of slender calves.

“There was no time for saddles or propriety,” she said, tossing her head up.

“I see.” He could not help but grin. What a woman she was. “I’ll be but a moment. Please do not go racing off without me. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.”

Guy followed her suit and ignored a saddle. There was no chance he was waking a stable hand so he could gawp at Julia and he could ride well enough without one.

“Does your mother know you left? Could you not have sent a servant?”

“Our servants do not live in. And no, my mother does not know. So we had better hurry had we not?”

She gave him a grin that sent a bolt of desire straight through him. Julia set the pace to blistering, moving across the land in a way that only someone who knew it intimately would. Were it not for the fact he had to go apologize to Mrs. Chadwick and her daughters and figure out what on earth he should do with Stephen, he’d enjoy watching her hair billowing out behind her and the confident way she handled the horse.

When they arrived at the house, his shirt had begun to stick to his back. The evenings were clinging to the heat from the day and such a vigorous ride had him dragging in deep breaths.

“Let us quickly stable and water the horses. They’ve earned it,” she suggested. “I am sure your brother is likely still passed out.”

He followed her around to the stables and helped get the horses comfortable and watered. “You act as though it is every day that a young man turns up drunk on your doorstep and you are forced to ride out every night?” he commented as she gave the gelding a pat and put down the empty water bucket.

“You know full well I am often out at night. It gives me an opportunity to see those animals that do not come out in the day.”

“That is a little different to galloping across the countryside.”

“Do you want to see your brother or do you wish to scold me?”

He gave a grudging smile. Part of him wanted to scold her horribly. Put her across his damned knee if he had to. If her mother would not look after her, then someone had to, surely? Yet the confidence with which she had ridden told him he would be wasting his time. She was less likely to fall and hurt herself than he was.

And, of course, she was right. He should be worrying about his brother, not her, but he knew what he would be confronted with. He had seen Stephen in this state too many times. He should have checked where he was before retreating to bed but he’d thought his brother was already in bed.

“You had better take me to him then. Once I’ve dealt with him, I shall grovel to your mother.”

Julia shook her head. “You had better not. She will have a fit that a duke has seen us all in our nightwear.”

“Very well, I shall grovel tomorrow.”

“If you can wake him up, I shall be impressed. We had to drag him into the parlor.” She opened the front door of the house and led the way through.

“Now that would have been a sight to see.”

“It did not seem that funny at the time but it does now.” She motioned through the doorway. “He is in here.”

Guy grabbed her arm before she could step into the room. Her eyes were wide as she glanced from his hand to him.

“I must thank you for the risk you took. And for looking after my brother. I know we have been at odds, so it must not have been easy for you.”

“Have we been at odds?”

He lifted a brow. “You have certainly been at odds with me.”

“And you? What have you been? Because I have a sneaking suspicion you simply like to toy with me.”

He shrugged. “I have little idea why you would think that.” He winked and stepped through into the parlor room. Stephen was laid out on a chaise, his cravat loose and his hair wild. Emma was dabbing his forehead while Catherine stood over him.

“Oh good, you made it.” Catherine grinned at her sister. “He has not stirred though he said your name once or twice, Your Grace.”

“I think in the circumstances you must call me Guy,” he said. He moved to his brother’s side and knelt. Lifting one lid, then the other, he shook his head. “I would love to say this is the first time I have seen him in such a state but it is not.” He looked to Julia. “Do you have a kitchen?”

“Of course.”

He cursed himself for foolish words. “What I mean, is do you know your way around it?”

She frowned. “Mostly, yes.”

“Good.” He stood. “If you would not mind showing me.”

“Oh yes, you show him, Julia,” Catherine said. “We shall wait here and watch over Stephen.” Guy did not miss the sly grin that Catherine gave her sister.

What had been said about him, he wondered. Apart from the usual vitriol about his arrogance and scandalous ways. It seemed to him that Catherine was rather in favor of him spending time alone with Julia and he could not disagree.

Guy followed Julia down to the kitchen after she peeled off her pelisse and swapped it for a robe. She tied it in a little knot that he knew he could pull apart with just one tug. The mere thought niggled at his mind, so much so that he nearly forgot the reason he wanted the kitchen.

Julia lit a few candles and propped her hands on her hips. “Here we are. What do you need?”

“Coffee. Lots of coffee. Can you boil some water? Where are the herbs and spices?”

She motioned to one of the cupboards and filled a kettle with water then set to work lighting a small fire in the grate. “Cook shall be annoyed when she finds everything out of place.”

“I shall grovel at her feet too then.”

Julia shook her head and laughed. “A duke groveling. Are you sure you know how to?”

“Believe me, after all the trouble Stephen has caused, I am quite practiced at it.” He set to work heaping spices and herbs into a jug. He added a sprinkling of salt.

“He does this a lot?”

Guy nodded. “Unfortunately so.”

“Wherever did he learn such behavior?” she asked, not-so-innocently.

“Well, I am his only male role model.” He paused stirring the concoction together and motioned down himself. “Where do you think he learned it?”

She peered at him for a moment, as though he were a new and intriguing creature she had never come across. Then she came to his side to look at the mixture. “That looks awful. what is it?”

“My mother swears by it. My father was a bear after a heavy night of drinking and this always helped.” He turned his head in her direction. “It’s—”

The rest of his words failed on him. He knew she was close but once he turned, his arm brushed the side of her breast. A breast that was completely unbound. He found her looking up at him, her lips parted, her eyes searching. He swallowed hard to remove the wedge that had formed in his throat but it failed to move. When he glanced down, he had a fine view of the dip between her breasts where her nightgown lay slightly apart. One flick of a finger and one tug of the knot around her waist and he would be able to see even more.

“I’m sorry your father passed. Mine is alive and well, but he’s away a lot on business,” she said softly.

Fire blazed through him like flames racing across a thatched roof. His breaths grew loud in his ears. She briefly tugged her bottom lip under her teeth then released it. It left it slightly plump and glossy.

Guy released the spoon in his hand and the clatter it created when it tinged against the side of the jug made Julia jump. but she did not back away. She continued staring at him, a tiny crease between her brows. Her head cocked slightly to one side like she was trying to understand something about what she saw.

He was willing to give her something to think about. Something for them both to think about.

Pressing her glasses oh so gently up her nose, he leaned in and let his breath move across her lips. Her lashes fluttered slowly closed and she tilted her head up. It was all the invitation he needed.

Her lips were soft on the first touch. A little sound, rather like that of a newborn kitten escaped her. It was so soft and sweet that he was hardly sure it came from Julia—the woman who loved to tell him how awful he was.

He went back in, the need to taste her again making his fingers tingle.

There was a patter of footsteps. “He’s—Oh!”

Julia’s eyes snapped open and Guy whipped his head around to see Catherine on the stairs. Julia stumbled away from him and made herself look busy by the kettle.

“I was just going to say that Stephen is awake. Sort of.” She put both hands up. “I saw nothing. I’m going back upstairs.”

Julia groaned once Catherine had retreated.

“She saw nothing,” Guy said, grinning. “Now, pass me the coffee. I need to force this down Stephen’s throat and then we can be on our way.”