“Why did you write to her?” Harrison ground out, ignoring his question and his rambling. “How did you discover her identity?”

“Oh, come off it, Harry,” Richard blustered irritably, losing his smarmy manner for the first time. “Give me a little credit for resourcefulness, if not intelligence. Do you really think it was that difficult to learn the identity of the wife of Lord Basset in the weeks following the wedding? I do have some access to high society still, and I dabble in that world when it suits me. It was easy enough to learn who she was, though I had no idea she was so lovely. She must have had quite a fright when she first saw your face and learned what she would have to endure with you. Quite frankly, Harry, I wonder that you have any dowry to foist on Emblyn at all, given you must have paid a fortune to get Adelaide.”

Harrison bit the inside of his cheek to avoid roaring in his rising anger. “You will not call her that. You will address her and refer to her as Lady Basset.”

His brother gave him a dubious look. “I will do as I please. As my sister-in-law, I may call her whatever she deigns appropriate, and I can assure you, she has given me permission to call her Adelaide.”

“I don’t care,” Harrison bit out. “If she knew what you are really like, if she knew how worthlessany relationship with you is, she would not let you call her anything.”

“And whose fault is that, Harry?” Richard inquired. He tilted his head impertinently. “Hmm? Why doesn’t Adelaide know any of this?”

The questions nettled Harrison quite neatly, his own regrets and self-recriminations rising to the surface with a vengeance. He could have prevented all of this, could have kept Adelaide from the manipulations of his brother, spared her whatever insults or offenses were due to present themselves through Richard’s behavior. But he had not. He had kept his own troubles with his brother to himself, even to the extent of Richard’s very existence.

Adelaide as she had once been might have thought less of Harrison for such a brother, which was why he had refrained from saying anything about him. Adelaide as she was now, however…

He would never know how the Adelaide now would react to the revelation of Richard’s life and behavior, given she had received Richard’s version of events first.

There was no point in thinking along that line.

“Why did you write to her, Richard?” Harrison asked again, lowering his voice, his anger fading slightly as his own blame took on more energy.