“I’d say he’s definitely dead,” Daniel murmured coming up beside him. “Other than that he looks healthy enough though. He hasn’t gained weight or become dissipated since I last saw him. I wonder what killed him?”

Richard shook his head. He had no idea and was too troubled by an unexpected surge of emotion to consider the question. This was not the reunion he’d expected tonight, and while part of him felt cheated of the confrontation he’d intended, another part seemed to actually be experiencing some grief for the loss of his twin. While George had proven himself a bastard with his efforts to have Richard killed so that he could take his title and lands, they hadn’t always been enemies. As young children they had been close friends. It was only once George had grown old enough to understand that he was somehow considered less simply because he hadn’t fought his way out of their mother’s womb first that he’d grown bitter and allowed jealousy to twist his thoughts.

Even so, the man had been the last family member Richard had. Their father had been an only son and their mother had lost her family in a house fire while still a child. That was how George had got away with his plans. There had been no family members to recognize the trick, and he’d apparently kept his distance from the few good friends Richard had made over the years. Everyone had assumed he was grieving the supposed loss of his twin, George, and had left him alone to sort it out. Including Daniel, until he’d received Richard’s letter. And thank God for Daniel. Without him Richard would still be in America.

“How the devil are we going to get him out of here?”

Richard blinked at the question and then turned to peer toward the window and the tree beyond it.

“Oh, no,” Daniel said at once. “There is no way we are going back down that tree dragging George’s corpse between us.”

Richard ran a hand through his hair as he turned back to peer at George. “I guess we’ll have to take him down the stairs then.”

“And just how are we to manage that without getting caught?”

“Most of the servants are probably abed by now,” Richard pointed out. “If we are quick we should manage it all right.”

“Right,” Daniel said dryly.

“Come on.” Richard moved to the top of the bed. “The sooner it’s done the better.”

Richard bent to slip his hands under his brother’s armpits, intending to sit him up, but the action put his face close to George’s and he paused.

“What is it?” Daniel asked, at his side at once.

Richard straightened and stepped back. “See if you smell anything by his mouth.”

Daniel raised an eyebrow, and then bent to inhale close to George’s mouth. “Whiskey,” he said at once and then frowned and added, “And bitter almonds?” He now straightened slowly and turned a frown on Richard. “Poison?”