‘But giving him an incentive might make him sort himself out.’

‘Are you for real? He’s got an addiction. He can’t sort himself out. If it’s not coke it will be something else.’

‘Then let it be something else. Something not so harmful. Get him the help he needs.’

‘I’m through with babysitting him all the time. Making excuses. Taking responsibility for him. That’s why he’s like he is. He’s a baby. Never grown up. Always got someone else digging him out of shit.’

‘But giving him responsibility might be the making of him. Instead of treating him like the baby of the family, treat him like an equal.’

‘He’s got the stables. It’s not as if he has nothing to do.’

‘And he makes a good job of that. Let him take on more.’

‘Just shows how out of touch you are, Harry. I have to double-check everything he does over there. He doesn’t know but I’m always checking up on him, making sure he’s got the staff rota sorted, the hours covered, timesheets in, up-to-date with the vets and everything else that goes with running a stable. I can’t trust him. He needs to prove to me he can be trusted.’

‘Not that you’re a control freak or anything.’ Harry knew his brother liked to be in charge, but even by Dominic’s standards this seemed a little over the top.

‘I’m not just talking about work, though. That’s just the tip of it. What I mean is, the sooner he takes responsibility for himself, the sooner he’ll make something of himself. And don’t look at me like that; you’re just as bad as Mum. He needs tough love.’

‘You sound like Dad.’

‘Maybe that’s not such a bad thing at times.’ With that Dominic strode off back into the reception room, leaving Harry brooding over the predicament. He knew Dominic was right about a lot of things but he didn’t agree that leaving Owen to fend for himself and shutting him out of stuff was the way to go about it. And as for Dominic’s assertion that being like their father wasn’t a bad thing, well, Harry certainly didn’t agree with that.

Dominic halted at the doorway and came back over to Harry. ‘You must have a short memory. Remember the shitstorm he caused before?’