“What rubbish.” James snorted. “You’ve about as much charm as the backside of my—”

Jason cleared his throat very loudly. “I think we’ve all been up far too long today,” he said, and then sternly, “Go to bed, the lot of you.”

“Would if I had a bloody bed to go to,” James mumbled on his way out the door.

Anthony frowned and did some mumbling of his own. “Can’t believe I’m feeling sorry for him. Gads, I must be exhausted. G’night, all.”

Jason looked at Edward and shook his head with a “what can you do?” sigh, then turned to Amy to ask, “Do you need help, m’dear?” He indicated Warren, who was fast asleep with his head on her shoulder.

She smiled lovingly at her husband. “No, he wakes very easily.”

She shrugged her shoulder to demonstrate, and Warren sat right up, blinked once, then said, “All done for the night, sweetheart?”

“All done for good,” she replied, and handed the journal to Jason for safekeeping. “I’ll tell you in the morning what you missed.”

He yawned, stood up, and pulled her to his side. “I’ll let you know, by the time we get upstairs, whether I can wait until morning or not to hear how they handled those snooping townsfolk.”

She moaned a bit, but then chuckled as she put an arm around his waist. “Same way you probably would have. They told them to mind their own bloody business.”

“Excellent, the American way,” he replied as he walked them out the door.

They left more’n one English groan behind them.

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

JAMES PAUSED BY HIS WIFE’S BEDROOM AS HE DID each night, to see if the door would open. Tonight he was annoyed enough not to bother even trying. She’d been utterly unreasonable in her anger, utterly uncommunicative as well, refusing to discuss it. He really was at his wits’ end on how to set things right with her, particularly when he hadn’t done anything wrong to be setting right.

He needed a miracle to get out of this mess. That thought reminded him of the conversation he’d had with Jason the night the younguns had snuck into the parlor to open The Present. Before Anthony had found him in Jason’s study and they’d started their commiserative drinking, James had found Jason there doing some drinking himself.

“I hope you’ve got more of that on hand, because I could use a full bottle myself,” he told his brother when he entered the room.

Jason nodded. “Fetch a glass on the sideboard and start with this one.”

James did, then took the seat across from Jason’s desk, waiting for him to pour from the near-empty decanter next to him. When he did, he said pointedly, “I know why I’m drinking, but why are you?”