Page 79 of Miss Vincent’s Vow

Jethro refused to stand by and watch these drunken louts ruin his house. He would not see all Cassandra’s hard work go to waste.

“I think it is time you returned the ladies to Miss Seymour’s,” he said, offering Alexander a hand. When he did not take it, Jethro reached down and grabbed his arm, wrenching him to his feet.

As soon as he found his footing, the captain snatched it away. “Was that a suggestion or an order?”

Jethro inhaled deeply. He must not let the man rile him. For Cassandra’s sake. “Miss Day looks tired.”

“Is that so?” Alexander asked, glancing at the teacher, who gave an anxious nod.

“Then I have a solution, Hunt,” he said. “You can accompany her back to Miss Seymour’s yourself.”

“And yet, I find I do not wish to deprive you of the pleasure.”

“Are you asking me to leave?”

Alexander was goading him, daring him to state his request in plain English. Jethro’s control over his temper was slipping, but he refused to rise to the bait, and replied in the same measured tone he had used before.

“I am suggesting you would do well to take the ladies back to the school and continue your revels at the Golden Lion.”

Alexander shook his head slowly from side to side and addressed his shipmates. “What a sorry state of affairs, gentlemen. A fellow goes to sea to serve his country, and his women turn on him while he is gone. His betrothed deserts him and marries another, while his sister ties herself to a man who won’t even entertain his friends for an evening.”

How dare he insult him like that? “You’re drunk,” Jethro said to the captain from between gritted teeth. “I think you should go.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch what you said.”

That was the last straw. “Please leave,” Jethro announced in a voice loud enough for the entire party to hear.

Alexander glanced at Cassandra, but her eyes were fixed firmly on the floor. Not to be ignored, he approached his sister and Jethro tensed as the captain tipped her chin up with his finger, forcing her to look him in the eye.

“What? No word in support of your brother, Cassy, to stop him from being thrown out on the street?”

When she remained silent, Alexander continued. “Ah, I see how it is. You are afraid of the repercussions if you go against your husb—”

Jethro reached up and grabbed the man by the cravat, cutting him off mid-flow, and almost choking him. How dare he taunt his wife like that? He had endured enough of the man’s rudeness, and shoved him out of the room ahead of him.

Although the captain was several inches taller, Jethro had a muscular arm, having lifted more than a few crates in his time. Aided by the element of surprise, he had no difficulty pushing the larger man through his entrance hall, and out of the front door, which a footman hastened to open for him.

Alexander stood on the step for a moment, then shot Jethro a look of loathing before turning and walking away in the rain, chuckling as he disappeared into the darkness.

Then all was silent, apart from the sound of raindrops falling all around.

Jethro went back inside with a heavy heart. He should have tried harder to find a peaceful way of evicting his unwanted guests. If Alexander had intended to prove his sister’s husband wasn’t a gentleman, he had succeeded. Jethro hoped the man was satisfied.

But he cared little for what the captain thought of him. It was his wife’s opinion that mattered, and he had let her down badly.

Whatever did she think of him now, after unceremoniously throwing her brother out of their house? Would she ever forgive him?

Chapter 42

Cassandra sat stock still, struggling to process what had just happened. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the nightmare to disappear, but when she reopened them, nothing had changed.

They had all watched in awed silence as Jethro dragged Xander from the room, and then the others had started whispering. She only caught odd words of what they said, but it was enough. They pitied her and denounced her husband for his uncouth behaviour. It was so unfair it was ridiculous, but she felt no inclination to laugh.

How could her brother have treated Jethro like that, thrusting his friends on him in such an unreasonable manner? Pushing him, and pushing him, until he snapped—and then blaming her husband for the outcome he’d brought on himself.

She had not thought that relations between the two men could grow any worse, but she had been wrong. To think she had encouraged Jethro to try to get on with her brother. What a foolish idea. It could never work whilst Xander was so set against him.

Everyone fell silent, and Cassandra glanced up as Jethro re-entered the room. She dropped her gaze at once, unable to meet her husband’s eyes, because she felt so ashamed of her brother’s behaviour.