Page 3 of Brazen

“Mia,” Joshua said, “return to the ballroom this instant.”

She hurried down the steps and stopped beside her brother. “Uncle Kalin is looking for you.” It was a lie, but she couldn’t think of another way to get him to return to the ballroom.

“I will see him later,” Joshua said, and she realized he didn’t intend to introduce her to the two gentlemen. Such rude behavior wasn’t like him.

“I must insist.” Mia grasped the crook of his arm. Thankfully, his manners returned and Joshua winged the arm as she pulled him free of the men’s grasp.

Mia caught the thin-lipped look that passed between the two men. She didn’t care that her presence annoyed them.

“Come along,” she said and, curiosity piqued, she turned halfway back, and said, “If you will excuse us, gentlemen.”

“We have pressing business with your brother,” the dark-haired gentleman replied.

Business with Joshua? What business could they possibly have with a lad of eighteen who had only concluded his first year of university?

“I’m afraid your business will have to wait,” she said.

Mia expected Joshua to balk, but he allowed her to pull him away. They climbed the steps, then crossed the balcony.

Inside the ballroom, she said, “What in the world did those gentlemen want with you?”

He gave her a deprecating look. “Men’s business. No need to fret.” He pulled free of her and strode away.

Mia watched him weave through the crowd. After their father’s arrest, Joshua struggled to take his place as head of the household, but he had no idea how to go about taking care of them. Neither did she, if she were honest. Worse, neither did Aunt Leana.

When their father’s man of affairs told them they had enough money to last no more than a year, they realized that Angeline must marry right away, before their situation became public. Once Angeline secured a good husband, they could sell the estate, Joshua could finish his studies, and with his law degree, could help send their youngest brother to university. Mia and Leana would purchase a small cottage in the country, far away from the dangers of Society.

One day, Joshua would inherit their father’s title as Viscount Ardsley. He would, eventually, be able to attract an heiress on the lookout for a titled husband, even an impoverished viscount. Until then, he had to live the life of a gentleman.

Her heart squeezed. While their father’s crime hadn’t warranted front page news, they weren’t unscathed. Only Sir Stirling James’s intervention prevented Joshua from being expelled from university. Sir Stirling, too, had offered to host a party to introduce Angeline into Society—a house party, no less.

If all went well, in the next month, some young gentleman would fall so madly in love with Angeline that he would beg to marry her. Sir Stirling said he knew a particular gentleman who would make a very good husband.