Roger dug in his heels, his brother was an ass. He certainly was not going to miss breakfast with his wife to enjoy HIS company.
"Go! Make up with your brother. I've set up a breakfast appointment."
Roger shook his head petulantly.
Georgina ignored his ill-humor and she kissed him. "Make sure you are here by noon."
His eyebrow raised.
"If you are a good boy, afternoon delight might be on the menu."
"And if I'm a bad boy?"
"Then afternoon delight might be on the menu but ONLY if you've made up with your brother."
Roger despaired at how easily he was being manipulated until he looked into Georgina's eyes and saw unmitigated love. She knew he hated fighting with his brother. He nodded and found Georgina in his arms.
"Please hurry Roger!"
He still had an inane grin on his face when he arrived at his brother's alcove.
"I'm glad you're not angry with me Rags, I'm sorry about yesterday." Octavian said, misinterpreting the grin.
Roger still thought Octavian was an ass, he always smiled when he thought of his lascivious wife. He grunted and ignoring his brother waved at Wicklow for coffee.
"Your wife rang me."
"My wife, not Georgina," Roger smiled, with sudden insight he added, "she trod on your ego."
"Trod on it, she slashed and scattered it."
"Tell me?"
"Don't you know?"
"Eight really with a Gorgeous woman like Georgina who would waste time talking about you?"
Wicklow delivered the coffee with a smile.
"OK, I'll humor you if only to show you what a curmudgeon you have married."
Roger's raised an eyebrow to caution Octavian, he ignored it and continued.
"I think she reamed me a new arse-hole."
"Don't exaggerate Eight she loves you, she'd never hurt you. That's what friendship is about!" Roger added pointedly.
"I don't doubt her affection or concern for me but it didn't stop my ear getting blistered. Christ, I'm glad I didn't meet her face to face."
"You're serious aren't you?"
"Brother dear, her bad side is seriously worth avoiding."
Roger sipped his coffee and pondered. Eight was the Duke of Almondsbury he was raised to rule. His role models, schooling and environment were all selected to make him a strong Patriarch of the family estates and businesses. Eight slipped into the role as if he were born to it, well he was.
"You are saying that my little wanton waif bested my born to rule brother?"
"Only because I was wrong."
"Well, this is a major departure I didn't think you did contrite."
"Are you going to continue being a smug little prick, or would you like to hear about our conversation, I should make you go home and ask her."
Roger realized he was being a prick.
"Sorry Eight, you are right. Sorry about my lack of grace when I arrived, of course I accept your apology. I'm glad to have my brother back, I missed you."
He grabbed his brother's hand, they stared at each other quietly re-affirming their bond.
"Well, Georgina asked me if Baroness Carlton was a credible and reliable source. I agreed, she told me Reggie had been identified as Regina Slater. She then generally disparaged my sources and encouraged me to greater efforts.
"Doesn't sound too bad."
"It took her fifteen minutes."
"Oh."
"Then she said that it is likely that one of the Goddesses is a spy."
Roger raised both eyebrows.
"Just ten minutes, the crux of her communication was that she was NOT prepared to burn two friends to find the one whose loyalties are divided. She didn't concede that divided loyalties was bad."
"That's a long bow," Roger said.
"Yes but our world is black or white, Georgina has always been able to see the world in color."
Roger smiled, there was a man with an extra arse defending the person who reamed it.
"I saved the best bit till last, she said if you returned from one of our meetings angry again, she'd buy the property next door to our family seat and set a herd of goats loose in our rose garden."
The brothers laughed, Octavian the hardest.
"She was serious Rags, it appears a few hundred thousand pounds is a cheap price to assure your calmness. You know that I'm really jealous if I had known she was a Countess in her own right, I would have pursued her, and you little brother, would have missed out."
"No Eight, she chose the Doctor not the disease."
The brothers were happy in their own thoughts for a few moments.
"What about Reggie?" Roger asked.
"Well that is really interesting," he sipped his coffee, being an annoying elder brother again. He couldn't help himself.
"Don't start being an arse again Eight, you've almost convinced me that you are human."
Eight smiled, "Your strings are so loose Rags, anyone can pull them."
Roger smiled and copied his brother, he grabbed his cup and sipped his coffee, "I hear goats like roses."
They laughed again.
"Reggie's parents might still be alive."
"What!" he spluttered his coffee and was working overtime with his serviette.
"We had been busy working on this even before Georgina's reaming. The body that was identified as Reggie's was probably that of Wilbur White, he disappeared at the same time."
"Bloody hell Eight, can't they tell the difference between a male and female skeleton?"
"All they found was an arm and a few ribs. The skeletal differences between the sexes are mostly in the hips and jaw. They measured the forearm to determine the height of the deceased. It matched Reggie, so they concluded the body was hers. Now Wilbur is interesting."