Free A Mistletoe Proposal by Lucy Gordon Page B

is?’
    â€˜That he’s always had the rough end of the stick. I think Mum blames him for Dad’s death, not openly but she says things like, “If only he hadn’t been so tired that day, he might not have crashed.” And she says other things—so that I just know she thinks Roscoe wasn’t pulling his weight.’
    â€˜Do you believe that?’
    â€˜No, not now I’m in the firm and know a bit about how it works. Roscoe was the same age I am now, still learning the business, and there was only so much he could have done. And I’ve talked to people who were there at that time and they all say there was a big crash coming, and nobody could believe “that kid” could avoid it.’
    â€˜â€œThat kid,”’ she murmured. ‘It’s hard to see him like that.’
    â€˜I know, but that’s how they thought of him back then. And they were all astounded when he got them through. I respect him—you have to—but I can see what it made him. Sometimes I feel guilty. He saved the rest of us but it damaged him terribly, and Mum just blames him because…well…’
    â€˜Maybe she needs someone to blame,’ Pippa suggested gently.
    â€˜Something like that. And it’s so unfair that I feel sorry for him. Hey, don’t tell him I said that. He’d murder me!’
    â€˜And then he’d murder me ,’ she agreed. ‘Promise.’ She laid a finger over her lips.
    â€˜The reason I don’t deal with Roscoe very well is that I’m always in two minds about him. I admire him to bits for what he’s achieved in the firm, and the way he puts up with Mum’s behaviour without complaining.’
    â€˜Does he mind about her very much?’
    â€˜Oh, yes. He doesn’t say anything but I see his face sometimes, and it hurts him.’
    â€˜Have you tried talking to him about it?’
    â€˜Yes, and I’ve been slapped down. He shuts it away insidehimself, and I resent that. He’s been a good brother to me, but he won’t let me be a good brother to him. That’s what I was saying; one moment I admire him and sympathise with him. The next moment I want to thump him for being a tyrant. I’m afraid his tyrant side outweighs the other one by about ten to one.’
    â€˜If you weren’t a stockbroker, what would you have liked to do?’ she asked.
    â€˜I don’t know. Something colourful where I didn’t have to wear a formal suit.’ He gave a comical sigh. ‘I guess I’m just a lost cause.’
    She smiled, feeling as sympathetic as she would have done with a younger brother. Beneath the frivolous boy, she could detect the makings of a generous, thoughtful man with, strangely, a lot in common with his brother. Charlie wasn’t the weakling she’d first thought. He had much inner strength. It was just a different kind of strength from Roscoe.
    â€˜You’re not a lost cause,’ she said, reaching over the table and laying her hands on his shoulders. ‘ I say you’re not, and what I say goes.’
    He grinned. ‘Now you sound just like Roscoe.’
    â€˜Well, I am like Roscoe.’ Briefly, she enclosed his face between her hands. ‘He’s not the only one who can give orders, and my orders to you are to cheer up because I’m going to make things all right.’
    She dropped her hands but gave him a comforting sisterly smile.
    â€˜D’you know, I really believe you can,’ he mused. ‘I think you could take on even Roscoe and win.’
    â€˜Well, somewhere in this world there has to be someone who can crush him beneath her heels.’
    â€˜His fiancée couldn’t.’
    â€˜His fiancée?’ Pippa echoed, startled. Since learning thatRoscoe lived alone, she had somehow never connected him with romantic entanglements.
    â€˜It was a few years back. Her name was Verity and she was terribly