Read Online The Captain of All Pleasures by Kresley Cole - Free Book Online

come up with. Faces changed throughout the night before blending all together as one bottle became two.
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    Grant Sutherland’s hope that his brother would not be among the patrons of the Mermaid, for bloody sakes, died when he found Derek ensconced at a corner table. Derek saw him immediately and glowered. Grant pushed through a crowd of doxies, his eyes widening when a couple pinched him, and joined him anyway.
    â€œI was hoping I wouldn’t find you here.”
    â€œLikewise.”
    Grant gave him a sardonic smile. “I wouldn’t have come here, but something’s come up.”
    â€œHandle it.” Derek drank, not looking at Grant. “You always do.”
    â€œNot this time. This is none of my affair.”
    Derek turned to him then, not hiding his surprise. “Anything concerning me concerns you. You run the estates. You own half of Peregrine—”
    â€œLydia’s looking for you.”
    Derek set down his mug. Damn it, Grant had wanted to tell him over coffee, not spring it on him amid the commotion of this tap house.
    â€œWhat’d she want?”
    â€œShe—” Just then a man went flying over a neighboring table. Ale sloshed high and splatted, barely missing Grant. “That’s it.” He rose, grabbed Derek’s arm, and pulled. “We’ll talk about this on the way home.”
    Derek yanked his arm away. “I’m not leaving.”
    â€œWhy the hell not? You haven’t tried enough to kill yourself tonight?”
    â€œI’m looking for a…woman.”
    Grant made a sound of disgust. “As much as it pains me to say this”—his gaze swept the room—“couldn’t you have found one among the, if not clean, at least the varied assortment here?”
    â€œNo, she’s not here yet.”
    Grant sat back down. “Who is she?”
    â€œRedhead. Beautiful.”
    â€œOr so says the liquor.” Grant flicked an empty, overturned bottle and sent it spinning on the table.
    Derek shook his head. “I was sober.”
    â€œI wasn’t aware you still did sobriety.” At Derek’s scowl, Grant said, “Well, you’re not now. What do you think you could do if you found this girl again? Drink her under the table?”
    Derek almost chuckled. “I’m fine.”
    â€œThen stand up.”
    â€œI will not—”
    â€œHumor me.” Grant rarely brought up the fact that he managed all of Derek’s estates and investments. But all that was about to change, and Derek would find out soon enough. Grant pinned his brother with a look. “It’s the least you could do.”
    Derek cursed and stood. And swayed.
    Grant exhaled loudly. Men as big as Derek presented a hazard when drunk. Without asking, Grant grabbed Derek’s shoulder and half-tossed, half-supported him out of the tavern and into a hackney.
    â€œI left with you,” Derek began as the horses’ hooves clacked along the street, “now tell me what Lydia wanted.”
    â€œMoney.”
    He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why does that not surprise me?”
    Grant wanted—needed—to tell Derek about his recent decision. He needed to tell him that he was tired of being chained to Derek’s estates. While Grant was making certain Derek didn’t lose everything, he himself had lost four years.
    Grant was done.
    But Derek looked exhausted, beaten, worse than Grant had ever seen him. Christ, he hated to see his brother like this. It wasn’t in his nature to kick someone when he was down. Yet when wasn’t Derek down?
    When they arrived at the town house, Grant helped Derek, still insisting he was “not bloody drunk,” to his room. Grant stood in the doorway, alternately amused and cringing as Derek wrestled off his boots. When Derek finally lay on the counterpane, Grant found a blanket and tossed it to him. “Good night, Derek. We’ll figure this out in