4 Chapter 4

He stifled a sigh and took a breath. “I have…overindulged a little of late. I’d like to enlist in the army, and I have petitioned my brother to persuade my father to purchase me a commission, but I have met with some resistance.” He cleared his throat. “Apparently, Eddie feels that a month in the country with you will dissuade me.”

He looked at the man sat opposite him. Tall, reed thin, with a sharp features and severely short dark hair. The harshness of his face was offset by large, watchful grey eyes behind wire rimmed spectacles. He looked like he had never laughed in his life.

Hawkins nodded and moved his teacup, settling it more securely in the saucer. “Given what your brother and I faced in Portugal, I can understand his reluctance. It’s a brutal business.”

“He said you fought together.”

Hawkins looked up, pinning him with that grey gaze. “He saved my life.”