" So it is hopeless. Is that what you are saying?”
Archer smiled. “Nothing is hopeless, but if he means enough to you that you are willing to put up with him, then I will do what I can to help you.”
“Why would you do that?” She took a nibble of delicious frosting as her heart thudded hard in her chest. “You don’t even know me.”
But what if he could help her convince Grey to rejoin the world?
He raised a cake of his own, the frosting stark white against the tan of his fingers. “Because you are the only woman with the exception of my mother and sister who knows my brother intimately and for some reason still likes him. That’s good enough for me. Now, eat some of that cake I was kind enough to fetch you. I wouldn’t want you to tell Grey I was a poor companion.”
Rose’s smile caught on her lips. “Are you suggesting I use you to make your brother jealous?”
Archer laughed. “My dear girl, it will take better men than me to drive Grey into action.” His expression turned positively rakish. “But I’m as good a place to start as any. "

― Kathryn Smith , When Seducing a Duke (Victorian Soap Opera, #1)