"Must we truly do the older-brother-to-suitor talk? You'll tell me not to hurt her, follow it with some threat I'm bound to ignore anyway. Allow me to save you the trouble with saying that I never intend to hurt her," Zayne suggested.
"Save me the trouble? Why not save yourself as well?" Reece asked, looking Zayne up and down. "You might stand taller than me, but that means little."
"I've also got more muscle than you, and I've been made to train for most of my life. It would place me in rather a poor position if I injured my future wife's brother, and I've no wish to create awkwardness, seeing as I do intend to marry her. So," Zayne said, hoping Reece moved on.
"Don't spoil what I planned to say. Iris has no father to speak for her, so it falls to me to handle this in his place," Reece said, clearing his throat in an attempt to deepen his voice. "It's good you're a friend of Lord Hawthorne's, but that hardly proves you're a good man."
