“Ben.” Daniel found himself sighing again, for possibly the umpteenth time that day.
“Alex said to me he thought you were in fact the most amiable man he knew. Strange how today that does not appear to be the case.”
“Excellent. It is my life’s ambition to be amiable.”
“But not today,” Ben clarified, which just annoyed Daniel more.
“Good day, Ben.” He once again attempted to leave. Ben simply kept pace with him.
“I had wondered what it would take to change that amiable demeanor. It’s never good for a person to be too pleasing, after all. It gives me heart to see that is not the case with you after all. Care to enlighten me as to what has changed?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Very well, we shall work on you sharing your innermost thoughts at a later date.”
“What is it with you men who find love? Suddenly you all want to share my innermost thoughts,” Daniel muttered.
“What can I say, it’s the love of a good woman.”
“That’s nauseating.”
“One day you will understand. Now come, your meeting will wait.” Ben turned Daniel and nudged him in the back. “You need a distraction, and I have just the thing.”
“What?”
“You’ll see.”
He found himself following Ben and knew as they turned into the street exactly where they were going.
“Fencing is for noblemen, Ben.”
“And yet you do it, and often, so I’m led to believe.”
“But I do not fence in public with men like you.”
Ben stopped suddenly, and Daniel was forced to do the same.
“You’re a snob.”
“I am not!” Daniel glared at him. “I’m a realist.”
“Is that what we’re calling it? You’re just like Luke and Ace. They used to continually drone on about them being beneath everyone else. It was tiring then, and let me say it is more so now.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Daniel started walking again. “I’m leaving.”
Luke Fletcher had married a nobleman’s daughter and was a close friend of Ben’s. The man had been a stablehand. Daniel also knew that he struggled to keep his distance from the woman he’d loved, as Oliver had with Thea.
Not that he loved Abby, and yet he knew that not seeing her would be like having a constant thorn in his side. But this was for the best… wasn’t it?
He knew there were a select few men who had married women of noble birth—after all, his brother was one of them—but that didn’t mean he would do so. Besides the fact Abby had deceived him, there was the simple matter that he could not give her the life she’d been born to lead. Not that marriage had entered into his mind, but still, it was a solid reason that they were not suited.
“Just so I’m clear on your viewpoint: because I was born into a noble family, you are not fit company for me to fence with, Daniel? Do I have that right?”
The taunt was a direct hit, especially after the encounter he’d just had with Abby. Daniel felt his temper tweak.
“Perhaps you’re correct to avoid us. After all, we are better educated—”
“You may have gone to the right schools, Hetherington, but I have the same knowledge now as you!”
“Really?” Ben kept pace with him as Daniel stormed down the street. “Are you sure, because please correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t those who sit in the House of Lords and rule our country men of elevated birth?”
“That doesn’t make them either intelligent or worthy of holding such a position.”
Ben scoffed. “They are of noble birth; of course they are worthy.”
He knew Ben was deliberately annoying him, using Daniel’s beliefs to tie him in knots, and it was working.
“Be quiet.”
“Why?”
“Because you are deliberately needling me.”
“So it’s working then?”
“And then some.”
“Excellent, and we are here. How fortuitous; now you can skewer me with a foil.”
Looking at the sign that swung gently in the breeze swirling around them, Daniel noted it indicated they had indeed reached a fencing saloon.
“I’m not fencing with you.”
“Then you can sit and watch how real men do it.”
“Point me in the direction of a real man, and I will.”
“Do you know, I quite like this change in you. More personality, more fight. Keep it up, Dillinger, and I may like you even more.”
“Of course, that’s my fondest wish. In fact, I woke this morning thinking, how is it possible to get Benjamin Hetherington to like me more?” Daniel muttered.
“Sarcasm. The day is just getting better and better.” Ben gripped his shoulder and nudged him through the doors. Daniel allowed it for no other reason than he was curious as to what a place like this looked like.
Ben nodded and greeted men as he walked, and Daniel felt his collar tightening. He was not a nobleman and should not be in this place. He doubted you could step a foot in any direction without tripping over several lords or their progeny.
They found Alex Hetherington with his eldest brother, the Marquess of Levermarch. He wasn’t a man Daniel knew well, as they’d rarely conversed in anything but generalities. A nobleman with a lofty title, he carried his power well and was respected by many.
“Hello, Daniel.” Alex shook his hand. “How is it you are in the company of this fool?”
“I found him muttering and stalking along the street like a black cloud,” Ben said, grabbing his foil. He then proceeded to swish it back and forth. “I saw he was in need of imminent rescue and coaxed him into an argument, which I managed to keep going until we got here.”
“Now that does surprise me. I didn’t know you had either a temper or the ability to be in a dark mood, Daniel. I have great hopes for you now,” Alex said, echoing his brother’s words.
Daniel wondered when he’d become so boring.
“However, I would like to know what happened to place you in such a mood.” Alex leapt back as Ben swished his foil close to his twin’s ankles. “Why now?”
“No one can be
