“You’re sweating,” Alex Hetherington said from the side of his mouth. “And flushed.”
“I am not.”
“You are, and you have a wild look in your eyes, like you want to flee.”
Daniel muttered something foul.
“She wants you and your money, as her father is on the verge of losing everything and has told his daughter to marry anyone wealthy. Title is not important.”
“Charming.” Daniel picked up the ale that was placed before him and drank deep. “He is clearly desperate then, to throw her at me.”
“You are handsome, articulate, and wealthy. I’m not sure what more a woman could want in a man.” Thea’s loyalty was showing.
“He thinks his blood is not rich enough, darling,” Alex said. “Apparently we are all better than him because of our birth.”
“Yes, thank you, Alex, I think we can leave that alone now.”
“What alone?” Oliver asked.
“Your brother is as intimidated by noblemen as you once were, Ace.”
“I am not intimidated,” Daniel said, refusing to snap. “I just know the way things work.”
“What way is that?” Oliver asked.
“I’m not discussing this any further. Why is Miss Spencer’s father not getting help if they are in such a dire situation?”
“Even you can’t save them. The man’s an idiot and wouldn’t listen to a word you said anyway,” Alex said.
“It is very sad,” his wife, Hannah, added. “To be forced to sell herself to the highest bidder can only bring heartache for her.”
You know nothing of my life, and I did not say that it was trying, but until you’ve walked in my shoes, Mr. Dillinger, do not judge me. Abby had said those words. Was her life trying? It would certainly seem so, considering who her brothers were.
“That may be, but I have no intention of my brother being the money behind her father’s elevation from poverty,” Oliver said.
They all drank to that.
“Good evening, all.” Luke and Isabella Fletcher arrived and took seats at their table. Like he, Luke did not frequent society often.
“But we do want him to marry,” Lady Levermarch said. “A nice lady with intelligence and wit.”
“Who is musical,” Thea added, winking at Daniel.
“I have no wish to marry,” he said calmly, sending his brother a look that said he could intervene and stop his wife from pursuing this topic at any time.
“You will, when the right woman approaches,” Thea said. “And I think I know just that woman.”
“No, you don’t, and when the time comes, I shall find my own wife.”
The women around the table launched into compiling a list of appropriate ladies.
“Miss Fairweather? Good lord, you would subject him to her?” Will looked horrified.
“She is a lovely woman,” Lady Ryder said. “Perhaps she has that one tiny imperfection but so do many of us.”
“Tiny?” Will scoffed. “She has a voice any bugler could be grateful for. The woman could stand at one end of London and be heard at the other.”
“You want me to marry such a woman, Thea?” Daniel asked, looking pious. “I thought I was your favorite brother-in-law.”
She pursed her lips in thought. “All right, perhaps Miss Fairweather will not do, but what of Miss Raddler?”
“They won’t stop, so just let them go. Eventually they will run out of steam,” Finn said. “We’ve all been through this particular discussion at various times in our lifetime with different people. My great-aunt made it her life’s work to throw women at me until she passed away.”
“Isn’t it lucky you caught me then, darling,” his wife said.
“There is not an hour passes, Phoebe, that I do not remind myself of that,” Finn drawled.
“Oh lord, I hope they do not mean to bring trouble with them.” Thea was looking over Daniel’s shoulder, so everyone did the same.
The three eldest Deville brothers had arrived at Vauxhall Gardens. Oliver got to his feet, and Daniel did the same, but to put a hand on his brother’s arm.
“You will sit and not make a scene, brother. I won’t have it, not here with our friends and family around.”
Oliver’s jaw clenched, eyes focused on the men seated across from them.
“Now,” Daniel said softly.
Oliver yielded, sitting as Daniel forced him back into his seat.
“I’ve never seen anyone besides Thea control him. Very impressive,” Will said.
“He’s soft, really. Our mother could bring him to heel with food.”
“Not in the early days.” Oliver held Daniel’s gaze as he whispered the words so only he could hear. They would have done anything to have full bellies once.
He glanced at the Deville brothers and saw the eldest was looking his way. He’d exposed himself to them the day he’d saved Abby, and they both knew it. In the normal course of events, he’d never call her anything but Lady Abigail, and yet that day he’d called her Abby, and there had been desperation in the way he’d done so. The Earl of Raine wanted to know why.
Daniel gave them a steady look. He saw Abby in her brothers. The color of hair or eyes, the shape of a cheek.
“Will you walk with me through the gardens, Mr. Dillinger?”
Dear Christ. Miss Spencer had approached when he wasn’t looking. Daniel didn’t know everything about the social nuances that governed polite society, but he did know it was not done to approach a man as she was. The woman was clearly desperate, her actions dictated to her by her father. Daniel shot the man a look of displeasure. Lord Spencer merely raised his glass and smiled.
“I’m terribly sorry, Miss Spencer, but my brother-in-law is to walk with me,” Thea cooed in a voice he’d never heard before.
“Very well,” Miss Spencer snapped. “Perhaps next time.”
“A word of caution, if I may, Miss Spencer.” Thea leaned in to speak to the woman quietly. “A woman’s reputation, once lost, is rarely regained.”
Miss Spencer drew back with a loud gasp.
“Have a care, Daniel, she will compromise you into marrying her if she can,” Lady Levermarch said, watching Miss Spencer’s hasty retreat. “Her father should be shot for forcing his daughter to behave in such a way.”
“Old windbag,” Ben said.
“I’m
