“Do you play?” Julius asked.
“On occasion. Deal me in.”
The croupier included him in the next round, but his lack of interest saw him out of the game in short order. He’d much rather fold than invest increasing sums on a game he didn’t care about. As the game continued without him, he studied the people at the table, and then looked out into the larger room beyond, where dancing still occurred.
Across the dance floor, he saw Lord Warwick give Eliza a drink, and the smile she gave him in return. She adored her husband. One only had to see her smile at him to know it. Octavia’s warning was true. Eliza loved her husband.
With a sigh, he returned his attention to the game. Towards the end of it, even Julius had bowed out when the stakes became uncomfortably high. Some men refused to give, and there were two of them competing with each other. Like most, Finn understood the competitiveness between men, but this was a stupid place to exercise it. He could be accused of treating his investments as the stage of competition he’d chosen, an arena where his success pleased him.
As with anything, success needed some level of study. For his kind of investments, a broader understanding of the world helped immensely when deciding how to place himself at the pinch point that enabled others to realize their ambition. With Eliza, however, there seemed to be no such point.
His attention was drawn by Octavia passing by on the dancefloor, accompanied by a dark-haired man. Her smile was a very different thing from what he’d received from her. As opposed to him, she wanted to make a good impression on this man.
“Do you have sisters?” Julius Hennington asked, seemingly having observed his distraction.
“No, I have no siblings.” As a child, he’d lamented the lack of siblings, not being able to play the kinds of games that other children played at home. His childhood had nonetheless been happy for the most part. As a youth, everything had changed while he’d been at boarding school, and his family had shrunk to the size of one. It had been a shock to start with, but his studies, and then his social life, had distracted him.
He’d learnt to fend for himself, with the assistance of good staff with progressive management skills. Hiring good people was one of his skills, and it had served him well. There was no financial detriment to either his investments or his estate, but recently, there had been an itch for roots, for grounding and stability. This dreaded longing that seemed to come for everyone, in the end.
The dancing finished and Octavia was led to the side, where her dancing partner chatted with her. She giggled at something he said and then prodded him with her fan. All sweetness and mirth. Quite a different woman entirely from the one he’d just encountered.
“Who’s that she’s dancing with? Fervoy? Well, he is pretty enough. She tends to flirt with the handsomest men. It seems Fervoy is to be the target for her flirting this year. My sister is a consummate flirt, until she has enough of them. Then she moved on without looking back.”
“She seems very decisive,” Finn said and turned to seek the waiter for another drink.
“Please don’t take her behavior to heart. She’s afraid and she’s particularly decisive when she’s afraid. Caius leaving hurt her the most. They were always close, and she didn‘t take his leaving well. She was still quite young when it happened, and she’s afraid things will go wrong again. Irrationally so, perhaps, but when is fear not irrational? She would perhaps feel better if she could control all of us.”
Finn could understand the urge following loss, the need to control everything around so bad things didn’t happen. Now he was annoyed, because he didn’t want to feel understanding and sympathy for her. Perhaps this was simpler and more enjoyable if she was just an abrasive battle-ax.
The source of her fear approached, with Eliza on his arm. He smiled at his brother, then gave a quick nod to the other parties around the table. If he felt particularly unhappy about Finn being there, he didn’t show it. “I think we are going to withdraw a little early.”
Julius checked his pocket watch. “Aren’t you embracing your elderly years a bit soon? It’s not even midnight.”
“I hope you enjoyed the evening,” Eliza said. Him being there had to place her in a difficult position, but not to the point where she ignored him.
Finn rose to speak to her. “It has been entertaining. A dance between us was not on the cards, it seems.” Interestingly, Caius Hennington didn’t react particularly to him speaking to his wife, which suggested a certain level of confidence in his marriage, or utter lack of caring. Everything else he’d seen suggested the former.
“It will have to wait until next time,” Eliza said with a smile.
“It seems everyone is gathered,” Octavia said, gently pushing between them. The subtle pushiness made him smile. A lioness protecting her brood from the invader.
“Fortescue,” Julius said. “Why don’t you come to supper some night during the week?”
“I’m sure he’s much too busy for that,” Octavia said with shock that her brother would do such a thing.
“I would love to,” Finn replied. On one level, he found he actually enjoyed Julius’ company, and on another, nothing he could do would bother Octavia more than becoming friends with her brother. Again, Caius didn’t particularly react. Eliza even seemed pleased.
“I’ll have an invitation sent around. And I’m sure my sister will behave cordially.” There was lightning communication happening between Octavia and her brother’s eyes. Some kind of challenge, perhaps.
“Of course,” she said as if it was the most unnecessary suggestion. “It will
