Page 55 of Taming of the Rake
“You thought wrong,” Benedict snapped, already halfway through his first tumbler. “Bugger him.”
“Nick, deal the cards,” Hugh interjected, looking as if he would rather be anywhere else just now. Like David, he wasn’t much for confrontation.
Everyone knew Benedict was not to be trifled with when he was in such a mood, but Nick was antagonistic by nature. He could also be oblivious at times, and often let his mouth run away with him until it was too late to stop the resulting fallout.
“Yes,” Aubrey agreed. “Now Ben’s here, we can start the game.”
David was relieved when Nick silently dealt the cards, though there was clearly an undercurrent of silent communication happening between Ben and Aubrey, which in turn seemed to annoy Dominick more. Of the five of them, Aubrey and Ben were the closest, and David had long accepted that there were things Aubrey knew about Benedict that the rest of them might never be privy to.
Whatever was happening here, David had his own problems and was too inebriated to care about whatever had Benedict in a dudgeon. The distraction of a card game was exactly what he needed.
It only worked for about an hour, during which Benedict finished three-quarters of his decanter and surpassed David in drunkenness.
“All right,” Hugh said suddenly, with an exasperated sigh. “I cannot sit here any longer and pretend everything is all right. Something is very clearly wrong with both of you.”
He said this while swiveling his gaze from Benedict to David, eyebrows raised as if waiting for an answer.
Nick snapped the deck into a neat stack and laid them down. “He’s right. If Ben insists on acting like an ass—”
“I do,” Benedict interjected, raising his glass to them before taking another long swallow.
“Then, David, you’re going to have to start talking. You haven’t been yourself since you got back to London.”
“For God’s sake, Nick,” Aubrey ground out. “The man’s father died, and he’s been killing himself trying to keep his family clothed and fed.”
“It’s more than that,” Nick argued, before turning back to David. “Isn’t it?”
“Leave him be,” Benedict said, his words slurring as the brandy began getting the best of him. “The way you three carry on, it’s almost as if you have forgotten what life was like before the clouds parted and Eros struck you with his mythical arrows. Any idiot with half a brain could see he’s heartsick. Fool’s gone and fallen in love with Regina Hurst.”
David choked on the mouthful of brandy he’d just sipped, sputtering and swiping at his mouth with his sleeve while Aubrey pounded his back. Hugh and Nick glanced back and forth between them in clear shock. Benedict threw his head back and laughed, brandy sloshing over the sides of his glass as he slammed it to the table.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” he challenged. “You can’t, can you? I have seen that pitiful look often enough—first from Hugh, then Aubrey and Nick, and now you. God, could you be more predictable?”
Sniffling and using a handkerchief to clean up the remnants of his spewed brandy, David glared at Benedict. “You can rest easy. She doesn’t want me.”
“That’s what they all say,” Ben jeered. “Until you go crawling back to beg, and then … oh,thenyou’ll be worthy. Or maybe not. I suppose time will tell. Because youwillgo crawling back just like Hugh did when Evelyn wrote him off, or just like Aubrey did when Lucinda walked out, or just like Nick did when Calliope literally chose tomarry someone else.”
“That’s enough,” Aubrey said, rising to face Benedict. “You’re making a scene.”
“So I am,” Benedict said with another little laugh, this one derisive and harsh. “It’s odd, isn’t it? All this time I thought I was the one trying to prevent us all from being exposed. I’m the only one who gave a bloody fuck about our reputations and protecting the lot of you from ruin. And what did you all do? You ran off and made fools of yourselves over women who wouldn’t have had you otherwise.”
“Oh, sod off, you pompous ass,” Nick snapped. “If you were any more envious you’d choke on it! Whatever the hell happened between you and the Countess of Vautrey has nothing to do with the rest of us.”
Ben had been about to turn away from the table, but Nick’s words halted him in his tracks. He swiveled to face them, fists clenched and a thundercloud of fury settling over his face.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he growled, his words holding a clear warning.
Nick chose not to heed it. “Don’t I? You have been in your cups ever since Aubrey told you about her death. You think I didn’t notice you haven’t attended a wedding since hers and Vautrey’s? Not until Aubrey and Lucinda, anyway. What’s that about, hm? Maybe you’re so angry with me, and Hugh, and David, and Aubrey because you never got over wanting someone who didn’t want you back!”
David traded glances with Hugh, who looked as confused and worried over this whole mess as he felt. These revelations were news to David, but made sense when Nick laid them out that way. David glanced at Aubrey, who was watching Ben, worry creating brackets around his mouth and furrows in his brow.
Benedict remained surprisingly calm, clearing his throat and running a hand over his jaw. When he looked at Nick again, all expression had left his face, but the rage still burned in his eyes, fiery and raw.
“Fuck Vautrey, fuck his countess, and fuck you.”
Nick snorted and rolled his eyes as if he’d expected such, but said nothing. Benedict whirled to leave, but Aubrey gave chase, stepping over the chair Ben had overturned in his haste.
“No,” Ben said, holding up a hand to ward Aubrey off. “I don’t need you … any of you. Go home to yourwives. David, you are on your own. I’m done cleaning up your messes.”
