Page 56 of Taming of the Rake
Aubrey glanced back to David as Ben made his exit, turning several heads on his way out. The club hadn’t gone quite silent, but several eyes had strayed to their table once Nick and Benedict started trading verbal jabs.
Aubrey’s dark eyes brimmed with helplessness and remorse as he squeezed David’s shoulder. “He didn’t mean that.”
“Like hell he didn’t,” Nick grumbled. “He’s been unbearable since Hugh and Evelyn married, and you know it.”
“Nick, just leave it,” Hugh said. “You’ve only gone and made matters worse.”
“You’re wrong,” Aubrey added. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. If you did, you would have kept your mouth shut for once in your life.”
With that, he gave David one last apologetic look, then turned and set off for the exit—obviously intent on catching up with Benedict. No one else dared follow.
Once they were gone, Hugh turned to David, who then became the sole recipient of his concern. “Is it true, David … about you and Mrs. Hurst?”
David nodded, his head spinning from what had just occurred as well as the brandy muddling his senses. “I asked her to marry me, but she refused. Ben is right … I’m pitiful.”
“No, he isn’t,” Nick said, glaring in the direction Benedict had gone. “This Hurst woman is pitiful if she can’t see what a fine catch you are.”
“I own an impoverished estate,” David pointed out.
“Trivial. Besides, your letters indicated things are on the mend.”
“I don’t exactly have a reputation as the most respectable of men.”
Nick scoffed. “Last I heard that wasn’t an impediment to marriage. Just ask the biggest rake in London … oh! He’s sitting right here, fresh off his honeymoon—though I’ll have you know he is entirely reformed.”
“He’s not wrong,” Hugh said with a shrug. “Perhaps you could try again. Do you have any reason to believe she might return your feelings?”
David thought back to those blissful moments right before he’d gone and put his foot in his mouth. He thought over the long nights they had spent in her bed, whispered conversations stretching between bouts of lovemaking. He remembered holding her while she slept and dancing with her in a crowded public house. The memories were colored by his love for her, by the realization that he had probably been in love with her for longer than he’d realized. But, did that mean his view of those moments had been distorted? Had he seen things that were not there?
“I’m not entirely certain,” he admitted. “But then, that is probably my fault. I didn’t actually tell her how I feel. I think she assumed I only asked her to marry me because she’s pregnant.”
Hugh groaned and braced his forehead in one hand while Nick muttered that he was an idiot. David didn’t exactly disagree.
“You’re going to have to tell us everything, from the beginning,” Hugh said, signaling a waiter for more brandy.
They drank it as David told his story, holding back the most intimate of details but ensuring they understood the whole of it. When he was finished, Nick was looking at him as if unable to believe what he had just heard. Hugh seemed less shocked but was still thoughtful.
“Well?” David asked. “What am I to do? I can’t simply sit back and accept that I’ve lost her.”
“No,” Hugh agreed. “You’re going to have to convince her to listen to you, and you have to make yourself clear this time.”
David sat up straighter. “I can do that.”
Nick snorted. “Can you? That pretty face of yours always does the talking. The reputation your mouth has isn’t exactly for your use of words.”
Hugh choked on a laugh, then schooled his face into a more serious expression as he turned back to David. “Sorry. That was bloody funny.”
David shrugged. “I’ll admit it was. But what about Regina? If she will even hear me out, I assume I only have one last chance to get this right.”
Hugh and Nick traded meaningful glances, before both turned back to him as if they’d come to the same conclusion.
“What you need is a grand gesture,” Hugh said.
“He’s right,” Nick agreed. “Something big … something guaranteed to leave her with no doubt that you refuse to live without her.”
“I suppose that could work,” David mused.
“Trust us, it will work,” Hugh insisted. “You’re looking at the kings of the grand gesture. One of us stormed a wedding to beg the bride to marry him, then fought a duel and took a bullet from the scorned groom.”
