Page 23 of Stealing the Rake's Heart
Why can’t be behave, if only for a few hours?Alexander thought unhappily. Beside him, Hamish pressed a hand over his mouth, barely smothering a belch.
“Excellent wine, this,” he said, in tones too loud for a genteel party. “Your brother’s cellar? Think he’d let us have a wander down there, pick out a few more bottles?”
Alexander imagined asking the butler for the keys to the cellar – or worse, asking William himself – and closed his eyes in mortification.
“No, Hamish, he wouldn’t. I think you’ve drunk too much, anyway.”
Hamish blinked, wobbling ever so slightly. He stretched out a hand and clapped it on Alexander’s shoulder, more to steady himself than anything else.
“You’re a real morose tonight,” Hamish commented. “What’s the matter?”
Alexander flushed, looking away. “I have a headache.”
A flimsy lie, but Hamish seemed to believe it. Across the room, William stood with a group of gentlemen, no doubt ready to time his next dance to the very second. Alexander had been watching him, and he chose his partners carefully. Very carefully. Single ladies, but not too eligible. Not too many dances, but not too few, either. No waltzes, for sure.
William’s eye kept drifting over to where Alexander stood with the increasingly drunk Hamish, and his gaze was hard.
Perhaps Alexander would feel less guilty if his wretched friend wasn’t drinking so much. Glancing over at him, he saw Hamish about to pour himself another glass of wine. It was too much.
Alexander reached over, whisking the glass from Hamish’s hand.
“Good lord, man, have you not had enough?” he snapped. “Have a little decorum.”
Hamish eyed him, hurt. “You invited me here. You stood up to your brother for me. I thought you wanted my company.”
Alexander bit his lip. “Yes, but I thought you’d behave. You know how strict these events can be.”
His friend narrowed his eyes, gaze slipping over Alexander’s shoulder to where William stood across the room. His jaw clenched.
“Do you know, Alexander, it’s rather exhausting being your friend. You cannot seem to decide whether you want to shock your brother or live up to his standards. Choose, for heaven’s sake, one way or another. I don’t particularly enjoy feeling as though I embarrass you one moment, only to be an entertaining diversion the next.”
Alexander bit his lip. “Don’t be unkind, Hamish.”
“Unkind? I’m your guest, and now it’s fairly clear you wish you had never invited me.”
He flushed. “I didn’t mean…”
“I’m stepping out onto the balcony,” Hamish said shortly, avoiding Alexander’s gaze. “I want a cigar. Are you coming, or would you rather stay here and mope?”
The answer was fairly straightforward. Of course Alexander would rather go out into the cool, fresh night air and get out of this crush, but if his mother looked for him and he wasn’t there… or worse, if William found out he’d slipped away.
You aren’t here to enjoy yourself,he reminded himself, and bit back a sigh.
“I can’t, Hamish. Truly, I would, but my family…”
“Yes, yes,” Hamish snapped unhappily. “The family you complain about so frequently requires your presence. No need to say more.”
Alexander opened his mouth, maybe to give another apology, but Hamish had already gone, stamping away towards the wide French windows. He watched him go, still unable to shake the feeling of guilt.
I am always doing less than I should and more than I would like,he thought unhappily, echoing a line he’d read in a book somewhere, although he could not recollect the book at all.Stuck between Hell and Heaven.
Perhaps a trifle too dramatic, but never mind.
Alexander abandoned his corner in favour of moving through the sweltering crowd. He was glad when William disappeared in the throng – it was good to be out from under his brother’s beady eyes. If Alexander ever made a mistake, it seemed that William was there to see it.
Their mother was holding court at the side of the room, nearest the dancing, surrounded by matrons, widows, and sycophants, grandly receiving greetings and well-wishes from all of her guests. She had not been able to greet the guests at the door, and therefore propriety dictated that all guests should in that case seek her out and make their bows. Mary seemed ecstatic. She caught Alexander’s eye across the room and beamed at him.
He beamed back, feeling a little better. Hehaddone his duty, when you got down to it. He’d helped set up the ball, he was attending the ball, he wasbehaving. Yes, perhaps he ought not have invited Hamish, but it was too late to undo that, and at least Hamish had taken himself off.
