Page 35 of The Burdened Duke
Feeling eyes on him, he glanced down the table and saw none other than Mr. Bainbridge staring at him. The man offered a frosty smile, and almost immediately abandoned his seat in favour of an empty one directly beside William.
Oh, wonderful,William thought tiredly.I might as well have gone to join the ladies right away, or else stayed in the billiards room.
“Fabulous party, your Grace,” Mr. Bainbridge said, smiling cheerfully. He was a tall, almost cadaverous-looking man, with a hawkish nose and the same sharp, sparkling eyes as his daughter. He was known as a man of few words and unbelievably deep pockets.
“Thank you, Mr. Bainbridge. I’m sorry you did not feel ready for a tour of the Baths earlier today.”
“Yes, well, my wife and I attend Bath regularly for the water, you know. I’ve seen it all and done it all. In fact, I would say that there isn’t a great deal that surprises Mrs. Bainbridge and me.”
This felt like a pointed comment, and William was growing more uncomfortable by the minute. He flashed the man a tense smile.
“Quite right, I suppose,” he said, in the hopes that this uninviting comment would stop the conversation in its tracks.
He should have known better. Mr. Bainbridge gestured for a footman to refill his brandy glass. He swirled the liquid round and round in the glass, holding it up to the light.
“A fine vintage, this,” he said at last, taking a long sniff. “I can always tell. I have a palate for such things, you know. I can sniff out a liar as easily as I can a corked wine.”
William didn’t bother smiling at this. “How useful for you.”
“Indeed, it is. My dear Victoria – my daughter, you know – is much the same. A clever little thing, she is. We have high hopes for her.”
William tensed. “She is certainly a remarkably intelligent woman. I am often surprised by her intellect.”
“Hm. You don’t strike me as a man who would underestimate a woman.”
“I am not.”
“My Victoria is a clever girl. Cleverer than folks give her credit for, in fact. Once she’s got her mind set on something, she gets it. Always. She’s our only child, of course, and I recall that when she was young, people tended to say things about how much we must have wished she were a boy. I always laughed at them and told them they had no clue of what they were speaking. Boy or girl, Victoria is a force of nature. We never wished we had a son – not in her place, at least – and we never imagined that she was any less than she is.”
The conversation was growing more and more pointed, and William longed to fidget in his seat. Mr. Bainbridge was staring at him with those pale, unblinking eyes, cutting through all the layers of William’s excuses and concerns, all the way through to the vulnerable nerve underneath.
It wasn’t a pleasant experience.
“You are a good father, I think,” William said at last. “Miss Bainbridge is worthy of you.”
“She is worthy of the best in the world,” Mr. Bainbridge said, and there was a hint of sourness in his voice now. “The best food, clothes, friends, future. The best husband.”
“I am inclined to agree.”
“Anyone who trifles with her affections… forgive me, with herexpectations… will find himself regretting his actions.”
William could not let this one go. He shifted in his seat, looking Mr. Bainbridge full in the face.
“I am not sure why you are telling me this, Mr. Bainbridge. It almost feels like a threat.”
Mr. Bainbridge narrowed his eyes. “You understand me well, your Grace, I think.”
“No gentleman would make a promise he did not intend to keep, I think. However, that also means that a gentleman must be careful about what promises hedoesmake, and how he extends them. Don’t you agree?”
Mr. Bainbridge seemed to take his meaning at last. He said nothing, only blinking slowly, like a cat.
William had had more than enough. Glancing across the table, he found Henry still looking at him, his eyes sharp. William rose to his feet, and the other gentlemen glanced over at him, their conversations faltering away.
“I think it is time to let the long-suffering servants get into the dining room,” William said, with a wry smile. “They have waited long enough. Come, shall we join the ladies?”
There was a general murmur of assent, accompanied by the sound of chairs scraping upon the floor as gentlemen set down their glasses draining the final remnants of their brandy. They moved languidly towards the door, and William was one of the last men out of the dining room.
Not quitethelast, though. When he glanced over his shoulder, Mr. Bainbridge was only just getting up from his seat, and his gaze was firmly fixed on William’s retreating back.
