Page 1 of Love in a Mist
Chapter One
Cambridge University, 1773
Lord Aldric Benick, the youngerof the Duke of Hartley’s two sons, knew perfectly well that family loyalty and duty to tradition dictated that he attend Oxford University alongside his older brother, Crofton, who was currently at that venerable institution making a notorious name for himself. Any gentleman possessing a modicum of integrity would be ashamed of the way Crofton comported himself. Thus Aldric was at Cambridge, hoping the family reputation wouldn’t follow him too closely. His father had been livid when Aldric had insisted on Cambridge. But when was Father not angry in matters concerning his younger son?
Aldric had, at the tender age of approximately five, admitted to himself that nothing he did was likely to meet with his father’s approval. No amount of proving himself would make him anything other than “the spare.” So he’d quit trying to please his father and had taken, instead, to doing what he could to become a person his mother would be proud of. She had been everything his father wasn’t: compassionate, kind, loving, thoughtful. She had loved Aldric, but she was gone now. Father was as dictatorial as ever, and Crofton gave every indication of following far too closely in their father’s miserable footsteps.
Benicks ruined families. That was the one thing in all the world that Aldric was entirely sure of.
But Cambridge was proving a not-entirely-miserable place to be, which he appreciated. He enjoyed his studies, didn’t have to see Crofton, and he had a lot of places to walk and think and be alone. One particularly pleasant afternoon, with the sun making a rare appearance, Aldric deposited himself into one of the green spaces on the campus. Dozens of others had made the same decision, out soaking up the unexpectedly cooperative weather. It afforded him the opportunity to indulge in one of his favorite pastimes: observing people.
He found people fascinating. Studying them when they didn’t know he was doing so made predicting their behavior in future moments all the easier. He wasn’t afraid of people, nor was he easily overset by unexpected situations. He simply understood, after years of living with his father and brother,the wisdom of knowing enough to quickly formulate a strategy when he found himself in difficulties.
A group of students were having a somewhat raucous conversation nearby. What he had observed of that particular group was not overly flattering. Timothy Baker, who was considered their leader, had shown himself to be that horrible sort of person who enjoyed causing others misery.
Aldric knew that type all too well.
Father had never hesitated to treat Mother with cruelty. Crofton, in his eagerness to be like their father, had joined in those efforts as he’d grown. Aldric had learned to lean on her evermore, finding in his mother a fellow traveler on the road of mistreatment. They were both considered dispensable and unworthy of consideration. The only times Aldric had ever confronted his father over his treatment of others had been in defense of her. He had paid dearly for those rare moments of rebellion.
Mother was beyond Father’s reach now. And Aldric was very much alone.
Into the open grassy area came three gentlemen well-known throughout Cambridge. They, apparently, had also been rather famous during their time at Eton. Stanley Cummings, Lord Jonquil, and Digby Layton. The fourth member of their band, a year behind them, hadn’t yet arrived at Cambridge. They were known to all as “the Gents.” Most everyone liked them. A great many people wished to be one of them. That they had taken Timothy Baker’s measure very quickly had earned them Aldric’s approval.
He’d watched them over the weeks he’d been at university, sorting out their connection to each other, their treatment of others, their characters. He’d discovered they were gentlemen of integrity and were willing to speak up when someone was being mistreated. They were quick with jokes and quips, but they didn’t seem truly shallow. Aldric knew better than to mistake their ability to lighten each other for a lack of depth.
They were more than friends; they were family to one another. Aldric knew what that looked like, but he didn’t know what it felt like.
Baker and his cronies passed Aldric at the same time the Gents passed by, going in the other direction.
“Someone ought to tell Sadler his sister’s dowry will never be sufficient to convince anyone to marry her. She bears too close a resemblance to him. No one could bear looking at that for a lifetime.”
The insult, offered loudly enough for those outside their circle to hear, identifying the poor lady who had been insulted, was hardly the behavior ofa gentleman. Everyone knew that. Baker most certainly did; he simply didn’t seem to care.
Stanley Cummings had stopped quite suddenly, his expression that of one listening very closely and not approving of what he heard. He exchanged looks with Digby and Lord Jonquil. They, too, were listening and, it appeared, attempting to make sense of such unacceptable behavior.
While the Gents were known for their larks, their laughter, and their brotherhood, at least two of them had shown they had the ability to land a decent punch. Aldric had watched them closely enough these past weeks to predict there would be a row right there in the courtyard, likely with noses bloodied and dramatic lectures from the head of house.
He knew enough of people in general and Baker in particular to have a far better approach in mind.
“I didn’t quite catch that, Baker,” he said, standing from his spot on the bench. “What were you saying?”
Baker was clearly surprised to have him interject. “Lord Aldric. I didn’t see you there.”
“And I didn’t entirelyhearyou there. What was it you said?”
Baker looked at his friends for just a moment before turning more fully toward Lord Aldric. He puffed up a little, the way people generally did when they thought he, the son of a duke, was paying them heed. It was rather obnoxious how much Aldric’s title made people wheedle, but it was also terribly useful at times.
“I was saying that Sadler and his family are in for a shock,” Baker said.
Aldric allowed his lack of satisfaction to show. “I didn’t hear you mention his family.”
“I mentioned only his sister, but the matter is not unconnected to all the Sadlers.” Baker grinned at his friends before looking back at Aldric. “I don’t know if you’ve seen her when you’ve been in London. I know you run in very exalted circles.”
“I’ve seen a great many people in London. What is it you were saying about Miss Sadler?”
Baker, lackwit that he was, had no idea he was being led down a very particular path. Aldric allowed himself to glance with utmost brevity at the Gents and was unsurprised to discover they were watching him with curiosity. Had they sorted out his strategy yet?
“I was saying she looks a great deal like her brother,” Baker said with a snicker.
