CHAPTER 1
“You are quite the bore tonight, Grant.”
Tobias looked up from his cards at Lord Daniel Harcourt’s words, scoffing as he looked at the man’s visage through the haze of cigar smoke that filled White’s. The other men at the table laughed distractedly.
“Am I?”
To be honest, he believed Harcourt. He had become rather… disillusioned with life as of late, though there was no proper way to explain that to his friends. “Perhaps the company has grown to be too predictable,” he retorted.
“Predictable?” Sir Thomas Waverly grinned behind his hand of cards and shook his head. “Last week you lost three hundred pounds on a single hand and laughed it off. Tonight, you have been winning as though you knew our hands… and it looks as though you are about to attend a funeral.”
Tobias frowned at the observation. It wasn’t entirely untrue. He reached for his brandy, taking a large gulp of it.
“Oh, leave him be, Waverly,” Daniel said now, his voice far too amused for one defending a friend. “Perhaps our dear Tobias has developed a conscience. I am sure stranger things have happened.”
Tobias scoffed at this, though he managed to bark out a short laugh. “Stranger things, indeed. Perhaps a conversation about my demeanour is stranger than the demeanour itself. Are we women now? Let us play.”
The game continued in murmurs. Tobias still, however, could not shake the thought that something was decidedly… off… with him.
Sixteen months had passed since his disastrous visit to Redmond Park. Since he had seen Lady Amelia in that manner, since he had felt that odd… pang of sympathy for her.
Of course he had attempted to forget about his brother and his wife.
He had thrown himself back into London’s glittering chaos with determination—using debauchery to burn away the memory of the odd anger he had felt at his brother’s treatment of his wife.
At the thought of Amelia becoming a mother.
It hadn’t worked.
His niece or nephew had been born, though he had not received any indication or announcement of the birth. He wondered what Edward would be like as a father. Would it melt the icy caverns of his heart?
“I fold,” he said suddenly, pushing away from the table despite the protests of his companions. The walls of White’s suddenly felt as though they were closing in on him. No longer did he find enjoyment in this.
“It is hardly midnight,” Daniel objected, though he rose as well. “Surely you are not retiring already? There is Lady Carstair’s musicale—though I use the term loosely—or… perhaps we could try our luck at Brook’s, or…”
“I am going home,” Tobias interrupted firmly.
“Home?”
Daniel raised a brow rather theatrically, his surprise evident. “Tobias Grant, terror of the Ton and scourge of marriage-minded maidens… is retiring to his lonely townhouse before the night has truly begun? What would the gossip columns say? What would society think?”
Tobias did not laugh, though his friend clearly attempted to be amusing.
“Society is welcome to do as it pleases,” he said simply. “It usually does, and I believe the gossipers will find someone else to study.”
Daniel frowned, though he mercifully said nothing more. Tobias kept his chin down as he moved through the streets. Once, he had found this exciting: the establishments where he had gambled and enjoyed a drink and frittered away his youth with admirable dedication. Now, all of it seemed rather tawdry. Hollow.
When had that changed? Was it perhaps the thought of his brother’sfatherhood that made him feel as though he himself had no legacy?
It was more than that, he knew. Though he did not truly want to ponder it.
But life had truly changed at Redmond Park. Edward’s disapproval. Amelia standing among the roses, refusing to shed tears.
The life growing within her.
His brother’s child. A child who would be raised… to be like Edward? Or would Amelia keep the child soft and kind, like she was?
He noticed the surprise on his valet’s face when he entered the house. Of course. It was far earlier than usual.
