“Come, have a drink with me,” he told Wil.
His friend set the brake and climbed down. “Don’t want to be alone with your thoughts?”
John knocked his shoulder into the man as he passed. He hated when his friends were right. He hated even more that he couldn’t pinpoint why he’d been feeling so out of sorts lately. He was the man who could examine a situation from all sides. Look at a problem dispassionately, analyze all the factors.
Why couldn’t he figure out whathisproblem was?
He led Wil down a carpeted hallway, past the billiards room, to the small smoking room near the rear.
He paused on the threshold. “Oh, good Lord, the whole circus is in town.”
Four sets of eyes swiveled in his direction.
Montague raised his glass of whisky. “Summerset! We were just speaking of you.”
Rothchild puffed on his cheroot. “Speaking of you, laughing at you, close enough.”
Sutton and Dunkeld greeted Wil as John plodded to the sideboard and poured him and Wil drinks. He added another finger of liquor to his glass.
He handed Wil his drink then dropped into an armchair. He took a large swallow, enjoying the burn. “I’m glad I could provide entertainment for my friends. Might I ask the cause?”
“Your bloody blindness when it comes to your woman.” Dunkeld snorted. “We thought you were supposed to be the charmer of the group.”
The back of John’s neck flushed hot. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Everything is lovely between me and Netta. And I am always charming.” He’d charmed Netta from her stays just that morning.
Rothchild pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He added some more folds, concentrating on the angles. “If everything is lovely, then why have you been acting as though there were a hot poker between your arse cheeks these past weeks?” He raised his hand and made the paper sail through the air to land in John’s lap.
John blinked at him.
Rothchild grinned. “Something I learned in the East.”
Grumbling, John unfolded it. “You bent my deed!” He tried to smooth the creases from the paper.
“It’s still legal.” Rothchild blew a smoke circle into the air. “And you’re welcome.”
“Thanks,” John grunted. He folded the paper the correct way and slid it in his pocket. It felt good having Robert’s deed back in his hands. Rothchild had needed to wait until Liverpool’s men had stopped watching Sudworth’s home before retrieving the document, but John had known his friend would succeed. He had been the retrieval expert of their group for a reason.
With the paper in their possession and witnesses who would swear he had won it back at a game of hazards, Robert should be back in his home in no time. John had already sent a note to Hampson to direct the mines to be reopened.
“Your brother will be here shortly,” Sutton said. “You can give him his property then.”
“Perfect. We can have a party.”
Montague sighed. “Has he been like this all morning?” he asked Wilberforce.
“All week.” Wil leaned against the side table. “Every time he leaves her apartments he’s as surly as a dog without his bone.”
“Are her new apartments not to your liking?” Sutton asked.
“They’re the height of fashion.” He stared into his whisky. “I decorated them myself.”
“You’re not tiring of this one already, are you?” Rothchild asked.
John leveled the other earl with an iron-tipped glare.
“Why don’t you tell us what the problem is.” Montague crossed one leg over the other and rested his chin on his fist.
“I have no problem.”
