Not that he’d tallied. He’d never be so maudlin.
“Alifetimeago.” Chev shifted toward Hurtheven. “I believe the idea for a lettered brotherhood came from your uncle, yes?”
“The idea was mine...though inspired by a fraternity he’d started at a university in Virginia.” He snorted. “If you can call a place in that backwater a university.”
“You never liked him much,” Ash mused. “Did you?”
Hurtheven lifted a brow. “One tends to distance oneself from the traitors in the family.” Not-to-mention guardians who didn’t return in a child’s time of need.
He blinked down into his cup.
Ash and Chev knew he’d copied the idea from his uncle. They did not know his uncle’s abandonment had been the genesis of his desire for a brotherly bond in the first place.Friends close. Secrets closer.
Unlike Chev, who’d had an older brother at the time and hadn’t expected to inherit, Hurtheven had come into his title scant years past leading strings. And, like Ash, he’d been an only child. He’d desperately wanted brothers he could trust.
So, he’d chosen them.
Chev with his bravado and imagination. Ash with his intelligence and brooding insight. Unto this day, nothing meant more to him. He blinked back a suspicious sting.
Where hadthatcome from?
Chev swirled the remaining liquid in his glass. “You were unusually quiet this evening, Hurtheven—especially given your recent return.”
“Indeed,” Ash agreed. “I’d expected stories of grand and triumphant adventures, putting us all to shame.”
He’d intended to regale them all, but... “Just tired, I suppose.” And distracted.
Disturbingly so.
He closed his eyes, rested his head on the back of his chair, and exhaled.
“Perhaps,” Ash spoke to Chev, “it is time to persuade Hurtheven to end his solo adventures?”
Hurtheven eyes flew open. “Not you, too.”
“Too?” Ash prompted.
“Pen mentioned marriage this afternoon.”
“Intelligent woman, my wife,” Chev replied. “Onedoesget concerned. A single, titled man of three and thirty? Why it’s positively sacrilege!”
Ash nodded. “UnBritish, certainly.”
“Sacrilege or not, I repeat—I’ve no intention to marry at present.”
“...because you have not found the right woman.” Chev added. “You should remedy that.”
“I’m not about to grovel for a voucher to Almacks.” Hurtheven downed the rest of his drink. “Besides, I scare debutantes.”
“You scare most people,” Ash observed.
“On purpose.” Chev added.
“Haven’t you heard?” Hurtheven glanced up. “I’m pure evil—a devil in disguise.”
“Hey, now. As Hades, that’s my domain.” Ash hit the table. “And I say you’re a demon, at best.”
Chev snorted. “A goblin at the very least.”
