“I wasn’t sure if you’d be up to a game tonight after getting no sleep.”
He pulled his mind out of the fog, struggling to understand what Benson had said.
“I don’t know if I have the wherewithal for a game, but I doubt I could sleep.”He let out a long sigh.“Will you sit with me for a while and allow me to ramble?”
Benson nodded.“I would like nothing more, my boy.I’ll pour us some drinks.”
He accepted the glass and sat down with a weary sigh.He was tired to his bones.
“I don’t know what to do with her,” he admitted before taking a drink.He allowed the decadent liquid to roll over his tongue before swallowing.
“And you thought you should ask someone who’s a lifelong bachelor?”
Trent chuckled, shaking his head.“I kissed her tonight.”
“Oh?”Benson seated himself across from Trent.“And how did she feel about that?”
He lifted his arm and shook his sleeve down to expose his wrist.“This is how her brother felt about it.”
“Can you blame him for being protective?”
“Of course not.I would expect nothing less.I should be grateful to still be breathing.But in the end, he came around.He gave me his permission to”—Trent shrugged—“pursue her.”
Benson looked impressed.“Did he?”
“But when I asked her if I could kiss her again, she, in a very polite, roundabout way, told me no.Then, she proceeded to offer to teach me how to dance, embraced me, and kissed me on the cheek.”Trent shrugged again.
A smile grew on Benson’s lips.The fatherly one that Trent loved.The one filled with wisdom.“Miss Allister has had to endure and overcome an awful lot in her young life.”
Trent laughed.“She’s older than me, you know?”
“That’s why I call you my boy.”He winked.“My point is, she needs time.And patience.You can’t expect her to be whole overnight.”
“I’m so grateful that you stayed on after Ash left.I don’t know what I’d do without your company, and without your advice.Of course I can give her time.There’s no reason to rush anything.”
“You’re a good man, Trent.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Is it not true?”
Trent hesitated.Would Benson hate him if he knew he’d hurt Ash?“Do you know what I did to him?To Ash, I mean?”
Benson shook his head.“He didn’t tell me much about you, other than to say you would be in need of company, support, and a father figure.Although, I’ve never been a father, so I don’t know what good I am there.”
“I stole from him.Right here, on his own estate.Warwick would inflate the cost of repairs and pay me extra to do the work.”Trent hated so much that he had colluded with Warwick, in any way.Especially now that he was able to see, first hand, the damage the man had caused.“But that’s not even the worst of it.I found a group of men in London, and all but begged them to rob his club.I wasn’t even going to take any of the money.”He paused and poured the remaining brandy down his throat.“They shot him.Thank God it was only in the leg, but he was shot, because of me.And yet, here I sit, in his home, drinking his impeccable brandy, with a man he pays to keep me company.It’s hard for me to reconcile all of it.How can I possibly be a good man?”
Benson took a slow drink, pondering his next words.“Do you know what I did to him?”
“Everything I’ve heard has been positive.You were kind and nurturing.You stepped in as his valet when he needed you and took excellent care of him, then stayed on to take care of me too.”
“Before any of that.”He closed his eyes and shook his head just a bit.When he looked at Trent again, his eyes were filled with pain.“I was his father’s valet first.On his orders, I administered beating after beating after beating.”Tears pooled in his eyes and his breath was shaky as he drew it in.“And yet here I sit, trusted to look after his younger brother, in his home, drinking his impeccable brandy.”A single tear ran down his cheek and he wiped it away.
Trent’s heart sank.“Were you… those scars, were they…?”
Benson shook his head.“Most of them weren’t left by me.I tried to go as easy as I could on him.Although, one time, his father took over because I was being too gentle.Even the worst I could have dished out wouldn’t have compared to that.He was young then.Probably only thirteen or so.When he was sixteen, after both his mother and brother were gone, I tried to stand up to his father.I refused to administer any more beatings, and was immediately relieved of my position.That was my mistake, and I will never forgive myself for it.After that is when most of the scars happened.It must have been like living in hell, until the monster finally died a year and a half later.”Benson emptied his glass.He got to his feet and held out his hand.“I think perhaps an extra splash wouldn’t go amiss tonight.”
“Agreed, but first—” Trent pulled down the portrait of his father that hung over the fireplace, and turned it to face the wall.“That loathsome, evil man, will never again look down on us.He is the cause of all of this.He is the reason you harbor such guilt.He’s the reason I lost my mother and set out to hurt Ash.He’s the reason Ash had to endure endless pain.He doesn’t deserve a place in this house.”
