As her eyes grow distant, I wonder if I’ve given away some secret of Monty’s. He did nothing to hide his sobriety from us on tour, though he didn’t make a big deal out of it either. He only stated he no longer imbibed because he was a working man now and needed to be responsible. Maybe he just never found it pertinent to mention to Briony and Thorne.
“Equally as unexpected,” Briony says, recovering from her momentary shock, “is that he brought you. I never thought Monty would bring a date to my wedding.”
I shrink down a little. “Oh, is that offensive? Since he’s your former fiancé?”
She barks a laugh. “Stars, no, that’s not what I meant at all. It’s more…I haven’t seen him court anyone.”
“We’re not courting,” I say, waving my hands. “We’re former colleagues, but now we’re just…friends.”
“Justfriends?”
Why is my heart pounding so hard? “We had a falling out, but we’ve recently reconnected. But yes, we’re…friends. Furthermore, he’s helping me find a husband.”
Briony rolls her eyes. “Monty and his matchmaking. The gall of that man taking credit for people’s relationships when he hardly has a hand in it. That’s not matchmaking. That’s just…observation and interference.”
I give her a wry grin. Now that I’ve seen Briony, Thorne, and Monty interact, I understand how much of their affection for each other is layered with insults. It made me bristle at first, but now I know it’s a product of their brutally honest friendship. I admit, though, I am a little jealous. Briony must know Monty a thousand times better than I do. She’s known him much longer.
That does make me wonder…
“So, you’ve really never seen him court anyone?” I ask, keeping my voice level and my steps measured. Just a casual question. No reason to act too interested in the answer.
“Not unless I count Cosette Dervins, but I’d hardly call that courtship.” Her expression sours.
My pulse leaps at the name. “You know Cosette?”
She halts in place and whirls to me with wide eyes. “I’m more surprised you do. Please tell me she isn’t stalking him again.”
I pause too, pulling my head back. “I only heard about her on the train yesterday when Angela mentioned her. She was his stalker? Not his first love?”
“Oh, she was his first love, as far as Thorne has told me.”
We resume our stroll and Briony waves at Tilly. She and Angela link arms and skip in a circle, then switch arms and repeat the move in the opposite direction.
“Monty says he was terrible to her,” I say. “Is that true?”
“I mean, he wasn’t pleasant to her, but she was one of the least pleasant people I’ve ever met.” She lowers her voice to a whisper. “She befriended Angela just to get close to Monty. Angie doesn’t know, and no one—including me—wants to tell her. Back then, Angie was bullied by her schoolmates, and Cosette was her only friend. As soon as Monty made it clear to Cosette, once and for all, that he was never going to be with her, she stopped talking to Angie completely. Thankfully Angie has a bevy of good friends now.”
My heart aches for Angela. No wonder Monty was so furtive yet sharp when his sister mentioned Cosette on the train.
Briony speaks again. “Even if not for how she was using Angela, I disliked her on principle alone. She had the audacity to try to interfere with my engagement to Monty, trying to seduce him right before my eyes. I didn’t exactly mind, since I so vehemently disliked him, but she disrespected me regardless. Thorne’s last words to her were something along the lines offuck off, and that’s a sentiment neither of us are keen on revoking anytime soon.” She gives me a conspiratorial grin.
I return the smile, then ask, “Do you still dislike Monty?”
“No, I like him well enough now. The more I get to know him, the more I feel like we don’t know him at all. That he keeps his heart hidden. Yet I can tell he loves Thorne and Angie. I saw the emotion in his eyes when he met Tilly.”
My chest tightens at the memory. I sensed it before I saw it, my inner hunter alerting me to vulnerable prey. He radiated with a need to hide, to pretend, to camouflage with his surroundings like a mouse in the underbrush. That’s when I did the one thing I could think to do. I slapped his cheeks.
“I wonder if there’s a reason he keeps people at a distance,” Briony says, expression thoughtful. Then she shakes the look from her face and gives me another wicked grin. “I think the worst thing about him is that he hates dancing. Who could ever hate dancing?”
“Does he?” I arch my brows. That’s the first time I’m hearing of this. “I suppose that explains why he was so bad at it.”
Briony halts in place again. “He danced with you?”
I nod. “During the tour we managed. There was a gala and I danced in public for the first time. He claims one of my partners had wandering hands, and he stepped in.”
Briony’s gaze turns assessing. “Is that so?”
“I had no idea he hated dancing. There’s so much about him I don’t know.”
