Ramsey nodded.
“I’m sorry.” Heathcliff stood and walked over to the sideboard, then poured himself a snifter of brandy, and then another one. He walked over to Ramsey. Holding the offering, he gave a small smile to his friend.
“Thank you.” Ramsey accepted the snifter. “Starting early.” Ramsey lifted the glass in a toast.
Heathcliff shook his head. “Depends on if you’ve slept, which it looks like you haven’t. So for you, it’s late my friend.”
“Here, here.” Ramsey agreed, taking a sip. The warm liquid was deliciously smooth. “French?” he asked.
Heathcliff gave a knowing grin. “Maybe.”
“Traitor.” Ramsey teased.
Heathcliff chuckled, then sat back down in his chair. “Now, what was it that you came to discuss with me?”
Ramsey took another sip of the exquisite brandy and then leaned forward.
“Your ward.”
“Interested already?” Heathcliff leaned back, perfectly at ease, as if the words he’d just spoken weren’t the most insane, idiotic thing he’d ever uttered.
Which was a feat in and of itself. Ramsey could name a great many things that his friend had said that were insane and idiotic but this,this,trumped them all.
“No,” he replied, irritated.
“Oh, pity that. You would have made my life much easier.” Heathcliff shrugged.
“A thousand apologies. I forgot that I live to make your life easier,” Ramsey replied with heavy sarcasm.
“Don’t work yourself into a lather,” Heathcliff said. “What was it, then?”
Ramsey pursed his lips, then sighed. “I’m afraid that your ward, as refreshing as she is in face and character, will not make a good impression on her debut. It is my recommendation that you coach her further in keeping her peace around others, and not being so . . .” He searched for the right word. “. . . Altruistic,” he finished.
Heathcliff blinked. “Just when I didn’t think you could become more of a straight-laced idiot, you say something like that, which makes me think you’re headed for Bedlam. Do you have any idea what you sound like when you say things like that? Good Lord, you’d put Lady Jersey to shame with your allegiance to propriety.”
Ramsey glanced down at the rug, then back to his friend. “Am I wrong?”
Heathcliff opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He sighed. “No.”
Ramsey bit back a bit of a triumphant smile. “Then why the long-winded insult?”
Heathcliff tapped his finger on the desk. “Because you sounded like an arse when you said it that way.”
“And you never sound like an ass.” Ramsey rolled his eyes.
“I never said that,” Heathcliff responded, leaning forward in his chair. “I’m often an arse, as my wife tells me.”
“I have plenty experience of my own from which to glean proof,” Ramsey added.
“True enough.”
“So?”
“So . . . what?” Heathcliff asked.
“So, what are you going to do about her?” Ramsey asked impatiently. It would be a boon to be able to fix the problem before it actually became one.
“Nothing.” Heathcliff shrugged.
