“Excellent idea,” Derrick agreed. He stood and walked over to Arianna and Pepper.
“Thrashed you, did he?” Arianna’s wicked teasing and the look in her eyes made him want to snatch her up and carry her off somewhere private.
“Quite thoroughly. Miss Poncenby should have warned me.”
Pepper laughed and blushed. “I am sorry, Lord Seabright. I should have.”
“Well, how about a walk outside? It’s cold, but the sun is out.”
The two women exchanged looks. “Give us a short while to change?” Arianna asked.
“Of course.”
The two women left, and Freddie joined Derrick, his quizzing glass tucked back in his pocket.
“I heard you and Asgil had a run-in at the club,” Freddie said quietly as they exited the drawing room.
“We did,” Derrick sighed. They went to the front door to have their cloaks retrieved.
“Damned shame, your falling-out. Divided the whole bloodytonright down the middle. I’ve half a mind to have my tailor create special patches with anAor anSto indicate which side a man is on.”
At the thought of the patches, Derrick almost laughed. “And what side are you on, Poncenby?”
Freddie’s clear gray eyes sharpened. “I take no sides. Forgive me the bluntness, old man, but the chit who caused the row wasn’t worth a moment of your or Asgil’s anger. You were friends for more than a decade, and you let the machinations of one pretty face obliterate your friendship.”
Derrick wanted to tell Freddie he was wrong, but that would be stubborn pride at play, not truth. The fiery lust and desperate passion that Augusta had once inspired in him had faded like morning mist burned up by the dawn. Looking back now, he didn’t quite understand it. The woman had cast a spell over him. Was it the same for Lucas? Was he too no longer feeling that inexplicable pull to Augusta? Even if he was no longer in love with Augusta, what she’d caused them to do to each other couldn’t be erased. Things had been said, punches thrown, a bloody duel almost fought. It had torn them asunder. Apologies wouldn’t be enough.
“It’s best to turn your gaze elsewhere, perhaps to someone meaningful,” Freddie said with a subtle nod in Arianna’s direction. Derrick didn’t bother to pretend he didn’t know who Freddie was referring to.
“Things are bad enough between us already. If I show even the slightest interest in his sister and he hears of it, we’ll be back to dueling at dawn again.”
“You are certain? An apology can go a long way.”
Derrick snorted. “And ifI’mthe one who is owed an apology?”
“Then you die as a man without friends someday. An apology doesn’t always have to be seen as an admission of being or doing wrong. Sometimes it can simply be an apology for allowing the great divide to occur.”
The great divide.It was a surprisingly apt description for what he felt after he had quarreled with Lucas. A great chasm had appeared in his heart, and he had lost much more than his best friend. He had lost the family dinners with the Asgils and the quiet evenings in Arianna’s company. Two years was a long time to have to go without spending moments with the people who had become his second family.
“Think it over, old boy. I daresay she’s worth it.” Freddie nudged his arm, and Derrick looked up the stairs as Pepper and Arianna came down toward them.
Both ladies had changed into warmer dresses of blue and red velvet. They carried thick muffs, and each had a cloak draped over her arm. Arianna’s bright yellow cloak accented the red velvet of her walking dress, and Poncenby gave his clear but unspoken approval of the choice.
“Allow me.” Derrick stepped in to take the cloak from her as they reached the bottom stair and draped it over her shoulders. His hands brushed the back of her neck, and strands of her hair tickled his knuckles. She reached up and fastened the cloak at her throat, then turned to face him.
Christ, she was lovely. How was it that every time he looked at her, he was stunned all over again by that fact?
“You’re staring,” Arianna said softly enough that only he could hear.
“Can you blame me?” Derrick replied. She looked up at him with such innocence glowing in her eyes.
“You never noticed me like this before. What’s changed?”
He didn’t have an immediate reply. The truth was he hadn’t seen her in this new light until he had dragged that bastard Cumberland off her on Scandal Lane. Before that, she had been an adorable little creature with big brown eyes who always had a book in her hand as she followed him and Lucas about. When they’d been younger, the eight-year difference had seemed so vast. But she wasn’t a child anymore, and those eight years seemed not to matter now. She was a fully grown woman, with a mystery and allure all her own.
Derrick cleared his throat. “I’m noticing now.”
And he was, far too much.
