I refused to dignify his impertinence with a response, instead pouring my own glass and taking a seat across from him. I shoved his feet off with my hand, and he stumbled slightly. Unfortunately, he caught himself before landing on his face.
“So, Miss Summers. I take it she was your assailant the other night?”
“Indeed.”
“I fail to see what all the whinging was about then.”
“I do not whinge.”
His only answer was a derisive snort. “I found her to be quite fetching, particularly around this region.” He gestured toward his upper chest with cupped hands in an entirely inappropriate display.
“Really Tom, must you be so crude?”
“It comes naturally. Honestly though, you painted her to be some sort of hideous beast.”
“Of course, she’s not hideous. She’s just… not as she ought.”
“What ought she be?”
“I do not know? Statuesque, fair, graceful.”
“She can hardly help her height or the color of her hair.”
“Regardless, she displayed a complete lack of decorum and behaved in an entirely imprudent manner. Had we been alone and someone came upon us with her patting her hands all over my chest, we would have been forced to wed.”
“A fate worse than death.”
“Precisely.”
“I’m positive you need not worry about that at any rate. Certainly, she heard Mother’s ravings and was so offended that she will never speak to any of us ever again.”
I could not suppress a wince at that memory. “That was badly done of her.”
“Let us hope that Miss Summers is not a true friend of Lady Rycliffe and Lady Davina. Neither would take kindly to Mother’s insults of their friend.”
I could add nothing to that worry except a sigh. Mother really was impossible to check. “Nothing to be done for it now. Are you staying for dinner?”
“No, I’m headed to the club tonight, care to join me?”
“White’s?”
“No Wayland’s.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Hugh…”
It was beyond belief that he was pressing this issue. He knew my feelings on our brother’s devious dealings. “No, I will not set foot in that den of iniquity.”
“It’s just a gaming hell. I dare say you would enjoy yourself.”
“Never. And do not think that I will front you a single pound when Michael takes you for everything you have and then some.”
“He’s hardly going to bleed me dry. If he intended to leave us destitute, he had years to do so. Winning my inheritance off me at his club is a much less efficient way to go about it.”
“Do not joke about such things.”
“For the life of me I cannot understand your issues with him.”
