“Do you love her then?” Bash asked, interrupting Benedict’s reverie.
“I’m not certain I’m capable of love. But she’s the closest I’ve ever come.”
Bash nodded, gaze still on the floor below. “Lizzie is a good one. I figured she’d be snapped right up in her first season—was sad for her when she didn’t have much luck those first weeks. Soph’s been a pain in my arse from the day I was dropped here. I don’t know why I thought society might knock a lick of propriety into her. But there she is, rewarded for behaving like a brazen fool.”
Benedict’s gaze found the sparkling sapphire jewel below. Sophie Wayland was twirling a loose curl between her finger and thumb while the daft dandy in front of her practically drooled.
“Don’t worry about Linden. He’s generally keptoccupiedwith his stepmother.”
Bash shook his head. “She threw him over for the gardener’s daughter last week.”
“How do you know that?”
The darker man shot him a long-suffering look.
It took Benedict a moment to connect the man’s profession with his source of gossip. “Right, gaming hell.”
“Besides, if it’s not him, it’ll be one of the other beetle-headed louts down there clamoring for her attention.” He paused for a moment before turning to Benedict. “No offense.”
“I’ve called myself far worse in recent days.”
Bash hummed in acknowledgment. His gaze slid over the entire floor below before catching on Sophie once more. A picture was beginning to form, and sympathy welled in Benedict for the man. At least Benedict’s fate was of his own making. But it seemed Bash’s might be dictated by society.
“These damned masks. Can’t see enough of anyone to find this Draycott.”
Benedict’s gaze caught on a gentleman moving quickly toward Eliza. His heart stumbled ahead too fast to catch his breath.
“That one,” Benedict pointed at the dark-haired man in powder blue, covered in stars.
Bash straightened for a moment, eyes narrowing on the man before relaxing back against the railing. “Bellemere, he’s a friend of the family. And harmless. His parents will be about somewhere. The earl is beastly tall, scarred to hell too. The countess is…” he made a crude gesture with both hands. “Don’t get distracted.”
“I’ve seen a fine pair of bubbies before.”Eliza’s…
“Well, your eyes keep catching on Miss Lizzie’s. Thought it might be an affliction.”
Damn.Benedict had thought he was more subtle than that.
“Is he kissing her hand? Why is he doing that?”
“Why does anyone kiss a pretty girl’s hand?”
“And he’s signing her dance card too?”
“I’m given to understand that is the process by which a man secures a dance with a lady he wishes to know better...” Bash’s gaze focused on something by the gaming tables. “That usher, I don’t recognize him.”
Benedict tried to see which man Bash was looking at, but he could only see the back of the man’s head. “Did Wayland hire additional staff for the event?”
“Yes, but he dismissed them after you spoke. You stay here. Keep looking for Draycott. I need to get a closer look. Mayhap someone forgot to tell him he was fired, but…”
“Go,” Benedict said, his gaze returning to his violet.
Benedict’s attention was diverted by another lady in a deep purple gown. She’d donned a halo held aloft by a pair of horns rising from her blonde curls. But there was a great fuss as she tried desperately to direct another woman—dressed as lord only knew what—who was wearing a celestial headdress with actual candles atop it. With every step, cries of distress rose around the woman when little dribbles of wax fell from her crown onto other patrons.
He watched with amusement as Wayland made his way over to the duo. He caught the lady in purple’s attention from a few feet away, gesturing at her to put the candles out. Whatever her response, Wayland sighed, pinching his brow. His wife reached the woman in the elaborate diadem and somehow, thankfully, Lady Juliet convinced her to set the headdress on a table as a centerpiece. The purple lady mouthed something, presumably her thanks, when the eccentric woman’s back was turned.
Benedict turned back to Bash, but the man was looking around, searching, from the spot where the mystery usher had once been. Benedict cursed under his breath and cast his gaze around the floor for the missing man. The enforcer caughthis eye once more with a questioning brow. Benedict shook his head. Bash tipped his head toward a back room. Benedict nodded in response.
He blinked hard, trying to focus on the crowd below, but his gaze kept snapping back to Eliza, magnetic and ungovernable.
