“How much better than you can anyone be?”
“She could be the king’s niece and can put in a good word for you with her uncle.”
He chuckled at how pleasing she was to him. “I don’t need her for that.”
“She could come from a family with money and you could live comfortably.”
“I’m used to sleeping in tents and dirt ditches,” he let her know.
What was he doing? Was he truly thinking of taking her as a wife? No! He didn’t want a wife. This was a game. She said so herself. He was supposed to be charming her and here he was thinking of marrying her! It was because he liked her, He couldn’t deny it.
“Stay and keep your promise,” she told him, already breaking away. “The peace you get from it will be worth it.”
He frowned at Prudence then reached out to pull Sudbury in from his path toward Ben’s sister.
“Escort Miss Ramsey back to her rooms,” he requested of his friend.
“Of course,” Sudbury said, turning his gaze to Ben. He smiled at Fable next and motioned for her to follow him.
“Lord Sudbury!” Prudence stopped them before they reached the door. “Where do you think you're going with her?”
“Your brother asked me to–”
“I don’t care what he asked. Don’t you dare leave this hall.”
“Prudence.” Now Ben stepped forward. “She insists on going back to her room and making me keep my promise to you by not going with her. I won’t send her back alone. So either Sudbury escorts her or I will. Which is it?”
Prudence clenched her jaw but then looked worried and rubbed her forehead while she decided which of the two men she was less concerned with losing to Miss Ramsey. “Simon, you escort her.”
Sudbury stared at her for a moment. Ben dipped his gaze knowing Sudbury long enough to know when his friend was angry. It didn’t happen often and when it did, Prudence wasusually the cause. She was stubborn and prideful, though not always as mean-spirited as she’d been since Ben showed interest in a woman of no status.
Without a word, the earl splayed his palm against Miss Ramsey’s back and led her out of the ballroom.
Ben wanted to go after them; his best friend and his…his…
He cut his glare to Prudence. Her contempt for the poor was proof of her fear of becoming the same. What could Fable ever be in his life with Prudence here? “If you don’t wed Sudbury soon, I’ll find you a husband to quicken your departure from this house.”
Tears gathered at the rims of her eyes but they didn’t fall. “You find it easy to be cruel. Ever since that day…we found out…” She paused to gather her strength. “You can be a monster, Benjamin.” When he looked away and took a step to leave, she stopped him with a hand on his wrist. “I know how much you suffer. Don’t you understand that? I know the reason you hate being here and yet you can’t leave. I know what it’s doing to you. And I know you need someone to–”
“Pru,” he quieted her, softening his tone, “I’m not a child anymore. I’ll see to what I need, hmm?”
“Do you think you need a woman who comes from the streets?” she asked, her pretty face marred by a sneer that Ben doubted she was even aware of. “A woman who probably has to beg for every pence she puts in her pocket?”
Ben closed his eyes as if he could see before him what his sister was describing. It made his heart ache. He didn’t want Fable to beg for money ever again. It angered him that Prudence could show such callous disregard for others. He opened his eyes and regarded his sister with an incredulous grimace. “Was I not fighting to protect her as well as you when I almost lost my arm?”
“When you fought against the Jacobites?” she asked, looking a little lost.
“Yes. All your lives would have changed if a Stuart took the throne again.”
“Benjamin, you fought against the Jacobites for revenge,” she pointed out with a short laugh. “How many did you kill? Thousands? More? What does that have to do with someone like Miss Ramsey?”
He stared at her in disbelief then clenched his jaw. “I didn’t kill enough.”
His words finally produced tears she couldn't hold back. Instead of comforting her, he turned his back to her and faced two women, one young, one older. He blocked their path and their vision from his sister while she composed herself.
“Your Grace,” the older woman smiled behind a powdered face and fluttering fan. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. You remember my daughter, Lady Clara Bishop–” Ben barely flicked a glance Lady Clara’s way when her mother began listing all her attributes as if she were a prized cow for sale. Ben was sure neither Lady Clara nor her mother noted the clenching of his jaw, his bare shred of tolerance as he pretended to care about either of them.
“Lady Chelmsford!” Prudence finally stepped around his broad shoulders, smiling. “Of course my brother remembers your lovely daughter, Lady Clara.”
