Beth always felt a little thrill when her cousin came to her defense; it had not always been the case. For many years theirs had been a strained and distant relationship, and like her, he had been alone.
“Nothing to me personally, Nick, just a general annoyance.”
“We can be annoying, Grace tells me that, but to be fair so can you women.”
Beth had to concede there. Some of her sex were very silly indeed.
“Tell Grace I shall call tomorrow and keep her company.”
“Excellent, and you can tell if she is really all right.”
“Lord have mercy.” Beth looked at the ceiling. “She is well, Nick, leave it alone or you will drive the woman mad.”
He exhaled loudly. “I cannot help it.”
“Try.”
“Easier said than done, I fear.”
“Oh how the mighty have fallen,” Beth teased him again.
“I was an arrogant fool before,” Nick said. “Grace is the reason I wake smiling instead of scowling now, Beth.”
“Oh Lord, you just made me cry,” Beth whispered, digging into her reticule for a handkerchief.
His laugh was a soft chuckle, then he sobered, his eyes focused on something. “I have no idea why that woman would be in London at this time, when the season is all but over. I hope she doesn’t try to reacquaint herself with Leo.”
Beth realized he was looking at Harriet Hyndmarsh. She was smiling, and it only added to her beauty. Petite, exquisite, and a venomous harpy. The woman had been torturing men for years.
“He’s an adult, Nick.”He’s also seen her and hopefully gotten over the shock. “I’m sure he can handle himself, and if not, then he’s more of a fool than I realized.”
“That’s harsh,” her cousin studied her. “Come to think of it, you and Leo have always treated each other with the barest civility. Care to tell me why?”
“I am no more uncivil with him than any of the others. Men are fools over a pretty face, and it merely turns them into besotted idiots.”
“You are quite scathing of my fellow man, cousin. I have never asked why you do not wish to wed, and indeed have been turning away suitors for years. Care to enlighten me?”
Beth’s stomach clenched at Nick’s words. She had said no to every suitor and he had allowed her to do so. No one would ever know why she had no wish to marry, as she would carry that secret with her to the grave.
“I have never found a man worthy of the title husband.” She dismissed his words casually, and hoped he would follow her lead. “To enforce my case against men, I will point to the idiot behavior of your friend when Lady Hyndmarsh broke his heart.”
She felt her cousin’s eyes on the side of her face, but Beth kept hers forward. He had once cared little about her decision not to marry, but now... now he cared about her, and because of that he wanted her happy, and for this she was grateful, but she had no wish to marry, nor tell him the reasons why.
“Leo is, or should I say was, an emotional man. He believed himself deeply in love with that woman. You cannot blame him for being hurt, surely?”
“Blame him for that, no.”
“Then what?”
“It matters not, my point is men do silly things when faced with a pretty woman.”
“Present company excluded, of course,” Nick drawled.
“Of course.”
“Well play nice now, my dearest cousin, as Leo is about to arrive, and seeing Lady Hyndmarsh will do little to improve his mood.”
Why she suddenly felt her heart thud hard inside her chest, Beth had no idea. She and Lord Vereton were—or at least had always been—enemies.
