“There is talk about you, Monty. Women are saying you could possibly, maybe if the light is right, be considered handsome,” Zach said. “And that you have been overheard speaking differently. And all this is after the rescuing of that boy and the Blakes seeing you in all your manliness.”
“I don’t give a fig about talk,” Monty said. “Now shut up and listen while I tell you what news I have.”
“The news you should have told us long before now?” Mary said with a smile on her face that was just a bit mean. Monty ignored her.
“I recently met with Geraint and told him I would leave Alexius and London at the season’s end.”
“What?” Zach roared.
“Zach, please let him finish. I’m sure there will be at least another four reasons to roar before then. But let’s leave that until Monty is done, and then I want an explanation too for why he has not spoken of this until now.” Mary glared at him now.
Monty threw back the liquid in his glass and let it burn slowly down his throat before he continued.
“I went undercover as Plunge to find my parents’ murderers. That has not happened,” Monty continued. He then outlined everything that had happened since he’d told Geraint of that decision, right down to his dealings with Iris, and the papers in her husband’s things.
“And you’re only telling us this now?” Gabe was not happy.
“You’re lucky I’m telling you at all,” Monty fired back. “I usually work alone, but I knew that if you bloody Devilles found out, there would be trouble. I preempted that.”
“Oh really?” Mary glared at him. “And why is that? Are we no longer friends? Do I/we have no more rights to your friendship?”
The anger climbed inside him. It was irrational, hot, and he battled to force it back down.
“You preempted that,” Mary snapped. “Well let me tell you—”
“That will do, love. Anger will not keep him safe or get to the bottom of all this,” Zach said, placing an arm around Mary’s waist and pulling her into his side.
Monty and Mary continued to glare at each other. If he’d had a sister, he’d have wanted one just like her. Fiery, determined, and someone who never backed down. If he wasn’t enraged, he’d tell her that.
“Good lord,” Gabe said, moving to stand next to his youngest brother and stare at Monty. “He’s really angry.”
Zach leaned closer and studied Monty. “By Jove, I do believe you’re right.” He then poked Monty in the neck.
“Ouch!”
“That vein is pulsing,” Zach said.
The others all joined them to lean over shoulders and stare at Monty.
“Are you quite finished?” he gritted out. “Back away,” he snarled.
“Do you know what I think?” Nathan said.
“No,” Monty said as the others said yes. He had a terrible feeling he would not like what Nathan had to say.
“I think Iris Challoner has him off-balance, and as he’s never that, or had to deal with pesky things like emotions, he’s not sure how to cope. And then there is that—”
“Do not finish that sentence,” Monty said.
“Expression he gets when he’s looking at her,” Nathan said, grinning. “And of course, her defense of you after your impromptu swim is also telling.”
She had defended him, and he’d been humbled. It was accepted in society to mock and ridicule Plunge, but not by Iris.
“And I thought you were the rational Deville,” Monty snapped.
“Entirely rational,” Nathan said. “But also, honest. I know what you were up to in that room with the lovely Lady Challoner. My glimpse was brief. However, I know an embrace when I see one.”
“What!” Mary shrieked, which had them all wincing.
