Silas smirked. “Well, I’d say it’s good to be home but…” He trailed off and yet his mind rushed to Arabella. The time they’d spent together had made his return much better, after all. She was the bright spot in this dimness.
“You came to handle things with your family, yes?” Ramsbury said, and speared Silas with a long glance.
He shifted beneath it and stared into what remained of the amber liquid in his glass. “I don’t know. Yes.”
There was a silence long enough that Silas looked up from his drink and found Ramsbury watching him far too closely. “And you’re avoiding them,” the earl said.
Silas arched a brow. “How do you know that?”
“I know everything,” Ramsbury said.
“God, you’re insufferable now that you’re married,” Silas grumbled.
Ramsbury laughed. “Don’t disparage Marianne with your grumpiness. She isn’t the reason I can see right through you.”
“No, I suppose not. Though how you managed to land yourself Delacourt’s sister after he so strenuously warned you off her all those years is beyond me. But as far asmyfamily goes, I suppose they would tell you I’m best at avoiding everything, yes?”
“They wouldn’t be wrong, considering this conversation.” Ramsbury sipped his drink.
Silas threw up his hands. “Fine. Yes. I’m avoiding them.”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t,” Ramsbury suggested, leaning forward on the edge of his chair. “Perhaps you have a chance here and now to form some real bonds with your brothers and sister. The ones that circumstances prevented when you were all children.”
“God, I thought you were supposed to be the fun one, Ramsbury.”
He smiled a little. “All my fun comes from home, I fear. From her.”
Silas wrinkled his brow. He’d known this man most of his life, and even though what Ramsbury was describing was something that would have once made his skin crawl, today there was a peace to him. A quiet joy to the way he declared he’d surrendered his old life and now made a new one.
And as inexplicable as that was to Silas, he also felt envious of it. Of the certainty that seemed to erase all pain and fear and doubt.
He found himself thinking of Arabella again and shoved those thoughts aside with violence. She was a lark and while he certainly was having fun with her, she had no place in these reflections. She’d made that clear when she slipped from his parlor the previous afternoon.
“I know you’re right,” he said slowly.
“That must have taken a great deal to admit that,” Ramsbury said with a long laugh.
“You’ve no idea,” Silas said, and laughed with him. “God, those words are actually bitter in my mouth. Let’s change the subject.”
“I hear you’ve been spending some time with Arabella Comerford,” Ramsbury said.
Silas rolled his eyes. “The rumor mill is in full swing, I see.”
“Your race through Hyde Park was well-documented in several gossip rags.”
“Yes.” Silas had seen those reports. The scandal sheets that were delivered to the eager hands of those in high Society often didn’t fully reveal the identities of those they wrote about. But there were always enough clues to determine the names. What was the fun if one couldn’t?
Ramsbury shrugged and continued, “And even if it weren’t, there’s a great deal of interest amongst certain parties when it comes to her and whoever will be her next protector. You can’t help but hear about it.”
“I suppose not.”
“She’s quite a person.”
Silas nodded. “She is. It’s like catching lightning in your hands.”
“Hmmm. Interesting.”
Ramsbury’s gaze had gone speculative. He nudged his friend’s boot with his none too gently. “Oh, fuck off.”
