Berry again looked from one to the other. “I did not realize you were acquainted.”
Lord Berwick nodded. “Several years now. Knight’s a very clever young man. Sharp mind. I invested some of your trust fund in one of his warehouse ventures about two years ago, and it has done very well. Just a small investment, Berry. You know how cautious I am.”
“You are a marvel,” Berry said, giving Lord Berwick a kiss on the cheek. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“My dear, you exaggerate. Talk later, Knight. Don’t forget. Now where is that champagne?” He excused himself and walked off in search of the footman carrying that tray.
Left momentarily alone with Gideon, Lady Berry cast him a delicate smile. “I have saved you a seat at our table. Lord Berwick was most emphatic about it. I hope you don’t mind sitting with us, Mr. Knight.”
“I would be honored.”
“Not that we shall have all that much time to talk to each other, since I will be hopping up and down, going from table to table. But you will find Lord Berwick and his wife to be delightful company. My neighbor, Lady Miranda Lawson, and her niece, Gwenys, are also seated with us. You’ll like them. Oh, I suppose they are your neighbors now, too.”
“I’m sure I will find them delightful.”
She cleared her throat and cast him an earnest look. “You need not feel obliged to participate in the auction or the endowment pledges. I am glad you are here and hope you enjoy the afternoon.”
He was in danger of drowning in the exquisite pools of her eyes.
She cast him another smile, excused herself, and darted off to greet some more new arrivals.
He and Lord Berwick had been doing business together for several years now, just as his lordship had indicated to Berry. They had developed a friendship over the course of those years, but he was not on friendly terms with any of Berry’s other guests.
A few he recognized from his gaming hells. They were not about to acknowledge him, although they were not above sneering at him. Had they purposely gone out of their way to walk by him for the express purpose of putting him down?
He did not care what any of them thought of him.
But he did care about Berry’s attempts to raise funds for St. Brigid’s. Would his presence hurt her efforts? He ought to have considered this before accepting her invitation.
Well, too late now. If it did become a problem, he would make up any shortfall in her donations goal.
As he stood in contemplation, someone rudely bumped his shoulder and spilled a little champagne onto the cuff of his shirt sleeve. “Viscount Hawthorne, I am surprised to see you here.”
The man was already drunk and stumbling. Or had the toad knocked into him on purpose? Was he looking to cause a scene?
“No more than I am surprised to see the likes ofyouhere, Knight,” he said with undisguised venom. “What are you doing here?”
“Same reason as you—I was invited.”
Hawthorne narrowed his beady eyes. “And by what trickery did you obtain an invitation from my betrothed?”
“Your betrothed?”
What in blazes?
“I was not aware you were engaged to marry,” Gideon said, trying to curb his temper as he withdrew his handkerchief and blotted the spill on his cuff. “Surely you cannot be referring to Lady Berengaria.”
Hawthorne finished his champagne and then grabbed another off the tray of a passing servant before looking over at Berry. “Of course I am.”
“Lady Berry? You and she are betrothed?” Well, Gideon would have to put an end to that courtship, assuming it was true.
But how could it be? There was no way on this green earth that Lord Berwick would allow Hawthorne to sink his fortune-hunting claws into Berry.
“We aresoonto be betrothed,” Hawthorne clarified.
Gideon breathed a sigh of relief. The clot hadn’t proposed to her yet. He could not imagine Berry’s accepting him.
Lord Berwick would nip it in the bud if she did. The man had good sense and was obviously protective of Berry.
