“It’s the least you could do for me,” Lloyd grumbled.
Taken back by his friend’s ungrateful attitude, Collin arched an eyebrow. “And pray, what else do you wish me to do for you?”
He flipped his hand in a dismissive wave. “I suppose it’s too late, anyway. As much as I would like to redo the last few hours, what’s done is done.”
Kentwood rolled off the bed, and thankfully was able to stand by himself. He shrugged out of his wet overcoat before removing his equally drenched suit coat and cravat.
“Kentwood, if you weren’t so intoxicated I’d punch you in the nose right now. What are you talking about?”
Kentwood released a low groan as he pushed his wet hair back on his head, flinging off excess water in the process. Collin wiped away the few splashes of water that landed on his face.
“I have dire news, my good man.” Kentwood stood up straight... Well, as straight as he could under the circumstances.
“And what is your news?”
“I am getting married.”
Collin had seen his cousin upset before, but never this miserable. “Marriage?Did you not tell me last night that you were never getting married?”
“Indeed, I did, but that was before the wench’s father caught his daughter in my arms in what one might assume was a scandalous position.”
Biting his bottom lip, Collin held back a laugh. This was definitely not a laughing matter, and yet it surprised him that Kentwood – of all people – would get caught. Not only that, but the man must have been so inebriated that he couldn’t talk the woman’s father out of the union.
“Did you try to pay the man off?” Collin wondered.
Kentwood nodded. “Indeed, I did, but the man was insistent... even to the point of threatening to have my title removed because I didn’t want to do thegentlemanly thingby agreeing to fix my mistakes.”
“Who is this man? Is he a gentleman himself?”
Kentwood rolled his eyes. “He’s an impoverished baron. I figured a hefty bribe would sway the man’s demands. Unfortunately, he wants his daughter married, instead.”
Impoverished baron?Collin’s gut twisted. He knew of only one man who fit that description. “Who... was the baron?”
Kentwood narrowed his glassy eyes on Collin and sneered. “Baron Featherstone. I am to wed his oldest daughter, Adeline.” His face hardened. “You can thank me once I’m sobered up.”
Anger rose inside Collin, pushing aside the helplessness trying to take over his heart. Growling, he marched to Kentwood and grabbed his damp shirt, shaking him. “You ruinedmyAddie?”
Kentwood snorted a laugh. “She obviously wasn’t yours since she was willing to meet any man alone.”
Collin’s temper erupted and he went with his first instinct – slamming his fist into Kentwood’s nose. The man stumbled back, falling onto the bed in a motionless heap as blood flowed from his nose.
The fingers of helplessness closed around Collin’s throat tightly as though to squeeze the life right out of him. Tears burned behind his eyes and he rushed out of Kentwood’s room and into his own, slamming the door behind him.
He paced his room, trying to regulate his breathing hoping it would lessen the gripping pain in his chest. This couldn’t be right. Addie wouldn’t do that to him. She loved him! She was innocent, and while in his arms last night at the masked ball, she’d showed him a hint of the passion hidden inside her.
He stopped in front of the window and threaded his fingers through his hair, trying to squeeze out the pain throbbing through his head. How had he allowed this to happen? And how had Kentwood ended up in a cottage with Addie... and in an intimate embrace?
A knot of emotion clogged his throat, and he swallowed hard to remove it. As much as he wanted to deny it, there was no way Collin could have her now. He would have to bravely pick up the pieces of his shattered heart and leave this place. Watching the woman he was falling in love with marry someone else would kill him for sure.
* * * *
INHALING A RAGGED BREATH, Collin moved away from the window and found a chair to sit. The memory had brought too much heartache, and he wasn’t prepared for the exhaustion taking over his body.
His so-called friendknewCollin was falling for Adeline, and yet Kentwood still enticed her to the cottage where they’d been caught. The pain of being betrayed twice was too much to bear. And yet... Why was she acting as though he was the one who’d broken her heart? Indeed, there was still part of the past that he didn’t know. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. She might want him to leave the manor, but he would stay here until he discovered the truth and put the past to rest.
