“You don’t think he got wind that I’d be there?” Phillip asked, rubbing his jaw.
“We don’t know for certain,” Bell replied, leaning against the back of a nearby chair. “It’s a possibility. Your mother didn’t tell anyone, did she?”
Phillip frowned. “I doubt it. I asked her not to and made it clear that my safety depended on it. Regardless, she wouldn’t have spoken to anyone who knows Hugh. She cannot abide him. Never could.”
“She has good reason from what you told me,” Clayton interjected, shaking his head.
“What’s that?” Bell asked, cupping a hand behind his ear, obviously eager to hear the story.
Phillip shook his head, too. “Mother told me that besides auctioning most of our personal effects from the London town house and the country estate after Malcolm’s death, Hugh has been making an ass of himself around town.”
“How so?” Bell prompted.
Phillip leaned back in his seat. “Apparently, he’s been trumpeting his title to get admission to White’s and lording himself about, demanding favors and political alliances and all sorts of things he knows little about.”
“Political alliances?” Bell asked, narrowing his eyes. “Such as?”
Clayton sighed. “I heard he asked Lord Blakely and Lord Collins to change their votes on the Employment bill.”
“The Employment bill?” Bell echoed. “What does Hugh know about the bloody Employment bill?”
“Precisely,” Phillip replied. “According to Mother, he’s made a fool of himself all around town. Running up charges at every shop and pretending to know things about Parliament, of which he’s sorely ignorant.” Phillip turned to Clayton. “I remain in your debt for the things you saved from the auction, Clayton.”
After getting wind of Hugh’s auction plans, Clayton had come to London and purchased nearly all the items. They were in storage at Clayton Hall, awaiting Phillip’s return to his properties. And Clayton hadn’t stopped there. He’d gone on to Tattersall’s to bid on and win Phillip’s famous Arabian horse, Alabaster. The fine horse ended up costing Clayton a small fortune, given that Thea’s brother had been bidding on the same horse for her. It was how the couple met, actually. Regardless, Phillip owed Clayton a great deal.
“Please don’t mention it,” Clayton replied. “It’s nothing you wouldn’t have done for me had I been in your place.”
Phillip nodded. It was comforting to have as loyal a friend as Clayton. The man gave Phillip credit for saving his life when they were children and Clayton had been caught under a current in a stream, held down by a branch. But Phillip felt the same, and he would have done the same for Clayton had he been in his place.
Bell plucked at his bottom lip. “Curious that the man who came to town to revel in his newfound wealth and status would take an interest in bills in Parliament. That hardly seems like Hugh.”
“I agree,” Phillip added. “It’s quite curious.”
Clayton shrugged. “A seat in Parliament conveys great power and Hugh strikes me as the type who is easily seduced by such things.”
“You may be right,” Bell allowed. He turned back toward Phillip. “If your mother didn’t tell Hugh you were back, why do you think he skipped the Cranberrys’ ball last night?”
“I’ve no idea,” Phillip replied. “It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?”
Bell cracked a grin. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“How did I know you would say that?” Phillip replied, returning his friend’s grin.
“Regardless of his reasons for bowing out last night,” Bell continued, “the less Hugh knows about what you’re planning, the better. Now as for the papers—”
Phillip groaned. “Must we discuss the papers?”
The butler returned just then with the drinks and Phillip waited until all three of them had a cup in their hands and had taken a seat before lifting his glass and saying, “To my return to Society!” He even managed to say it in a half-convincing voice, as if he hadn’t spent last night in a fevered sweat, fearing the next crowd he would be forced to enter.
“Frankly, it went better than I thought it would,” Clayton replied with a laugh, lifting his glass too.
“Some of it,” Phillip replied, taking a sip of brandy.
“Which part didn’t?” Bell asked, arching a brow.
“I’d rather not discuss it,” Phillip said.
“Miss Payton, no doubt. Which brings us back to the papers,” Bell warned.
