Griffin drummed his fingers on the table a time or two and then said, “But as for whether or not there are other bachelors wanting to get even with us because of the secret admirer letters we sent to the young ladies, only time will tell.”
“And speaking oftell,” Rath said, with an I’m-not-going-to-let-this-subject-drop gleam in his eyes, “I’m wanting you to tell us more about Mr. Quick’s sister. I find her story quite intriguing.”
Hawk picked up his tankard again. Over all the sounds in the taproom, he heard billiard balls knocking together as the players took their shots. It didn’t surprise him that Rath didn’t want to leave the subject alone. He had always been too perceptive for his own good. And he didn’t mind stirring up trouble—indeed he relished it.
Even among friends.
“There’s nothing more to tell. I didn’t spend a lot of time with her,” he said and didn’t consider it a lie. It was the best way to protect her reputation. And he could have easily spent much more time with her than he had. If she’d agreed.
“Will she come to London with Quick when he comes to see you?” Griffin asked.
“I told her I’d be going back to Mammoth House and to have her brother wait there until I returned.”
Rath and Griffin gave each other a knowing look.
Hawk knew he wasn’t fooling them. They knew that meant Hawk wanted to see her again, and they were right, but it didn’t mean he was going to tell them more than he wanted them to know.
It was true that he couldn’t remember an evening that he was as comfortable as he had been with Miss Quick. There had been plenty of nights with young ladies and women that he’d enjoyed. Some that he’d detested, and some he’d simply tolerated. But sitting alone with her, eating, talking, drinking, even sharing their pasts, he couldn’t remember a time he’d felt so contented—it was a strange feeling, one he hadn’t had before to that depth. It was as if the two of them belonged together, arguing their differing points and looking into each other’s eyes, trying to understand as much from the other’s expressions as their words.
“Back to Mammoth House, you say,” Rath teased. “Perhaps we should go with you. What do you say, Griffin?”
“That he doesn’t need both of us to hold his hand. I don’t think Esmeralda will want me gone for a couple of days.”
Rath grinned. “I think it’s that you don’t want to leave her.”
Griffin shrugged good-naturedly and sat back in his chair. “Let me think about this. Two days riding in a coldcarriage or staying at home with my beautiful wife?” He gave them a satisfied grin. “No, I don’t even need to think about it. I’m quite content to say I’d rather stay with Esmeralda. But I do think you should go, Rath, and help Hawk persuade Mr. Quick to accept his generous proposal.”
Hawk grimaced. “I can handle this quite well without help from either of you.”
“Always willing to do what I can,” Rath said.
“That was never in doubt. And contrary to what you’re thinking, I have another reason for wanting to return to Mammoth House.”
That caught their attention.
“What?” Griffin asked.
“The night I was there, a winter storm blew in. A young beggar came to her door. He was wet, cold, and quite ill. He fainted before we could find out who he was. Miss Quick had to take him in. There was something about the lad that bothered me. I don’t think he was just a poor farmer’s boy who had gotten lost. The truth is, he was so sick I don’t know whether the lad made it, but if he did, I want to get him, and take him back to wherever he belongs.”
A low chuckle rumbled in Rath’s chest.
“Damnation, Rath,” Hawk muttered. “What about what I just told you is so amusing?”
“You, a beautiful young lady, a storm, and a sick beggar at the young lady’s door. It sounds like a book. How long did it take you to come up with that story?”
“And I just have one question,” Griffin added with an amused smirk. “Why in the devil were you at Miss Quick’s house at night? And her brother not home?”
Griffin and Rath had a good laugh. Hawk took their teasing in stride. He was partly to blame for even mentioning the boy.
“You are both blackguards. I should have never said a word to you about her, the beggar, or anything else.”
“But you did,” Griffin reminded him in a lighthearted tone. “And now that you have, you can’t tell us only half the story. If you do, we will fill in the rest with our own imaginations. I don’t think you want that.”
Hawk grumbled for a moment and then, having no fear his friends would divulge what happened to anyone, he told them almost everything, starting with the lame horse and how he ended up having dinner with Miss Quick and staying the night in her home.
He conveniently omitted the part about the kisses, but by the expressions on Griffin’s and Rath’s faces, he didn’t have to tell them. They knew.
“So I want to go back and see if the boy is still there. If he is, and he has no home to go to, as I suspect, it’s my plan to bring him back to London with me. He may be just a common ragamuffin scrounging for food, or he could be a pickpocket or a footpad. I don’t know. And I don’t know how he managed to get as far out as Mammoth House, but I don’t want him taking advantage of anyone there.”
