A gentleman should never discuss the wooing of a lady. Not even with his closest friends.
A PROPER GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO WOOING THE PERFECT LADY
SIR VINCENT TYBALT VALENTINE
The card room at White’s was active. Not a table was empty. Perhaps it was the steady drizzle outside that kept the gentlemen playing and not wanting to venture out into the cold rain to make their way home. Some conversations were loud, cheerful, and long, while the gentlemen at other tables talked low, determined and serious as their cards were laid down, hands were won or lost, and money was swept from the tables.
Thoughts of Loretta had consumed Hawk since he’d left her at her uncle’s house, though he’d done a fairly good job of hiding it from Rath and Griffin as they played. He conversed, laughed, and carried on in the normal way with them, drinking his brandy and winning enough hands to keep up with his losses.
Occasionally he’d think about Farley and Loretta’s attachment to him. But Hawk tried to keep his mind off the lad. Even though the boy had been very ill, and still might be, every time Hawk remembered that the footpad had made Loretta cry he wanted to wring the boy’s neck with his bare hands—but only for a second or two. Just long enough to scare the devil out of him.
Loretta cared too much for Farley. One reason could be that he was the first person she’d ever nursed back to health. Hawk could understand how something that momentous could form a kinship between two people. Too, it could have something to do with her stubborn will to hold fast to her vow. Maybe she saw Farley as the child she’d never have because she’d never marry, or perhaps she even thought he’d replace the brother she would be losing when Paxton married and had family of his own. Or, hell. He didn’t know. It could be a combination of all of it and then more.
Hawk only knew he didn’t trust Farley because the lad hadn’t given him any reason to think he was changing. In fact, trying to steal the puppy from Adele had only convinced Hawk he wanted Farley out of Loretta’s life. But he had to do it in a way she’d accept. And the only way he could think to do it was to find Farley another home. A good home. The lad going back to the streets and his old way of life would not satisfy her. And Hawk supposed he wasn’t keen on that idea either.
Loretta had strength in spades and a kind heart, too. Why else would she have forgiven her uncle for being so incredibly punitive? Why did she care if she disrespected his house again? Hawk sure as hell didn’t care if she did. But because of her, Hawk would be civil to the man when they discussed the marriage contracts, when what Hawk really wanted to do was call him out for the stern, blackhearted man he was.
“If you don’t want your winnings, I’ll happily take them off the table for you,” Rath said.
Instinctively Hawk looked down and started to rake the pile of coins toward him. Rath took hold of his wrist and stopped him.
“Look at the cards, Hawk.”
He glanced at all three hands. He hadn’t won. Griffin had. Damnation. Hawk pulled his wrist from Rath’s hold. So he hadn’t been fooling his friends about his participation in the evening after all.
“Your mind’s not on the game tonight,” Rath said, and leaned his chair back on its hind legs.
“It hasn’t been for some time,” Griffin added, dragging all the cards back into the deck. “I’m beginning to wonder if you’re even in the room with us.”
Hawk harrumphed. “You both should know when it’s best not to take me to task.” Hawk picked up his brandy and took a sip.
“We’ve been friends too long to stay silent,” Rath said.
Griffin thumped the cards on the table a couple of times. “It’s because we’ve known you so long we have to ask what has your attention.”
“Because we don’t,” Rath added.
“Mr. Quick’s in town to finalize the marriage contracts between him and Adele,” Hawk answered, hoping to avoid further questions.
“This is what you wanted,” Griffin said as he started shuffling the cards. “That’s not bothering you. It’s something else.”
“Is Mr. Quick’s sister here with him?” Rath asked.
Hawk let Rath’s question hang between them unanswered. He heard chatter from the other tables, billiard balls smacking together in the other room, and the rasp of drinks hitting wood. Rath had always been too damned perceptive. “Yes,” Hawk finally said.
“She’s on your mind.” Rath’s dark-brown gaze stayed on Hawk’s. “Not the contracts.”
Knowing he had few secrets from his friends, and knowing they would keep picking at him until they were sure they had the right answers, he took another sip of his brandy and said, “She turned me down when I asked her to marry me.”
“The devil she did!” Rath’s chair legs hit the floor with a thud. “No wonder your mind’s not on the cards.”
“Did she really tell you no?” Griffin asked.
“What I want to know is did you really ask her to marry you?”
“Yes,” Hawk said emphatically.
“What did you do to her?”
Hawk frowned at Griffin’s last question. “What do you mean?”
Griffin pushed the deck aside and leaned forward. “Did you do something to her brother she didn’t like? Did you pursue her too heavily? Remember, she contemplated going into a convent rather than marry Denningcourt.”
Hawk blew out an exasperated sigh. “She never wanted to enter a convent. That was just a rumor. I might as well tell you as I will find no peace from you until I do. When she refused to marry Lord Denningcourt, her uncle forced her to take a vow never to marry. She plans to honor that vow, and I haven’t been able to persuade her differently.”
Both Rath and Griffin looked at him as if he’d lost all his senses. And maybe he had. If he couldn’t understand Loretta’s reasoning for holding fast to her oath, he certainly couldn’t explain it to them.
“If she won’t cooperate, perhaps you could abduct her in the middle of the night and rush off to Scotland with her. Swear to her you won’t bring her back to civilization until she marries you.”
“Don’t think I haven’t thought about it,” Hawk mumbled. “She’s stubborn. It wouldn’t work.”
“You could compromise her?” Rath offered.
Hawk grimaced. “That is not an option either.”
“I didn’t think it was,” Rath said seriously.
“What’s this about anyway?” Griffin asked, leaning back in his chair. “It’s not uncommon for people to break vows. It’s done all the time.”
Rath placed his hands on the table in front of him in a frustrated gesture. “Every morning that I wake with a pounding head I vow I’ll never dip that far into the brandy bottle again.” He picked up his glass. “But I always do.”
“So do I and everyone else I know, but not Loretta. She took her vow seriously and refuses to let go of it.”
“Don’t take offense, my friend,” Griffin said, “but maybe she doesn’t fancy you and this is—”
“No,” Hawk said, a little rougher than he intended. “I know it’s not that.”
Both Rath and Griffin were silent for a few moments. Griffin let his thumb flutter the cards again before saying, “So you’re telling us she takes this as seriously as one would wedding vows, or a priest or monk who takes his vows of celibacy in the church?”
“Yes,” Hawk answered, thinking again that she’d always noted that she swore her oath in the church. Then a prickle of an idea struck him. He thought on it deeper. Suddenly it was clear to him what needed to be done. “Thank you, my friends.” He laughed, reached over and clapped each of them on their shoulders.
They looked at him, baffled by his sudden good humor.
Hawk raked his coins from the table into the palm of his hand and then dropped them into his pocket. “I should have talked to the two of you long ago. I now know exactly what I need to do.”
It was obviously too late in the evening now to pay a call at the earl’s house but tomorrow would find him there.