They were almost to the sitting room where the ladies were gathering, and she sighed in relief. This was too odd an interaction and it was best to end it before it got even stranger.
“And here is where we say goodbye, Your Grace,” she said, and slid her arm from his. But before she could escape him, he caught her hand and drew her back.
“I have a request,” he said, his voice soft in the quiet of the hall, his gaze intent on hers.
She almost stopped breathing. “And what is that?”
“Give a man a chance to win his money back,” he said with a slight smile.
She drew her hand away. She should have known this was just about his pride. He didn’t like losing to her, even with such a silly wager. And if he was soft with her, it was only to make her agree to give him this second chance.
She shrugged. “How do you propose you do that?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure yet. May I have time to ponder it and get back to you?”
“As you wish,” she said, and then turned her back to him. “Good evening, Your Grace.”
“Mrs. Montgomery,” he drawled.
She glanced over her shoulder, but he was already heading off down the hall toward the billiard room with the other men. She pursed her lips as she fought not to shiver. The Duke of Gilmore was not going to make her shiver. Not tonight.
Not ever.
Nathan flexed his hand over and over, shaking it out as he entered the billiard room. He could still feel the pressure of Abigail’s fingers against his palm and it was most distracting. There had been a moment there when they were standing close together, when her eyes had held his, when he had only seen her as a beautiful woman, not the ice princess who viewed him at his worst, no matter what he did.
He forced his attention to his surroundings in the hope that it would quiet his stirring thoughts. The other men were already pouring port, setting up a game of billiards on the table and talking loudly. He smiled and joked with a few as he passed farther into the room and found Rhys at the sideboard.
He took the port the earl offered and clinked glasses with his friend as they surveyed the room together quietly. “Is it going as you’d like?”
He knew the answer even before Rhys frowned slightly. “I am happy for those who came tonight, but…” He trailed off and took a drink.
“You invited some of the old gang, I assume?” Nathan asked.
Rhys shrugged one shoulder. “I did. Gottard and his new viscountess, the Earl of Yarrowood, a few of the others. I got no response at all, not to decline nor to accept. The cut direct.”
Nathan gripped his glass a little harder as a pulse of rage rippled through him. “Pricks.”
“The message is clear, I fear,” Rhys said. “And the path back to any kind of acceptance after what Erasmus did to the women…did to our family…did to—to me…it will be long and hard and perhaps not end where I’d like it to.”
Nathan clapped him on the arm and squeezed gently. “Don’t despair. You aren’t alone in this, you know. I’m here, and I will use every bit of influence I have to help.”
Rhys smiled at him. “To your detriment, perhaps.”
Nathan shook his head. “I don’t care.”
“Hmmm,” Rhys murmured, and took another drink. “I’m going to change this painful subject, if you don’t mind.”
“To what? The game I’m about to trounce you at?” Nathan laughed.
Rhys glared at him playfully. “No. I want to talk to you about how you and Abigail were talking intently and then you escorted her after supper. Is she no longer your nemesis?”
Nathan rolled his eyes. “If she were my nemesis, I’d have to waste a good deal of time thinking about her.”
“Which you don’t,” Rhys said.
“No.”
Rhys finished his drink with a chuckle. “So you say.”
Nathan set his own half-finished glass on the sideboard and folded his arms. “I say and I mean it. The woman means nothing to me, and I nothing to her. Tonight we had a conversation and placed a wager, that’s all.”
“You…” Rhys blinked, confusion clear in his gaze. “You wagered with Abigail?”
Now that the words were repeated back to him, Nathan heard how they sounded. Wagering with a lady wasn’t exactly done—it made their relationship sound intimate in some way.
“It was a foolish moment. She goaded me into it.” He pursed his lips as he hoped Rhys would drop the subject. After all, there was no need to discuss it further. He certainly didn’t want his friend to know that he had asked Abigail to extend the wager before he parted ways with her in the hallway.
The earl looked to have no desire to change the subject, though. He arched a brow and drew a breath to say more, but before he could, one of the men at the billiard table called out, “Gilmore ought to show us!”
Nathan turned toward the table. It was Sir Richard who spoke. and he was holding out the cue toward Nathan. “Show you what?” Nathan asked with a half-smile.
“You’re the one with all the trick shots,” Sir Richard clarified. “Come now, show us.”
Nathan moved toward them with a laugh. What a relief to escape the subject of Abigail. Rhys was clearly reading far too much into the conversation. A break from it was best.
Besides, he did enjoy showing off his skills at billiards. He’d spent a great many hours as a young man learning all manner of tricks. He took the cue and leaned over the table to see the alignment of the balls and measure out what he would do.
And he smiled. Abigail had used her superior knowledge of the situation tonight to win their wager. Since he would name the terms for their next bet, why shouldn’t he take the same opportunity?
“Are you going to shoot it or stare at it all evening?” one of the other men in the small group asked, and elicited a laugh from the others.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Nathan said. “I know exactly what I’m going to do.”
Win. He was going to win against Abigail. And it didn’t mean a damned thing, no matter how many times Rhys arched an eyebrow about it.
Chapter 3
Abigail smiled as her carriage pulled up to the little blue house Owen and Celeste lived in near Pettyfort Park. She was so looking forward to this afternoon. Celeste had promised a small gathering, just friends. Abigail knew Rhys and Pippa would be there. She was also excited to learn that Pippa had invited her former governess, Harriet, and her paramour, Lena Bright. The two women owned the most popular salon in London, Lady Lena’s. Abigail had met them before, of course, but she hoped to get to know the pair better. Perhaps even angle to garner herself an invitation to the salon. She was so curious about it.
She went to the door and was allowed in by Owen’s butler, Cookson. She was taken to the small parlor and smiled as she entered to find the party already gathered.
“I seem to be fashionably late,” she said with a laugh.
Celeste and Pippa both laughed as they approached her. She was enveloped in their welcoming hugs, and for a few moment it was all giggles and catching up with these two women she hadn’t even known a year ago. Couldn’t have guessed when she realized their existence that she would come to love them like sisters.