Page 29 of Love, the Duke
“I know the name and he’s been mentioned before. We do occasionally accept new members and are considering a couple at present. Certainly. We’ll chat about him another time.”
The baron walked away as Rick and Wyatt walked up.
“Looks as if you started drinking without us,” Wyatt said as he pulled out a chair.
“Boredom set in waiting for the two of you to get here.”
“Must have been something other than that.” Rick glanced at the wine. “It looks as if you wanted to start early, but I can see your glass hasn’t been touched.”
“I was just about to doze off,” he offered, knowing neither of them would believe that.
“If he hadn’t been so hard to please and had married before he turned thirty, he wouldn’t be so bored,” Rick offered as if it were a fact.
Hurst looked at the two strapping men and snorted a laugh. They never minded giving him a hard time. He didn’t mind either. Their friendships weren’t predicated on tiptoeing around one another’s feelings. They weremore a brotherhood of friends who were more family to him than his own father had been.
His levelheadedness in most things was the characteristic that drew Wyatt and Rick to Hurst so long ago. He was just the kind of friend they needed to keep them out of more trouble than they usually got into. That was another thing his father taught him how to do.
“Both of you stop grumbling, sit down, and tell me why your messages were so insistent on meeting with me this afternoon. I’ve hardly seen either of you since you arrived in Town for the Season and suddenly, we must meet today. Is this about some of the new members of the Brass Deck? Gagingcliffe was just over wanting to talk to me about a fellow.”
“There’s that too. The club business can wait. I think you are the one who needs to tell us what’s going on with you,” Wyatt countered, pulling his chair up to the table.
“Since when is anything more important than our sporting club?” Hurst asked, smiled, and then added, “Other than your wives. Of course, that always goes without saying.”
“True, but that’s not the reason we needed to see you. You know new members always like to make their mark by trying to make new rules and bring in their own friends,” Rick offered with an air of nonchalance.
“What do they have in mind this time?” Hurst asked. “They know everything has to pass by us before it can be voted on.”
“They want to shorten the name tothe Deck.”
“Damnation,” he whispered. “Why would they want to get rid of the wordBrass? Don’t they know what it means?”
Wyatt held up his hands to quiet Hurst. “We started the club, and we will handle it as we always do. Maybewe should plan an unofficial meeting and hear what they have to say.”
“All right. Let’s do it,” Hurst agreed. “I’ll have it at my house.”
“Good. Now that we have that over with,” Wyatt chimed in. “You looked well deep into your thoughts when we walked in. What’s going on with you?”
He was and had been thinking about Miss Stowe since she came into his life and identified herself.
“Nothing,” he answered without guilt. “Why?”
Wyatt shrugged. “We don’t believe you. That’s why. Fredericka doesn’t let anything go on in her house that she doesn’t know about,” Wyatt continued. “So maybe there’s something you want to share with us.”
Hurst shrugged. “I don’t know much about wives, but that sounds normal to me.”
Wyatt chuckled good-naturedly. “What isn’t normal is that she saw you eyeing a certain young lady last night, and then a few minutes later watched you follow her out of the ballroom.”
That got Hurst’s attention.
“Is she someone you met at one of your aunt Sophie’s winter parties and forgot to let us know?”
Hurst brushed his hair away from his forehead. He studied the fact that his friends knew he’d met someone in secret and were now obviously eager to know all about her. Ever since they had married, Rick and Wyatt had always wanted to know about Hurst’s quest to find the lady of his dreams. No matter what he said, he couldn’t seem to make them realize he wasn’t looking for her. He had always believed it would happen when it happened.
They had tried to give him help he hadn’t wanted when they were in London last fall by inviting him to dinnerafter dinner at their homes and conveniently inviting eligible young ladies and their parents to join them. The trouble was that they were ladies he’d already met and knew were not the belle he wanted to marry.
Rick and Wyatt had known for a long time he wanted the lady who was right for him. And if he had found her, she wasn’t who he’d been expecting.
“I didn’t meet her at my aunt’s house,” was all he answered, not at all sure he wanted to tell his information-seeking friends anything about Miss Stowe, her reason for being in London, or her unusual search.
