Back in the carriage, Seb said, “So, Conant wants us to listen out for Russian gossip, does he? At the Tricorn?”
The Tricorn, the gambling club the three of them had opened following their return from Waterloo, had become one of the most popular gaming houses in London. Seb, Alex, and Benedict had lived there together until Alex and Ben had both found themselves wives and moved out a few months ago.
Seb would never have admitted it aloud, but he missed them. Despite the constant noise and excitement of the club itself, the private apartments were depressingly quiet. He never brought women back there; he enjoyed the privacy of his personal domain, but it was rather dull, with just him and the servants rattling around.
Not that he was lonely. Of course not. But maybe he should take in a lodger? There must be hundreds of chaps who’d jump at the chance of living in a gambling hell—
“Yes, but quietly,” Alex said, and Seb realized with a jolt that he’d been woolgathering. “We don’t want the delegation to know we suspect one of their countrymen.”
“I haven’t seen any Russians at the club yet,” Seb said, “And even if they do come, I doubt they’ll be discussing sensitive information in such a crowded place.”
“They might, if they’re speaking Russian and don’t think anyone else can understand what they’re saying,” Alex said reasonably. “Or if they’re very drunk.In vino veritas, as they say.”
“What good is it to us even if they do talk?” Seb grumbled. “Can you speak Russian? Because I bloody well can’t.”
“I can say a few curse words.” Benedict chuckled. “And ask for a drink. But that’s about it.”
“Maybe we should find ourselves a native speaker?” Alex said. “Employ them to loiter about on the gaming floor listen in to conversations? I’ll make some inquiries.”
Seb reached into his waistcoat and withdrew hispocket watch. “Bugger. I’ve missed the first half of the opera. I might as well go straight to Covent Garden.”
“You’re never going to find a decent woman in a brothel,” Ben said with a slight frown.
Seb sent him a smile sure to irritate. “That’s precisely why I’m going. It’s theindecent ones I’m after.”
Alex leaned forward, his hands dangling loose between his knees. “Since Ben and I moved out, you’ve been playing and working too hard.”
Seb snorted. “That’s bollocks. I don’t gamble. I rarely drink to excess. Women are my only vice. What is it about you married people? You get yourselves leg-shackled, and then nothing will do but to try and snare everyoneelsein the parson’s mousetrap. You’re like two fussy old women. I’m not ready to settle down just yet. I’m having far too much fun being a reprobate.”
“Marriage really isn’t that bad.” Alex laughed.
Seb rolled his eyes. “Haven’t you got better things to do than nag me about my love life? Or maybe, being married men, it’s your own lack of action between the sheets that has you so interested? Trying to live vicariously, boys?”
Alex snorted at the insult. “Not me. Emmy’s at a charity gala tonight, but rest assured when she gets home, she’ll show me just how much she’s missed me.” His lips curved in a contented smile and Seb grimaced in disgust.
“I’m not lacking in that department either, thank you very much,” Ben added smugly. “Marriage does not equate to celibacy, Seb.”
“I never said it did. I just didn’t think you’d both be so content to get it from theone sourcefor the rest of your days.” Seb shook his head in mock horror. “Seems a damn shame. When you think of all the available women out there, crying out for the love of a good man—”
Alex shook his head. “You haven’t attended manytonfunctions recently.”
“Because I’m sick of fending off scheming debutantes and bored housewives. No woman’s worth facing an irate husband or an angry father over pistols at dawn.” Seb leaned back into the comfortable squabs of the carriage. “Tarts are honest and uncomplicated. They don’t expect anything more than a tumble in the sheets for the price agreed. There’s no hurt feelings, no clinging when it’s time to end things. No delusions of marriage.”
He glanced between his two friends. “The fact that you’ve both found one woman you want to spend your life with is amazing—but it’s never going to happen to me.”
He frowned. The conversation was steering nauseatingly close to the kind of self-indulgent, romantic sap usually reserved for women over a cup of tea. Seb had always been a cynic, but having witnessed the transformation of his two closest friends from rakish jokers to happily married men, his unshaking belief that romantic love was as fictitious as a virgin in a whorehouse had been undermined.
“Both of you were attracted to your wives as soon as you saw them, correct?” he said.
Alex and Ben nodded.
“But you were attracted to other women before you met them, so clearly physical attraction isn’t enough. There must have been something more. Some spark that set them apart from all the rest.”
“I thought it was irritation at first,” Alex said with a reminiscent smile.
“I wanted to throttle her.” Benedict chuckled.
“Well, then.” Seb crossed his arms. “I’m still waiting to find that gorgeous someone who irritates me enough to want to strangle her. Until then, I plan to enjoy my bachelor status to the hilt.”
