“Well,” Leonora said, successfully hiding a note of sourness, “as long as they are enjoying their trip.”
“I have no doubt that they are—they love that place.” He stared at her from beneath his lashes. “How about you? Have you any news?” Heart suddenly asked. “Anything of note?”
“Like what?” Was he referring to their mother? The duchess, perhaps?
He shook his head. “It’s nothing. Forget I asked anything.”
Leonora gave an inward snort.
You expect me to do that? What do you take me for, Heart?
No, she would not forget. She would not let this drop. Keeping her circumstances a secret was one thing, but the duchess—potentially half of that very secret—had returned to London, apparently putting Heart on guard and luring her mother from Wales. She’d only been curious before, but now she was determined. Determined to get to the bottom of this family, Heart, and her real mother.
Everything.
*
“Dull has neverbeen used in a sentence to describe anything I do.” Dare leaned back in his chair, lifting his gaze to Knox while ignoring the distaste clawing up his throat. He hated the stench of cheap taverns. Stale ale, unwashed bodies, and the acrid reek of God knows what clinging to the floorboards. “Have I turned dull? This can’t be, can it?”
“I’m not sure. However, if I were to reflect upon it—”
“Please don’t.”
“She does have a point.”
“And how is that?”
Knox sneered. “You have now asked us three bloody times whether or not you’ve turned into a bore. You tell us.”
“When last did you indulge in pleasure?” Drake asked, motioning a server to bring them each another ale, the very picture of a relaxed ruffian in their secluded corner of a tavern called The Rose—a recent purchase of his.
It was the only reason Dare set foot here in the first place.
Drake Fury.
A cousin that no one in his family recognized except for Dare. Also one of the seven bastard sons of the Duke of Crane. A long, ragged scar ran down the length of his face, making him look particularly fierce. It never ceased to amaze him, that scar.
“Does that matter?” He hadn’tindulgedin weeks. Not that he hadn’t tried to indulge. He would arrive up to the moment of the deed, and then... nothing. No urge. No desire. No...firein his loins.
“Suppose not,” Drake drawled lazily. He inhaled his unlit cheroot. “If you’re dull, then what are we?”
“The dullest of the dull,” Dare stated.
“In that case,” Knox swallowed the last of his ale, “the whole damn world is dull.”
Dare cut a dirty look at his friends. Were they even his friends? Enemies in disguise more like.
Knox nodded as the server brought their ale. “How did you react when she called you a bore?”
“I raced her home. Toherhome,” he added before they gave a pestering remark on that as well.
Drake chuckled. “Well, that’s a new one, I’ll grant you.”
A new one? It wasn’t meant to be. He hadn’t meant to race her that far either. “Don’t start with me, my head must still have been full of fog to do something as reckless as that.”
Drake chuckled. “Her family must have been thrilled.”
“I didn’t stop to take stock.” Instead he had continued on like the devil nipped at his heels.
