Page 51 of The Rake is Taken
At least he wasn’t setting the building aflame.
“I offered,” Bastian murmured, watching closely enough to see Finn’s fingers tighten around the tumbler. “I’m guessing it was your intervention that had Rossby graciously stepping aside.”
After a charged moment of silence, Finn whispered so softly Bastian had to strain to hear, “A courteous overture after Hester’s blunder, and I thank you for it. I brought Victoria to the attention of the League, but that doesn’t mean I own her, despite how possessive I may feel. After all, what man wants to lose not only the woman of his dreams but the oneinthem?”
Bastian shook his head, having no reply as he’d never desired a woman in this manner.
“I understand the situation. An irresolvable societal dilemma for a baseborn man. Perhaps even a trite one, falling for a woman above your station.”
“There are ways around any dilemma. Or rather, ways to soften the impact.”
Sliding low in the chair, Finn’s posture was uncaring, but his gaze alert. “I can’t protect her. A gift this powerful won’t be concealed for long. Our enemies are as desperate for relief from their mystical abilities as we are, they’re just willing to injure to obtain it. It’s a slight difference but a critical one. She needs you when I’ll do nothing but destroy her. In more ways than one.” He rotated the tumbler in a gradual circle on his belly, the gaslight bouncing off the facets and throwing silver slashes along the floor. “I hope you didn’t foster hope that there’s another choice. Why your actions this eve are almost fraternal.”
“Therein lies the issue, because she didn’t accept. And I’m not even sure how solid I was on the offer.”
Finn jerked to a sit, blinked, raised the glass to his lips only to find it empty. “Didn’t accept,” he echoed as if this possibility had never occurred to him.
“Let me set the record straight for all men given an unenthusiastic rejoinder to a sincere but loveless proposal. She thought she did, but she did not.” Bastian took a delaying sip set to extend Finn’s discomfort, beginning to enjoy this. He deserved every bit of pleasure he could wring from this quixotic venture. “Claims she’s in love with you.”
Ah, that got through as the whiskey had not.
Finn’s gaze heated to a fierce, concentrated blue. No wonder women dropped like flies when the boy looked at them; Bastian had trouble looking away. “She told you that?”
Bastian sighed, nodded, praying he never loved someone enough to sit there looking poleaxed by an admission of love. Horrifying thought. “She said she wanted to behonest. What woman in the ton, in the world, wants to be honest? No wonder the girl never seemed to fit in. All this time, swimming with scrupulous intent in a sea of sharks.”
Finn rocked forward, placing his glass with great care on the table at his side. “I would be the end of her. She’d be shunned in every shop, on every street corner. Invitations to events would immediately terminate, except for the events where we were unknowingly part of the entertainment. And there’s nothingIcan do, thatlovewould do, to change that.”
Victoria Hamilton didn’t care about being shunned on bloody street corners. This was Bastian’s verdict after witnessing the feral emotion in her eyes. So he addressed the problem he could solve. “We’ll increase security, as we did with Piper. Wherever you chose to live, a private detail will be attached. It’s a simple arrangement. She goes, they follow.” Ashcroft began compiling a list in his mind. As a former soldier, protection was second nature. Fires were, unfortunately, first. “It will cost you, but I have the men. Returning soldiers who need employment. Very loyal, to the death loyal. And you have the resources, or am I mistaken?”
Finn nodded absently. “Money’s not the issue, has never been the issue.”
“Does she know that?”
Finn glanced up, dazed as if he’d arrived at the conversation after fighting his way through a river of pea soup. “Victoria?”
“If there was any hint of resignation in her reply, it was in her ability to save her family. She’s sacrificing her love for you by doing her duty to them. The threat to her person is not a real concern for her yet. That will come with more understanding of the League.”
“But, I’m flush.” Finn struggled to his feet, swayed, paying dearly for that guzzled glass of Scotch. “The gaming hell alone brings in enough to shelter ten families. Before my dismissal, I wasted half my selections at Oxford on economics and finance because Julian thought to have me start investing. And I’ve done really well, a surprise to both of us. Marriage to me is not a financial risk, it’s reputational. Sound logic, every point I presented, and she understood. She agreed. She knows I love her. I made it clear. Ishowedher.” When he noticed Ashcroft’s sour look, he added, “I’m trying to do the noble thing here. At great sacrifice, I might add, so get that acerbic scowl off your face.”
Bastian polished off his drink with a snort. “Christ, Finn. Did you think totellher you love her? I’m no expert, that’s undeniable, but even I realize it’s the starting point.”
“If she knew, I couldn’t have dragged her away, no matter the miserable future I threatened her with. You don’t know her. Stubborn doesn’t begin to cover it.”
“I have a partial solution. Not flawless but achievable. Though there’s little I can do about your illegitimacy, with my support of your marriage, Lady Hamilton will survive being given the cut at every millinery and haberdashery in town. Considering she’s choosing the comeliest man in England, most will understand her selecting him, even over a duke. I’ll start by throwing a celebratory ball, which as the person who’s betrothed was stolen from beneath his regal nose, showcases my incredible benevolence and our remarkable friendship. Imagine the sympathy I’ll receive as I publicly concede to true love and brotherhood.” He slipped his watch from his pocket and checked the time. He was set to meet with his solicitor, and one of them was going to need a special license. “Talk about noble.”
Finn turned from the window and his study of the turbulent crimson and gold sunset flowing like crushed velvet over the horizon.“Is the most distinguished rogue in London suggesting happiness is possible for people like us?”
Bastian scrubbed his hand across his face to hide the flush. He rarely suffered from discomfiture. “You and your damned brother are rubbing off on me. You see, at my core, I’m a humble man. I was a lowly third son who, against my family’s wishes, bought an army commission to try and escape a supernatural curse, only to find much of that family wiped out by cholera when I returned. A dukedom I was ill-equipped to manage landing like a boulder on my chest. You see, I’m still adjusting to this life.” He coughed, shrugged, not any better at sharing his emotions with men than he was with women. “Maybe I’m stepping in where I’m not wanted, but if you love the lady, I want you to have her. If she’ll have you.”
Finn released a fetching smile, both bashful and insufferable. “You think she will?”
No one denied the Blue Bastard. Bastian would wager a gold sovereign that Victoria Hamilton wasn’t going to be the start.
“Tell Lady Hamilton to make the retelling of her rejection of my offer tragic. I want the ton in tears, absolute despair.” With a yawn, Bastian stretched out on the sofa and laid his arm over his eyes. “Women love consoling a heartbroken man. They can all step in to comfort me.”
“Thanks, my friend,” Finn said as he sprinted from the room. “I’ll never forget this.”
A matchmaker, Bastian thought with a sigh. How peculiar. How interesting.