He leaned forward, elbows on the table, hands outstretched. “Althea, where you are concerned, I had no choice but to do what I did. You can see that, surely. My family, our children, they would have been ostracized had we gone forward with our marriage.”
Our children.The ones they would have created together—only now never would.
“We always have a choice, even when it seems we don’t.” She had chosen to follow a path that would make her scandalous but would lessen her brothers’ worry over her and reduce their sense of responsibility toward her.
“Fine.” He finally added his chips to the pile. “I chose to uphold my family honor.”
“More like family dishonor.” Most people would have muttered the words under their breath, but then Benedict Trewlove was not like most people. In truth, he was unlike anyone else she’d ever met. He made no excuses for any of his decisions, his choices. Even though she suspected a good many people questioned his wisdom in being associated with a brothel.
“I think I know who you are,” Chadbourne said, his eyes narrowed on Benedict in an attempt to appear threatening that only served to make his squinting look as though he was in want of spectacles in order to see properly.
“Think?I told you who I am.”
“You told me part of who you are. I recall now seeing you at a few weddings of late. You’re a Trewlove, which means you’re a bastard.”
“You spit that word out as though it’s something of which to be ashamed.”
“You’re unlawful. A nonperson. Nothing you do will change the circumstances of your birth.”
“’Tis true. I am a bastard by birth. You, on the other hand, are a bastard by choice.”
Chadbourne fairly quivered with indignation. “How dare you!”
“Would you rather I call you an arse?”
“I am an earl. You will give me the respect I deserve.”
“I give no one respect unless he’s earned it, and you’ve not.”
“I. Am. A. Lord.”
“You’re not in Mayfair, mate,” Danny said cheerily as though he was accustomed to breaking up squabbles at the tables before they broke out into fisticuffs. “You’re in Whitechapel. Here the Trewloves are royalty. Ask anyone.” He tossed his chips onto the pile and looked at her. “Miss Stanwick, do you wish to bet or fold?”
It seemed he was growing impatient for the game to end. Chadbourne had only four tokens left. He might win the chips in the center of the table, but it wouldn’t be because he’d beaten her. She laid down her cards. “I fold.”
Danny looked at the earl. “Lord Chadbourne, do you wish to see my cards?”
“You’re bloody right I do.” He gathered up his four remaining chips because to see an opponent’s cards, he had to pay double what the individual players had been betting. One by one he dropped them on top of the pile.
Danny turned over his cards. Three jacks. Hearts, clubs, diamonds.
People walking outside the club no doubt heard Chadbourne’s deep groans of dismay. He had the option of showing his cards, but his reaction made it unnecessary. He couldn’t best the dealer’s hand.
Danny scooped up the wooden disks. “It’s been a pleasure. Hope you’ll join us another evening.”
“Not Lord Chadbourne,” a deep voice stated with authority. “He won’t be returning.”
Althea glanced to her left to see Aiden standing there with his arms crossed over his chest in a familiar stance, and she wondered if it was a habit shared by all the Trewlove men. She also wondered how long he’d been there. As he’d wanted to be entertained, he’d no doubt been around for a good bit of what had transpired, although he’d been discreet about it. Another thing the brothers seemed to share: they preferred the shadows.
“My lord, you’re no longer welcome at the Cerberus Club. My brother has always been more tolerant of those who disparage bastards than I. And lest you think otherwise, I can assure you that within these walls, you will never again win. Not so much as a farthing.”
Chadbourne squeezed his eyes shut and, with his thumb and forefinger, pinched the bridge of his nose. She’d forgotten how he always did that when he was disappointed or frustrated. Once she’d found it to be a charming little quirk. Now she found it somewhat irritating.
He opened his eyes, and she suspected he’d been using that time to try to soften his glare. “Congratulations, Althea. Not only have you seen me lose all the money I allotted for the evening as you claimed I would, but you have seen to it that I have lost access to my favorite club. I suppose now we are even.”
“Youarean arse, Chadbourne, to think for one single second that the loss of access to a gaming hell can even begin to compare to the loss of everything, to the extent that I no longer even knew who I was.”
Chapter 17
