“Another round of billiards?” Gideon asked, and James nodded. “Very well. Winner pays for the next bottle.”
“You already know that I always win,” James scoffed.
“Exactly,” Gideon said with a wink.
James took the cue stick.
The two played a couple of rounds before Gideon paused. “Tell me, all jesting aside, don’t you really think that there is a chance you and Frances might find your way to one another? After all, is it really so bad to have a ball and chain?”
“It is not about that,” James replied. “I cannot put myself into a situation where I might lose control. I cannot allow my heart to rule my head.”
“James, you cannot control every aspect of your life all the time. Also, you are missing all the spontaneity. There truly is something to be said for not living by a strict schedule at all times. Besides, you cannot keep blaming yourself for something that was out of your control.”
“But it wasn’t!” James protested, banging the cue stick down on the ground. “It was not out of my control. I could’ve kept my witsabout me. I could’ve refrained from lashing out at my father. Marcus wouldn’t have had to defend me then, and he wouldn’t have?—”
Gideon raised a hand. “I know. I know what happened. But James, you cannot keep blaming yourself for the rest of your life. You torture yourself needlessly, old friend. Even a part of you must know that what happened was not your fault. You were but a green boy, after all.”
James shook his head. “No. I cannot, I must not, and I will not allow any unpredictable factors into my life. I must maintain order in all things. In due course, Frances and I will live in different houses. In fact, I’m already thinking of sending her back to London, and I will stay here. Or the opposite. That might be better. In any case, cease your pestering. Nothing has changed.”
“You speak of her with a certain warmth, you know,” Gideon observed.
“I do no such thing.”
“You do. And your eyes follow her when she leaves a room.”
“Utter nonsense.”
“Is it? I think you protest too much, old friend.”
James did not respond.
“Very well,” Gideon said. “Come, let’s go to the back rooms.”
James hesitated. “The back rooms?”
“Yes. If nothing has truly changed, then I assume you do not oppose a visit to the back rooms to watch the beautiful ladies dance?”
James swallowed. He hadn’t anticipated a visit to the back rooms. Just like some of the less reputable places in London, Hamilton’s had a back room area where gentlemen went to forget their troubles in drink and dalliances. Where ladies of questionable virtue, in states of undress, waited for gentlemen wishing to spend time with them.
He had visited in the past, but recently it hadn’t occurred to him to visit again.
“I do not know. What if someone from Somerset Trust sees me?”
“How many employees of Somerset Trust do you know are members of Hamilton’s? I believe it is against the club’s rules to be connected to Somerset Trust if one wishes to be a member. At least not in a professional manner. There are so many lords here who have business with Somerset Trust and would not want them spying on them. The club prides itself on discretion.”
It was true. James knew that Hamilton’s did not admit anyone other than titled gentlemen, and the two titled gentlemen who lived in the area and worked for Somerset Trust, though notconnected to James’s estate, were not permitted to become members.
“If you would rather not because of your marri?—”
“Nonsense,” James interrupted and pushed past Gideon toward the back door. He let himself in and was immediately surrounded by smoke that always seemed to hang around these places.
He saw a group of gentlemen lounging on couches, and ladies with little to no clothing on sitting beside them.
Gideon found them a table nearby, where he deposited the bottle and two glasses he had brought with him from the other room. He refilled the glasses and slid one over to James.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” a maid said as she sauntered over.
Her practiced smile promised pleasures James had once sought eagerly. Her long blonde hair hung down, covering her chest, which itself was covered by a very thin layer of muslin.
