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Ben turned to see Rebecca’s face—her beautiful face—go from happiness to shock to joy to chagrin. Her cheeks were flushed from dancing; her eyes were wide with surprise.
Theperson—Ben was reluctant to call him a gentleman—at her side had eyes wide with surprise also.
“Mandeville,” Ben said curtly. “It appears we meet again.”
“Lord Winton,” Mandeville said with a slight bow.
Ben’s opportunity had arrived after all. “If you would excuse us,” Ben said, “Mr. Mandeville and I are going to absent ourselves from supper for a while. We have matters to discuss.”
Mandeville chuckled as though to make a joke of Ben’s words. “Perhaps another time, Winton, surely.”
“I think it will not wait,” Ben said.
Lord Thurlby and Rebecca glanced between Mandeville and Ben. They must have thought he’d lost his mind, but he was undeterred. He had lost too much of his life already the past couple years. The opportunity had presented itself. He would put an end to things here and now.
“The matter of which I speakwill not wait,” Ben repeated. “I presume you still have honor and decorum enough to discuss it in private.”
“Ben, what is going on?” Rebecca asked, her face now pale.
“Mandeville?” Ben asked.
The man looked none too happy—not that Ben cared one whit. “Very well,” Mandeville said.
“Excellent,” Ben replied. He turned on his heels and headed to the nearest door. Mandeville followed him. The man wasn’t a complete fool, then. Ben was surprised, however, when Lord Thurlby and Rebecca also followed him from the ballroom.
“If you need a place to speak in private,” Rebecca said in a low, intense voice, “Aylesham’s study is just around the corner. But your conversation is going to include Papa and me.”
“Thank you, Rebecca,” Ben said. “But I must have this conversation with Mandeville entirely alone.” He glanced at Thurlby for support.
“I believe we must be patient, my dear, and trust Lord Winton in this matter for the present,” Thurlby said.
Rebecca looked at Ben, and the expression on her face, one of confusion and pain, nearly did him in, but he resisted the urge to touch her and comfort her. He must deal with Mandeville first and was barely in control of an anger that had been lying unresolved for more than a year.
He opened the door to Aylesham’s study. “Shall we?” he said to Mandeville. Mandeville followed him inside. Ben shut the door firmly behind him. “It is time for full and complete honesty, is it not?” he said.
Mandeville did not reply.
“Would you care to offer condolences on the death of my wife, Mandeville? She was an acquaintance of yours, as I recall,” Ben said.
A muscle jerked in the man’s face.
“I just completed a year of mourning,” Ben said. “Do you realize that? A year of mourning for my wife. Didyoumourn for her? Didyoumourn Gemma’s passing?”
“I—Of course I mourned for her. I mourn the loss of anyone taken too soon,” Mandeville said, sounding rather defensive, Ben thought.
“‘Anyone taken too soon,’” Ben repeated Mandeville’s words thoughtfully. “So, you mourned for her as you would mourn any young person whose death you had, perhaps, read about in the paper?”
“Don’t be absurd! Naturally, I grieve more for those with whom I am friends. But I could not mourn for her upon her passing if I was unaware of the fact. Word did not reach her many friends immediately, I being one of them. Such news, especially from the countryside, tends to travel more slowly than you might think.”
“Oh, don’t I know it!” Ben exclaimed, feigning sympathy. “And so, what? Did you don an armband? Wear black until just recently? What?”
“Why would I? I am not family, am I? I preferred to keep my mourning for my friend Gemma private,” Mandeville said. “As did many of her other friends.”
“Your friend Gemma.” Ben was barely reining in the urge to do violence to Mandeville here and now, but he would not disrespect Rebecca or her family by causing a scandalous scene this evening, even if he and Mandeville were alone. “YourfriendGemma.”
“Yes, my friend.Of courseshe was my friend.” Mandeville sounded indignant. “What is your point, exactly?”
“Do you know how she died?” Ben asked.
