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Perhaps I just want to torment myself, he thought disgustedly.
“I would suggest not looking at my sister as if you are about to devour her any minute,” Benedict continued. “It would not do well for the Duke of Gilleton to regard a betrothed woman in such a way. Who knows just what the gossips will be talking about the next day?”
“Tell me, Hardy,” he replied through gritted teeth, “are you here to ruin my night, or are you really just this irritating?”
Any other man might have found offense at his words, but his friend had known him for years.
“It is only irritating if it rubs you the wrong way,” the young Earl retorted breezily. He glanced casually at his friend. “And it seems thateverythingis rubbing you the wrong way tonight, Gilleton.”
Daniel truly did not need the reminder, but Benedict seemed intent on goading him beyond his wits’ end. He had almost forgotten just how skilled his friend was at irritating the hell out of people.
“If this is how you intend to go about for the rest of the night, you will have to excuse me,” he told the Earl coldly, heading off to where the other gentlemen had gathered to play cards and smoke cigars. Daniel did not particularly care for gambling, and he hated cigars with a passion, but he needed to get away from Benedict and his poisonous barbs.
“She wanted you, Gilleton.”
The words stopped him in his tracks. Slowly, he clenched his fists.
“She does not know what she wants, Hardy,” he muttered. “Not yet.”
He was only going to bring her pain, and he would never be able to bear hurting her. Not Emily. Never her.
“But she does know she does not want this match with Caney,” Benedict pointed out somberly, “and neither do you.”
If there was ever aworsematch for Emily, it would be Gregory Pratt, the Viscount of Caney. That man was a snake in human skin, masquerading as a gentleman in the ballrooms. Both of them had an inkling of what kind of man the Viscount of Caney was, and he wasnota gentleman in any sense of the word.
“Why didn’t you refuse his suit?” he asked his friend.
Benedict gave him an odd look. “Because it was Emily’s choice to marry him, Gilleton. Because you could have saved her from a fate worse than hell, but you didnot.”
Daniel closed his eyes in anguish, recalling that night out in gazebo when Emily told him she was going to marry Caney becauseheleft her no choice.
Dammit, it really is my fault she is in this situation!
“Do not worry yourself overmuch about it,” Daniel told his friend brusquely. “I will make it right.”
“How?”
Daniel’s eyes glinted with steely resolve. “I told you not to dwell on it.”
Benedict smirked at him. “You better not ruin my sister’s reputation while you are at it, Gilleton. She has already suffered much. You do not need to add to her burdens.”
Daniel flinched at the reminder of just what his actions had cost Emily but chose not to say any more about the topic. In any case, Benedict was right—hehadpushed Emily into the arms of a monster. Firstly, by teaching her how to capture his attention, and when she had succeeded, he allowed her to fall victim to the man’s machinations. He should have known better than to presume that she would be all right flirting with skilled seducers.
Like a lamb wandering into a den of snakes, he thought to himself, shaking his head.
Since it was mostly his fault that Emily was such in a precarious situation then he was duty-bound to get heroutof it—and Daniel did not mind setting the Viscount of Caney down by a peg or four while he was at it.
I never thought I would one day have to play the role of a hero, he mused to himself.
It would seem that Lady Emily Montgomery had not only managed to learn how to skillfully attract a man with her own brand of flirtation—she was also quite adept at bringing out the latent tendencies within him that he had long since thought were dead.
The Duke of Gilleton, fighting for a woman’s honor—who would have thought?
His father must be rolling in his grave at the mere notion of it, and Daniel found himself thoroughly pleased with the idea of his dearly departed sire in eternal unrest.
CHAPTER22
“Damn it, Caney, leave some for us, too!”
