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“I was indeed.” He gave the scout’s three-fingered salute. “I was a well-behaved child. It wasn’t until I got to university that I went off the rails.”
“Right, I think the definition of well-behaved might be open to debate.”
Ben chuckled. “True, especially if you ask my mother. But I do want to meet with the scouts, so I dare say the timing can be rejigged.”
“But you are going to have to decide between the other two. One is a charitable dinner in aid of local youth homelessness and the other is…” He squinted at the scene. “The birthday of Kiki Bounce?”
“Ah, Kiki, an old friend of mine.”
He guessed what sort of friend, and a quick internet search confirmed she wasn’t in the balloon industry, and he didn’t think this would be a hard decision. “So you’re going to respectfully decline Ms Bounce’s invitation, I take it. Given recent gossip, the Earl of Crofton skipping out on a benefit for homeless kids to have a night out with a retired professional dominatrix wouldn’t be the best idea.”
“I didn’t know she’d retired.”
“Hardly the point.”
Ben cleared his throat. “I daresay Ashley wouldn’t have been too thrilled either. I was only planning to pop in and give the birthday girl my best wishes.”
“I think you can do that with a nice bouquet of flowers. Would you like me to instruct the florist?”
“Yes, good plan.”
Alex wrote himself an action on his phone. “I’ll check your calendar for a date sooner than later for the scouts and let the troop leader know.”
He opened the folder he’d brought with him. “I have a few letters for your attention, and a number of negotiations of contracts relating to suppliers for the wedding ventures.”
Ben was back to staring at his monitor. “Ben?”
“Oh, sorry, it’s just the other thing I have is this bachelor auction. It’s in a couple of months but I thought it had disappeared.”
Rather than try to search Ben’s calendar he came around the side of the desk to see. Sure enough, there was an invite from the Countess of Malsberry entitledHOTTIES FOR SALE – GET YOUR WALLETS OUT TO FIGHT CANCER!!!!!
“That’s a rather excessive amount of exclamation marks and capital letters.”
“Mel is quite the character. And extremely hard to say no to.” Ben frowned. “There seems to be a rehearsal before as well.”
“Had you agreed to do this?”
“I think so, sort of… but that was ages ago, before I got married. I’m no longer a bachelor, so I guess I could use that as an excuse.”
Ben looked hopeful but in Alex’s experience, people who used that many exclamation marks would not be swayed by logic. “Unlikely to be successful. I do hear these sorts of things are fun, with strict rules, are you sure you don’t want to take part?”
“I have been on sale before—I was very popular. But that was several years back and I was not attached.” He smirked and Alex did not want to know what had gone on. “I could speak to Ashley, obviously if he gives his blessing then, and it is for a good cause, I could do it.”
Alex did not think Ashley would bless any part of this and they would need a backup plan. “In the unlikely event that your husband won’t want to see you pimped out to half of the Home Counties, perhaps we could offer up an alternative sacrifice.”
“It would have to be top-notch. Mel’s not the type to accept a poor replacement.”
“Given your network, surely there’d be someone.”
Ben hummed. “Most of them know Mel and, if they have any sense, they’d politely refuse.”
“Talk to Ashley and, if it’s a no, we can put our heads together and find a replacement.”
He spent the next hour steering Ben into signing documents, and sending emails in the right tone to avoid a response or a reschedule. Sometimes Ben was too nice, or vague, or obscure and he’d learnt the hard way that not being direct enough caused more issues.
Another hour later, he’d got Ben sorted, had cleared out his to-do list and it was already after six. He would just have time to get back to his rooms, change and make sure everything was tidy for Dorian.
Alex scolded himself as he raced around repositioning things that didn’t need it, he should never have agreed to let Dorian into his private space, not when there were plenty of other options in a house the size of Crofton Hall.
