had once again slammed out of the house just minutes later. He was now choosing to make himself absent from dinner this evening. As was Chloe.
Benedict was unsure what to do about it.
Julius’s glance was sympathetic. “Beatrix was very pleased to see me, and am I wrong in thinking she is so much happier than she has been for some time?”
“She is, yes,” he confirmed.
“Ladies,” Julius continued, “and it would appear some gentlemen,” he added dryly, “do not, as a rule, care for unexpected surprises. Especially ones where they feel their privacy has been invaded.”
He scowled. “I believe I have managed to ascertain that for myself, thank you. Damn it, I was only trying to help when I sent you that second letter, explaining what else I had learned about Jimmy and Chloe.” He stood up restlessly.
The other man grinned wryly at his obvious irritability. “Miss Gordon is an exceeding beautiful young lady.”
His eyes narrowed. “And?”
Julius’s expression turned deceptively innocent. “I was merely making an observation.”
Benedict released a heavy sigh. “I am no good at dealing with the emotions of others, Julius.”
To his credit, Julius managed to hold back his humor this time. “You are no good at discerning your own emotions either.”
“What do you mean by that?”
The other man gave him a pointed glance but added nothing to his previous statement, preferring to take another sip of his whisky instead.
Benedict glared at his friend and then immediately felt childish for doing so. He had asked Julius for his assistance. It was only natural the other man should now have an interest in the two people Benedict had asked him to make enquiries about.
Something Benedict had not taken into account when he made that request to Julius was that Jimmy would feel Benedict had overstepped the boundaries of their friendship and Chloe would be angry with him for the same reason.
How was he supposed to help either of them without this knowledge?
“I believe you might—I know you would feel the same way,” Julius corrected, “if the positions had been reversed.”
Benedict had no idea he had spoken the previous words out loud until Julius answered them.
His friend was right, of course. Benedict had reacted very badly to learning that Jimmy had been so curious about Beatrix, he had visited her in the east wing without Benedict’s knowledge or permission to do so.
Because of that, he now realized where he had gone wrong with this situation too. Chloe and Jimmy were not ungrateful for his assistance. They merely wished he had consulted them about things which affected the two of them before he had acted. Such as writing a second letter to Julius with the new information about them to aid in the other man’s investigations into both their pasts.
“Dinner is served, my lord.”
He turned to look blankly at Carlton as the butler stood expectantly in the doorway. “Could you send one of the maids to check if Miss Gordon will be joining us? And perhaps a footman to the stables to do the same with regard to Mr. Brown?” He shot Julius a grimace when the other man choked slightly on a swallow of whisky.
Carlton looked startled. “Miss Gordon and Mr. Brown departed some hours ago, my lord.”
“Departed to where?”
“The estate, my lord.”
Benedict gave a shake of his head. “I’m sorry, but I thought you said…” His brow furrowed into a deep frown as he sat forward. “Miss Gordon and Mr. Brown left the house and estate earlier?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“To go where?”
“They did not say, my lord.”
Benedict’s fingers gripped the glass in his hand so tightly, they were in danger of shattering it. “Why the fuck did you not come to me the moment they announced their plan of leaving?”
Carlton, having never heard Benedict so much as raise his voice until earlier this afternoon, now widened his eyes at his aggression and language. “They did not announce it, my lord. They simply left.”
“How?”
“I have since learned that Mr. Brown made enquiries of the household staff, and, armed with that knowledge, I believe he and Miss Gordon walked the mile or so into Tipperton, where a public coach was expected to arrive at seven o’clock this evening and then, shortly thereafter, depart for London.”
“Fucking hell!” Benedict exploded, not needing to look at his pocket watch to know that it was now gone eight o’clock and his two “guests” were long gone. “And did none of you have enough sense to come to me the moment Mr. Brown began making those enquiries?”
“Benedict!”
He turned