mind. Today was not the day for such thinking. Aubrey and Lucinda were signing the parish register, and would soon be ready to depart for the wedding breakfast. He would eat and drink champagne and bask in Aubrey’s happiness, and he would forget about this until later, when yet another sleepless night would plague him.
He turned to find Dominick striding past him, his long legs propelling him at an alarming speed. Benedict’s pulse spiked as he followed, his head echoing with bells of alarm.
“Nick?”
He didn’t respond, hands balled into fists as he pressed on. Benedict trotted to catch up, taking the other man by the collar of his coat and yanking him back.
“Nick, where the bloody hell are you going?”
Dominick whirled on him, batting aside Benedict’s hand. Fire blazed in his eyes, green sparks coming alive where before his irises had been deadened by grief. His mouth was a tight, determined line, and he radiated certainty and purpose.
This couldn’t be good.
“I’m sorry, Ben. I have to go to her.”
“What?”
Benedict flinched as several heads turned in their direction, but he lowered his voice and said, “Have you lost your mind?”
“It’s not too late. I have to talk to her, make her understand that I cannot live without her. I can’t simply stand back—”
“It is too late!” Benedict bellowed, forgetting about the other wedding guests milling about. Making a scene became the very least of his concerns.
A muscle in his jaw ticked, and he leveled a determined glare at Ben. “It isn’t too late. There’s still a chance.”
“Don’t be a fool, Nick.”
Dominick took hold of his shoulders. “I have to try, or I’ll regret it every day for the rest of my life. Can’t you stop being such a cold bastard for one minute and put yourself in my place?”
Benedict’s knuckles cracked as he flexed and clenched his hands, his skin growing hot. “I have been in your place. Do you want to know how it turned out? Much the way this is going to end for you.”
Dominick shook his head and began to back away. “No. No, I don’t accept that.”
With that, he turned and took off at a run, dodging a few pedestrians before picking up speed. Benedict bit back a string of curses, trying to appear composed as he turned to find Hugh and David looking on, their faces showing confusion and curiosity.
“Tell Aubrey I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’ll have Nick with me.”
Without waiting for a response, he set off after Dominick. Teeth gritted as he ran, he rethought his earlier assessment of today’s occasion.
It was official. Now he really hated weddings.
Chapter 1
London, 3 months earlier …
“This time of year, London is overrun with desperate spinsters. Now that last Season’s crop of desirable debutantes has gone off on honeymoon trips with their new husbands, the dowdy and the forgotten may have their pick of the leavings.”
The London Gossip, 20 August , 1819
“Miss Barrington, surely you must know how much I’ve come to enjoy your company.”
Calliope Barrington offered a diffident smile to the man who had spent the past half hour overflowing with effusive compliments and poetic speech. Much to her surprise, Mr. Rufus Gordon had spent several weeks dancing attention on her. They’d made one another’s acquaintance through their fathers, who were old school friends. He was only ten years her senior, was neither handsome nor ugly, tall nor short, fat nor slender. He might just be the blandest man she’d ever met, quite easy to overlook or forget.
But, she had long grown past her years of aspiration and girlish fancy. At two-and-twenty, Calliope had reached the age of practicality.
“You are kind to say so, Mr. Gordon,” she replied, coming to a stop as he steered them off the Hyde Park path and onto a patch of grass beneath a large tree. Her sister remained in their shadow, close enough to keep them in her sights, but far enough to be out of earshot. “I, too, have enjoyed coming to know you.”
A bald-faced lie. The man was as boring as he looked, and a bit pompous to make matters worse. But, he was unwed and interested, and beggars could not be choosers.
He beamed his pleasure at her words. “I think we get on well, Miss Barrington. So well that I believe the time has come for us to speak of furthering our friendship, as it were. I find you to be both beautiful and companionable, and I think of you often when we are apart.