She pursed her lips as she fought not to shiver. The Duke of Gilmore was not going to make her shiver. Not tonight.
Not ever.
Nathan flexed his hand over and over, shaking it out as he entered the billiard room. He could still feel the pressure of Abigail’s fingers against his palm and it was most distracting. There had been a moment there when they were standing close together, when her eyes had held his, when he had only seen her as a beautiful woman, not the ice princess who viewed him at his worst, no matter what he did.
He forced his attention to his surroundings in the hope that it would quiet his stirring thoughts. The other men were already pouring port, setting up a game of billiards on the table and talking loudly. He smiled and joked with a few as he passed farther into the room and found Rhys at the sideboard.
He took the port the earl offered and clinked glasses with his friend as they surveyed the room together quietly. “Is it going as you’d like?”
He knew the answer even before Rhys frowned slightly. “I am happy for those who came tonight, but…” He trailed off and took a drink.
“You invited some of the old gang, I assume?” Nathan asked.
Rhys shrugged one shoulder. “I did. Gottard and his new viscountess, the Earl of Yarrowood, a few of the others. I got no response at all, not to decline nor to accept. The cut direct.”
Nathan gripped his glass a little harder as a pulse of rage rippled through him. “Pricks.”
“The message is clear, I fear,” Rhys said. “And the path back to any kind of acceptance after what Erasmus did to the women…did to our family…did to—to me…it will be long and hard and perhaps not end where I’d like it to.”
Nathan clapped him on the arm and squeezed gently. “Don’t despair. You aren’t alone in this, you know. I’m here, and I will use every bit of influence I have to help.”
Rhys smiled at him. “To your detriment, perhaps.”
Nathan shook his head. “I don’t care.”
“Hmmm,” Rhys murmured, and took another drink. “I’m going to change this painful subject, if you don’t mind.”
“To what? The game I’m about to trounce you at?” Nathan laughed.
Rhys glared at him playfully. “No. I want to talk to you about how you and Abigail were talking intently and then you escorted her after supper. Is she no longer your nemesis?”
Nathan rolled his eyes. “If she were my nemesis, I’d have to waste a good deal of time thinking about her.”
“Which you don’t,” Rhys said.
“No.”
Rhys finished his drink with a chuckle. “So you say.”
Nathan set his own half-finished glass on the sideboard and folded his arms. “I say and I mean it. The woman means nothing to me, and I nothing to her. Tonight we had a conversation and placed a wager, that’s all.”
“You…” Rhys blinked, confusion clear in his gaze. “You wagered with Abigail?”
Now that the words were repeated back to him, Nathan heard how they sounded. Wagering with a lady wasn’t exactly done—it made their relationship sound intimate in some way.
“It was a foolish moment. She goaded me into it.” He pursed his lips as he hoped Rhys would drop the subject. After all, there was no need to discuss it further. He certainly didn’t want his friend to know that he had asked Abigail to extend the wager before he parted ways with her in the hallway.
The earl looked to have no desire to change the subject, though. He arched a brow and drew a breath to say more, but before he could, one of the men at the billiard table called out, “Gilmore ought to show us!”
Nathan turned toward the table. It was Sir Richard who spoke. and he was holding out the cue toward Nathan. “Show you what?” Nathan asked with a half-smile.
“You’re the one with all the trick shots,” Sir Richard clarified. “Come now, show us.”
Nathan moved toward them with a laugh. What a relief to escape the subject of Abigail. Rhys was clearly reading far too much into the conversation. A break from it was best.
Besides, he did enjoy showing off his skills at billiards. He’d spent a great many hours as a young man learning all manner of tricks. He took the cue and leaned over the table to see the alignment of the balls and measure out what he would do.
And he smiled. Abigail had used her superior knowledge of the situation tonight to