“Very well. I hope your life brings you everything you wish for, Mr. Dillinger. G-good day.”
She walked around him and left, and this time he let her, telling himself it was the right thing to do even though the searing pain in his chest suggested otherwise.
Chapter 14
Turning left out of the market, Daniel jammed his hands into his pockets and lowered his head so he didn’t have to make eye contact with anyone. He had no wish to converse or even be civil. He felt like he was raw and bleeding inside. Pent-up rage and frustration rolled around inside him.
He couldn’t attribute it all to Abby. There was Oliver also, and the dark cauldron of angst he carried inside him still, many years after his brother had left home. It wasn’t rational to feel this way, especially as he’d worshipped and loved the man forever. But it was there.
“I must deal with this,” Daniel muttered, crossing the street. You’re strong; push it away. Be the calm, rational Dillinger once more. He was not a man to brood. Yes, he had a darkness inside him, but he would wager there were not many who didn’t. Why now could he not stomp these feelings back down inside him?
“Well now, if it isn’t young Dillinger.”
“Just Daniel will do,” he snapped to Benjamin Hetherington. “And there are not that many years between us that I am ‘young Dillinger.’”
Ben’s hands shot into the air as if surrendering. Brother to Lord Levermarch, Ben had been Oliver’s friend for years, and was now his. He was a twin, and he and his brother were entirely different people in both looks and personality.
“Why are you testy?” Ben studied him through nutmeg-brown eyes. Not as tall as he, he was of solid build, and Daniel knew this was because he liked to box, unlike his twin, Alex, who liked to fence.
“The lapel of your jacket is tucked under.” One thing he’d noticed about Ben was that he was not as elegantly turned out as others. Often his buttons were done up incorrectly or his shirt points curled.
“Better?” He flicked it out with a finger.
Daniel nodded.
“Now, back to my question. Why are you testy?”
“I am not testy,” Daniel snapped, confirming that in fact he was.
“That sounded testy to me.”
“You’ll forgive me, as I am not in the best of moods and therefore not good company. Good day to you, Mr. Hetherington.”
“Just Ben.” He fell in beside Daniel as he attempted to stalk away. “You look in need of an outlet for your ill humors, and I will happily oblige. Come, I am to fence with Alex, and while he is the better of the two of us, I beat him last week and plan to do so again.”
“No, thank you.”
“You fence, and according to your older brother, very well. In fact, he said that last week you beat your instructor.”
In fact Daniel did fence, and the reason for that was because he’d seen a display once. The elegance of the sport had intrigued him, just as the flute had, so much so that when Oliver had suggested he try, he had. He now had lessons regularly with his tutor, Pierre.
“I have work to do, if you’ll excuse me.”
“And yet here you are, walking aimlessly with a dark look on your face.”
“I rarely walk anywhere aimlessly.” Daniel was snarling now. “I walk from one place to another. I never have the luxury of ambling.”
“Whereas I amble constantly and rarely have any direction?” There was a bite to Ben’s words that had Daniel stopping.
“I’m sorry, please forgive me.” He sighed. “That did not come out as it should have, Ben. I’ve had a somewhat challenging day, and as you can see am not fit company. Please excuse me.”
Ben studied him, not unlike Abby had. Don’t think of her.
“Do you know, I don’t believe I have ever seen you anything but calm. It is interesting that you appear to have a great deal of suppressed emotion inside you.”
“I do not have suppressed emotion.”
“Of course you do. It’s there in the tightness of your expression and the way your hands are jammed into your pockets.”
“Ben.” Daniel found himself sighing again, for possibly the umpteenth time that day.
“Alex said to me he thought you were in fact the most amiable man he knew. Strange how today that does not appear to be the case.”
“Excellent. It is my life’s ambition to be amiable.”
“But not today,” Ben clarified, which just annoyed Daniel more.