castle. That dreadful man Gedding, for example. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
Betsy rolled her eyes. “He’s sixty if he’s a day, Aunt.”
“Cruelty is not bounded by age. By the way, I want to see you at breakfast tomorrow morning, no matter how long you fool around in the billiard room.”
“I’ll be there,” Betsy said, sighing. “Lady Betsy” was always among the first at breakfast, face shining, ribbons in her hair, a cheerful smile on her lips.
She rarely saw Jeremy at that hour.
Not that the fact was relevant. Whatever Aunt Knowe thought about it, he probably spent his mornings sleeping off a heavy head after drinking all that whisky.
Likely she would find him in the billiard room, passed out under the table again.
She dropped into a curtsy and bid her aunt good night. If Jeremy was lying on the floor she would prod him with her toe and prove that he was inert with drink.
At a nod from Betsy, the family butler hastened to her side. “Could you spare a footman to accompany me to the billiard room, Prism?” Betsy asked. “My aunt feels I should be escorted, given the number of guests in the castle.”
“She is quite right,” he replied. “Carper.” A tall footman appeared at his shoulder. “Wait for Her Ladyship to finish a game of billiards and accompany her to the door of her bedchamber.”
He turned back to Betsy. “I shall inform your lady’s maid that you will not return for an hour or so.”
“Please give her my apologies,” Betsy said, uncomfortably aware that Winnie wouldn’t go to her own chamber until she returned.
“Very kind of you, Lady Betsy,” Prism said. “Winnie will be happy to rest on the truckle bed until you return.”
Betsy nodded and took off down the corridor, trailed by a silent young man with a thatch of yellow hair. As a girl, she thought she liked blond men better than dark-haired ones. But there was something wrong about men with yellow hair. It took away from their . . .
Their manhood.
She pushed the thought away.
Chapter Six
On the way, Betsy decided that if Jeremy Roden was still in the billiard room, she would retire to her chamber.
Of course, she could order him to leave instead.
She was a daughter of the house and if she wanted to play a game of billiards alone—as she often did, late at night—she had a right to the room.
The sad fact was that wicked men were interesting and good ones were boring. Thaddeus, with his kindly eyes and generous mouth, with his title and excellent estate, was so boring.
And Jeremy . . . wasn’t.
God knew why he was often found in the billiard room, since he refused to play her or anyone else. She suspected it was because the room was so quiet. Her older brother North used to haunt the room, but now he was in love, and that drew him to other games.
Ha.
Betsy walked into the room, leaving Carper in the passageway outside. The lamp was burning brightly over the table, just as she’d left it. She glanced immediately at the corner where Jeremy had been lurking.
The chair was unoccupied, the bottle on the floor beside his empty glass.
She was glad, of course. He was outrageously rude and what’s more, he refused to play her at billiards.
Sometimes she felt as if billiards was the only thing that gave her any interest in life. Unlike the balls that made up the Season, each new game offered a challenge. She walked over to the rack and picked up her favorite cue.
She would play one game and then retire to bed. A smile involuntarily formed on her lips as she took up the cue. It was made of rosewood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl butterflies. More importantly, it had a perfect weight and slid like silk through her fingers. And best of all, her brother Alaric had brought it home from China for her, even though she had been a very young girl at that point, and girls were not supposed to play.
Yet Alaric and North had never excluded her from the room. For a moment, loneliness flashed through her, but she pushed it away. It was absurd to feel alone when the castle was filled to the brim with guests, not to mention her own relatives. If flesh and blood didn’t suit, North and Parth had both managed to snare funny, charming women who would be happy to chat.
Except, given as it was well past midnight, those women were likely cuddled