had faded and she’d become a woman who looked at him with a woman’s eyes—disapproving ones. She’d been fifteen, and he’d been heading to Mayfair to steal from a wicked viscount who’d littered the world with bastards whom he didn’t take care of. Stealing from one such as that had made complete sense to Dare . . . but had been a decision Temperance hadn’t understood.
From that moment, it was as though she had grown up. And they were destined to never see eye to eye again—not on how he lived his life or how he came by the money he did. Gone was the girl who’d looked adoringly up at him and to him. In her place had come a woman—one who knew her own mind and with opinions as big and bold as her spirit. The greatest chasm between them had been about Dare’s existence. That which she’d once admired him for, she’d come to disdain.
Over the years, their debates had been fierce and volatile. Ultimately, they’d always found their way back together, where he and Temperance arrived at a truce, an agreement that had ended the conflict and restored them to the friends they’d always been.
This latest truce between him and Temperance, however, had proven their shortest.
Though in fairness, none of this had really gone as he’d expected.
There’d been a betrothal . . . That part he’d not been anticipating.
What did you expect?
As such, Temperance was likely already packed and prepared to leave, and he would be left trying to meet the duke’s terms on his own. The twenty thousand pounds he risked losing with her departure should have commanded all his attentions, but it did not.
“Ahem.”
That distinct clearing of someone’s throat brought Dare’s restless journey to a stop.
He turned back and found his butler there.
“I thought to inquire as to whether you required anything, my lord.”
“No. That is . . . I am quite well.” Clasping his hands behind him, he made to enter his office.
“Ahhhem.”
Dare stopped.
Bloody hell. What now?
Spencer hovered in the hall.
The day having been what it had, he should have anticipated he’d not even have peace in this. Clearly, the other man wanted to say something. “What is it?”
“I . . . thought I might offer you my services, my lord.”
“I don’t require any—”
“I didn’t necessarily speak to . . . my regular responsibilities. I have some familiarity with His and Her Grace, as well as their . . . your . . . family.”
Dare grinned wryly. “Had there also been a familiarity with the fact that I had a betrothed, along with her parents, waiting for me before I introduced them to my wife, that would be helpful information in the future.”
Spencer nodded frantically. “I’ll endeavor to do better. I was more than a bit at sea, given the circumstances. I didn’t know how to explain any of it in front of Her Ladyship.”
“That makes two of us,” he muttered under his breath.
“What was that, my lord?”
“Nothing,” he said, stealing a glance at the hall clock. “Thank you for the off—”
Only the butler wasn’t done. “I was speaking about my tenure with your family.” Oh, bloody hell. This was how he was to spend his night, then? With a cataloging of the butler’s tenure? “If I may?”
Dare followed the other man’s gesture to the hall bench, and then it occurred . . . He was asking that they . . . sit. And worse, that request indicated Spencer had no intention of leaving.
He and the butler spoke as one.
“I do have matters of—”
“Thank you,” Spencer said and settled himself onto the bench, staring expectantly up at Dare.
The other man had no intention of leaving. Tamping down a sigh, Dare forced himself to sit.
“My role as butler is a relatively new one . . . for me. Not for my family. Although I expect that may come as some level of surprise.” Spencer stared back. Something was clearly expected of Dare here.
Lost, however, as to what that expectation was, Dare shook his head slowly.
That appeared sufficient reply enough.
Spencer smoothed his already flawless lapels. “My father served in His and Her Grace’s country estate in Yorkshire.” Once again, he looked to Dare. Spencer nodded his head ever so slightly.
“I . . . see.”
Alas, Dare still saw nothing.
“I’ve only recently been brought to your London townhouse. The idea was that I would offer some . . . familiarity to you.”
He didn’t. But Dare wasn’t one to deliberately hurt or offend, and as such, he kept