“Well, thank you. Busy, busy, of course. Yourself?”
“I’m very well, thanks. You’ve met my cousin, Gabriella?” He motioned to her on his left.
“Yes, we’ve met. Lady Gabriella, it’s a pleasure to see you again.” Matthew nodded his head.
Gabi stood to accept his greeting of a kiss on the cheek. “Please, just Gabriella, Lord Bennett.”
“Then just Matt.” He smiled at her.
“And I don’t suppose you’ve met my… plus one… for the evening, Adelaide?” Alex indicated to me, and I stood up. “Adelaide, this is Matthew Bennett, The Earl of Anglesey. Matt, this is Adelaide Astley, daughter of Lady Victoria Astley and niece of the Duke of Leicester.”
“It’s lovely to meet you, Lord Bennett,” I said politely.
He took my hand and kissed it. “The pleasure is all mine, Miss Astley. Do please call me Matt.”
“Then please call me Adelaide,” I returned with a smile to match his.
“You look rather familiar. I do believe I was just accosted at the bar by someone who looks very similar to you.”
I grimaced as Gabi laughed. “Cream jumpsuit?”
“Yes.”
“That’ll be my twin sister, Evangeline. Sorry about her. I think there were limited manners on offer the day we were born, and God skipped her over.”
He laughed and threw his head back. “On the contrary, I quite enjoyed it. I’ve half a mind to return to the bar and see if she’ll do it again.”
Alex laughed. “He’s a bit like Eva. Don’t worry about him.”
Oh, no.
I didn’t need two of them around.
“Come and sit with us for a moment,” Alex said to Matt. “Let’s catch up.”
Everyone moved to sit, but Timothy chose that moment to announce himself. “Adelaide. Terribly sorry to interrupt.”
“Tim. Of course not.” Matt clapped him on the shoulder then sat down. “You’re all acquainted, I assume?”
“We are,” Alex said a little tightly, looking up at him. “It’s been a while. How are you?”
“Very well, thank you. And yourself?”
Small talk was such a bore.
“Yes, fine, thank you. You know my cousin, Gabriella?”
“We saw each other just this week.” Timothy kissed her hand. “Thank you for passing my number on, by the way.”
Gabi smiled. “Of course. I said I would, and a lady always keeps her word.”
“I don’t suppose I could be rude and steal Adelaide away from you, could I? I do owe her a drink and have for quite some time now.”
“Of course,” Alex said, his tone just as tight as it was before.
Did they not get along?
“I’ll find you soon,” I said, touching Gabi’s shoulder. “If I don’t see you again, it was a pleasure to meet you, Matt.”
He dipped his head towards me. “The pleasure was all mine.”
I held up my hand and turned away. Timothy put his hand on my back to guide me and pointed towards the bar.
“Just over there. I’ve saved us a spot nearby.”
“Perfect.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN – ALEXANDER
Timothy fucking Hargreaves.
Of all the men in this room she could be having a drink with, it was that bastard.
Not that it was any of my business. Adelaide was here as nothing more than my friend, and she was at perfect liberty to have a drink with whomever she pleased.
I just hated that it was that rotten bastard.
My stomach tightened as I watched them walk away together. Her in that bloody dress that had me thinking things I shouldn’t be thinking about was bad enough without watching Tim put his hands on her.
All he was doing was pressing his hand to her back to guide her to the bar, but I wanted to rip his fingers off one by one and throw them at him.
“Alexander, you’re drooling.”
I jerked my head around to see Gabriella pull a strawberry out of a fresh glass of champagne.
“You can see it from the other side of the room,” Eva noted, tilting her to the side and staring at me curiously. “I can’t decide if he’s drooling or frothing with anger.”
“What on Earth are you talking about?” I said, grabbing my glass. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“I don’t know, mate,” Matt said, staring after Adelaide and Tim. “You do look like you want to throw something at him.”
“Can’t stand the man,” I replied. “Never have been able to, not since that rugby game in year ten.”
Gabi frowned. “The one where you broke your arm?”
“He broke my arm.”
“You have a grudge on him because he broke your arm?”
“You wouldn’t hold a grudge if someone did?” I queried.
Eva grinned, leaning back in her chair. “I don’t think it’s about the broken arm. I think it’s about who is on his arm.”
I shot her a look. “I don’t know where you’re going with this, but I daresay you’re going to find yourself at a dead end.”
“You do know you’ve been staring at her all night, don’t you?” Eva continued. “And when we came down and found you in the lobby, I thought we were interrupting something quite private.”