LITMIR.BIZ

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Not that we’re half so wild now. Gabe’s all mellow with his Thea, me soon to be with Clary. Settles a man, having a woman in his life.”

      “And me, Rigby?” Darby asked.

      “Don’t even attempt to answer that,” Coop warned, still trying to shake off his doldrums.

      “I agree. I might be put to the blush. All right, Coop, you said you’re going to tell us something. We’re more than ready to listen.”

      “I learned something about myself today. I’d already figured out some of it, or else I’d have to condemn myself as a bastard, but it truly wasn’t until I heard the crack of that shot that it hit me squarely between the eyes, nearly jolting me from my seat.”

      “But the ball missed. Didn’t come anywhere near your eyes.”

      “Rigby, let the man speak.”

      “Sorry. Go on.”

      “No, that’s all right. I’m the one being melodramatic here. It...it’s just all so new to me.” He looked at his friends once more. “I realized, in just that split second, that if I died today, my only regret would be leaving Dany. And...and if she had died today, I’d have no reason to go on.”

      Rigby put a hand on Coop’s forearm. “I understand.”

      “Unfortunately,” Darby said, “so do I. And it’s my fault. It was my plan to have you two engage in that sham betrothal. How will you ever convince your Miss Foster that you truly love her? That’s what this is all about tonight. You’re intent on stopping Ferdie, yes. We all are. But for you, there’s a separate problem. Because, although it’s most certainly obvious to us that you love the woman—yes, even to me—it may not be quite so visible to her. I’m sorry.”

      “Now I don’t understand,” Rigby said. “The truth should serve well enough. Just tell her, Coop. Tell her. Do you want me to...?”

      “No!” The answer came from both Coop and Darby.

      “There’s more,” Coop said, lacing his fingers together, squeezing until his knuckles turned white. “All I wanted to do was deliver Dany and Harry to her sister and then drive straight off to run Ferdie to ground, and wring his neck. I was seeing the world through a red haze of anger, and it took everything within me to return here, wait for the two of you to talk me out of throwing away every happiness I might hope for, just for the satisfaction of seeing that bastard dead.”

      “See? He’s still the sensible one,” Rigby said, sounding satisfied. “You did just right, Coop. You always do. Now, what do we do?”

      Coop reached across the table and picked up the wine bottle. As he raised it to his lips, he smiled. “Now, you see, Rigby, I was hoping you might have the answer to that question. You’ve been bloody brilliant so far.”

      His friend blushed to the roots of his hair. “Yes, I have been, haven’t I? Although it was Clary who first complained that things certainly would be easier all ’round if we could pen the third volume. I pointed out that we’d need a printer for that, and she, dearest, dearest Clary, gave me a slap on the arm and said, ‘Well, then, Jerry, let’s go find ourselves one.’”

      “You’re marrying above yourself, friend,” Darby commented drily. “Did she happen to mention how we’re to rid Coop of his nemesis?”

      “No.” Rigby’s chin sank into his neck cloth. “I asked, mind you, but she said she’d been brilliant enough for one day and her shoes pinched so I should take her back to the duchess. Perhaps tomorrow I could apply to her again?”

      “I don’t think there’s anything more we can do tonight, in any case,” Coop told them quickly, before Darby could comment on their friend’s last statement. “Unless you two are of a mind to climb Ferdie’s gutter pipe and take a turn at housebreaking. There’s still the matter of the countess’s letters to retrieve, remember? I doubt Ferdie will hand them over willingly.”

      Darby gestured down at his well-cut evening clothes. “I fear I’m not dressed for the occasion. I hesitated to mention it earlier, but it appears you’ve both forgotten Lady Huddleston’s ball this evening. As his lordship is known to keep a high-stakes card room to amuse the gentlemen, most everyone will be there, either to gamble or to watch.”

      “Including Ferdie,” Coop said, his mind already whirling. He was beginning to feel better, even if not fully in charge of himself quite yet. It was good to have his anger behind him, his fear for Dany behind him. And Darby and Rigby had patiently waited for him to come back to his senses. He couldn’t have better friends. “And if he’s there, then housebreaking doesn’t sound all that impossible. Rigby, are you up for a small adventure?”

      “Not yet nine. I’d told our friends here we’d give you until ten to come up with a plan. Congratulations. Rigby, I believe I owe you ten quid.” Darby was already getting to his feet. “Now, since I’m the only one dressed for it, I’ll adjourn to Lady Huddleston’s, and keep an eye on Ferdie. What do you say? Two hours for you to locate and recover the countess’s correspondence? But not a minute more. If he surprises me and leaves the ball before that, you’ll have forced me to trip him on the stairs or some such thing. Not that I’d be crushed to have to appear so clumsy.”

      “Agreed.” Coop put out his hand above the table and the other two clapped their hands atop it.

      And then, suddenly, there was a fourth hand capping the others.

      “‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,’” Gabe Sinclair said, as was the friends’ custom before battles during the late war.

      “Gabe! How the devil did you...?”

      “Get in here? Quite easily, old friend. Or did you forget you stationed Sergeant Major Ames outside your door while you all sat in here like brood hens, hatching plans. You have hatched a plan, I take it?”

      “Yes, but first tell us how you knew we’d be here.”

      “Uncle Basil summoned me, saying I was missing all the fun. Thea’s with the ladies, and Minerva directed me here as a hopefully good starting point. I met your Miss Foster, Coop, and was given strict instructions to guard your back, and that the letters—whatever they are—must be recovered by tomorrow morning. She said you’d understand.”

      Oliver must be closer than we’d hoped. As for her finding her way to the duchess? He had to resign himself—Dany did what she did for reasons privy only to her.

      “Yes, I understand. Thank you. At least I know where she is.”

      “Don’t thank me. She wouldn’t let me leave until I’d promised to tell you. Not precisely shy and retiring, is she? Very unlike anyone I would have supposed you’d choose, when you finally got around to it. I like her. Oh, and Rigby, Clarice informed me that you’re to hightail it back to the ladies, with the mission of delivering an opus to Paternoster Row. I didn’t ask questions, not once Minerva told me our friend here was shot at today. Now that I’ve fulfilled my role as messenger, what are we going to do about that pernicious gray worm?”

      Coop glanced at the mantel clock. “I’ll explain on the way. Gentlemen?”

      It was good to be moving again; he’d sat and stewed and wrestled with the unfamiliar feeling of helplessness long enough.

      Within moments, Rigby was on his way to the ladies, Darby was off to the ball and he and Gabe were in the back of a hackney cab and en route to Ferdie’s residence.

      They left the hackney a block from the Lanisford mansion and proceeded on foot, turning down an alleyway so that they could approach from the mews.

      But then Coop stopped, putting out an arm to halt Gabe’s progress, as well. “No. We go to the front door. I’ll be damned if the man will turn me into a housebreaker, let alone the future Duke of Cranbrook.”

      “Hopefully, unless the Cranbrook curse my uncle is so worried about is true, I have a long time

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