Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Well, you aren’t yourself today,” Theodore commented, stepping back to the edge of the boxing ring and raising his eyebrows at Hector. “You had a perfect shot at me, and you didn’t take it. It’s as if you’re not even present. How do you account for it?”
Hector frowned. “I dinnae realize we’d come here for ye to give yer opinion on me behavior.”
“I’m your friend, aren’t I?”
“And what of that? Friendship means I’m required to hear yer assessment of me boxin'? Friendship means that ye can call me to account for a bad day in the ring?”
Theodore folded his arms across his chest and waited.
“He’s right, Hector,” Gabriel said. “I’ve noticed it as well. You’re not yourself. Usually you’re the strongest of any of us, but today it seems as though your mind is simply not on what you’re doing.”
“You don’t have to answer the question,” Theodore said. “But I ask you this—what kind of friend would I be if I saw you suffering and didn’t even attempt to find out what was going on?”
“And who said I was sufferin'?”
There was no answer to that.
Hector sighed. “I have a few things on me mind, that’s all it is. Nothing for ye to trouble yerselves about.”
“The rumors,” Cedric chimed in sagely.
Hector frowned. “Rumors?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t heard? I would have thought everyone in the city had heard those rumors,” Cedric chuckled.”
“Ye best tell me what rumors ye mean.” Hector cracked his knuckles, but he knew by the smirks on his friends’ faces that he hadn’t seemed threatening in the least.
Cedric glanced at Theodore. “Do you want to tell him, or me?”
“Well, someone had better tell me.”
“All right, all right, don’t lose your temper.” Cedric grinned. “What they’re saying is that you and the duchess have fallen in love.”
“That’s mad,” Hector said quickly.
“Is it? I don’t know. You do seem highly distracted, you know, and while I know you said you didn’t have those feelings for her, such things have been known to happen unplanned. Tell me, how do things stand between yourself and your duchess these days?”
“She’s perfectly satisfactory to me,” Hector said stiffly.
But satisfactory was not the word for what he felt, of course—not really.
The truth was that he hadn’t been able to focus on the boxing match because all his attention had been on the memory of their dancing lessons, and of what it had felt like to hold her in his arms. That was a thing he’d not be forgetting any time soon.
The way she had blushed when she’d thought him too forward…
just the recollection of that lovely hue on her cheeks was enough to make him forget what he was doing.
“Get out of the ring, Hector,” Theodore said. “If you’re not going to be able to focus on the match, I don’t want to spar with you. I don’t want to risk causing you harm.”
“Oh, stand and fight,” Hector said, falling back into his stance.
Theodore raised his eyebrows. “As you say.”
They began to circle one another once more, and Hector truly did try to keep his mind on what he was doing. But it was impossible, and when inevitably Theodore landed a blow against his cheek that snapped his head around, he was forced to concede that he simply wasn’t here.
“Hector!” Cedric yelled, jumping up into the ring. “Stand down, Theodore, for God’s sake. Look at the state of him.”
Hector laughed and spat. It was slightly bloody—he’d bitten his tongue when the blow had landed—but that was all right. He’d been through worse, and at least it had jolted him well and truly back into the present. “Again,” he insisted.
“No.” Theodore looked rattled now. “That’s enough. I’m finished.” He began to unstrap his gloves.
“Daenae be a coward,” Hector urged.
“Don’t call him a coward,” Gabriel said. “He doesn’t want to fight a man who has no business being in the ring in the first place. Now, come down, both of you, and Hector, you can tell us what’s happened between Alexandra and yourself. There must have been something to make you so out of control.”
“I am nae out of control,” Hector grumbled, but he could see that the boxing was over for the moment. No one was going to allow him to stay here. No one was going to fight him now.
“Let’s have a drink,” Gabriel suggested. “And try to cool our tempers a bit, perhaps.”
He took out a bottle and a few cups that were kept in a cabinet for just such a purpose and began to pour. The men sat down on the floor, their backs against the wall or against the structure of the boxing ring, and accepted the drinks that were handed to them.
Finally, when everyone had a cup in his hand, Gabriel sat down too.
“You know,” he told Hector. “It’s not the end of the world to feel affection for your wife.”
“Never said it was,” Hector said, taking a sip and relishing the burn. “But ye cannae believe all the rumors that society tries to feed ye. That’s madness.”
“It is, but you must admit she’s a lovely creature. I might fall in love with her if she was mine,” Theodore offered.
The anger that blazed through Hector at that statement was beyond anything he had prepared himself to feel. “She isnae yers!”
Theodore raised his eyebrows. “I’m perfectly aware of that. I didn’t mean to make you jealous.”
“Jealous! What have I to be jealous of?”
“Nothing at all,” Theodore murmured, returning to his drink.
Hector sighed. “Oh, in truth I’ve always been fond of the lass,” he said.
He smiled at the thought of what she would say if she could hear him.
“She’s great fun. So proper. It’s like a game, spendin’ time in her company—a game to see how she will respond.
I never thought having a wife would be such an intriguin’ experience, but truly, it has been. ”
“Then what’s the problem?” Cedric asked.
“Who said anythin’ about a problem? Maybe I’d rather be with her right now than with ye lot. Did ye consider that?”
The men laughed. “Go home to her, then,” Gabriel said. “I can assure you that we would survive your absence, Hector.”
Hector shook his head. “I need this break,” he said. “Rumors about me wife are one thing, but have ye heard the other rumor circulatin’ about town?”
“Another rumor about you?” Gabriel asked. “I’ve not heard anything of the kind.”
“Nae about me. About Benedict.” Hector couldn’t keep the darkness out of his voice. “They say he’s on his way back to town.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“On me way in today.”
“No wonder you’re so distracted, then,” Gabriel said quietly. “But it might not be true, Hector. He might not be coming back to town. Surely Benedict knows he isn’t wanted.”
“Well, and when has me brother cared what anyone else wanted? Nay, I’m sure it is true. I’m sure he’s on his way back here and I’ll be forced to confront him soon enough.”
“What will you do?”
“What can I do? I’ll let it happen.” He got to his feet, setting his cup aside. “Let’s fight.”
“No one is going to fight you while you’re in this state,” Theodore said firmly. “No one wants to land a punch on you the way I did, Hector.”
Hector scowled. “I’d fight me brother if he were here.”
“Maybe you’ll get your chance. But we aren’t going to take you on in his place.”
Hector paced back and forth, wishing there was some easy solution for what he was feeling. If Benedict came back to town, there would surely be a confrontation. He still couldn’t believe his brother had abandoned Alexandra at the altar.
Of course, it shouldn’t really be shocking. It was exactly the kind of thing Benedict would do.
He put the thought out of his mind and poured himself a second drink instead. His friends were right. He was only causing himself trouble by focusing on these things. Benedict would return or he wouldn’t, and there was nothing Hector could do about it either way.
And in the meantime, there was Alexandra to think of. Alexandra to enjoy.
Perhaps he’d ask her for another dancing lesson. And when he did, he would pull her close, let his hands wander to her hips, and enjoy that flush of color in her cheeks and that indignation in her voice at his impropriety.
That was a better idea than boxing. That was what he should have done today all along.
He put his cup down. “I’m goin' to go,” he said.
“You’re going to leave?” Gabriel looked up at him. “We just arrived.”
“Aye, but ye willnae fight me, so why am I here? Better to return home and see what fun I can find there…since, as ye are well aware, I am so in love with my wife.” He grinned. “Perhaps we can box again another day.”
“Perhaps we can,” Theodore said. “If you remember to bring your wits to the ring with you next time. There’s no pleasure in defeating an opponent who isn’t paying attention.”
“I’ll remember that.” Hector turned and headed for the door.
Thoughts still battled in his mind—thoughts of his brother, and of what might happen when they came face to face once again. No doubt it would be unpleasant, and Hector couldn’t deny that he was dreading it.
But Alexandra would take his mind off things, as she so often did, and he would make the most of that fact.
He hurried toward his horse and mounted quickly, riding for home, already daydreaming about the pleasure of his wife’s company.