Forever My Love (Berkeley-Faulkner #2)(65)

“We’re perfectly safe,” Rosalie asserted spiritedly. “Besides, I don’t know of anyone whom I would trust with knowledge of this. Sometimes the people you have the greatest confidence in might be the first to betray you.““That’s true enough,” Mira said, her voice quiet. “I just hope Brummell will arrive soon, that’s all.” “He will.”

Goodman’s Tavern was especially raucous tonight, filled with an intoxicating combination of saucy barmaids and undiluted liquor. Alec walked in, ignoring the way the soles of his boots stuck to the unwashed wooden floor. Goodman’s was a popular place to go slumming, having just the right amount of atmosphere and yet located in a place that wasn’t as rife with crime as other parts of the city. Carr was sitting alone at a table, surrounded by a slew of empty glasses and opened bottles. He looked up without surprise as Alec sat down and slouched in a comfortably worn chair.

“So you decided to join me,” Carr said, carefully arranging the glasses before him into a wall, and Alec regarded him darkly.

“I came here primarily for a drink. Not your company.”

“Here,” Carr replied, handing him a glass. “I think this one is close to being clean. Or would you rather wait until a barmaid comes to serve you? There are some very nice-looking—”

“No. God, no more women tonight,” Alec muttered, taking the glass and examining it dully. “Do you have any brandy in your collection?”

“The best brandy in Romeville.” Carr squinted at the assortment of bottles in front of him and selected one. “Here.” He poured the liquid liberally with one hand while bracing his head on the other. “I think I’m going to have a devil of a head tomorrow morning,” he said mournfully, filling his own glass with the vintage. “I’m pretty well disguised. Drunk as David’s sow.”

“Don’t you know better than to mix spirits when drinking this hard?”

“When you’re drinking for the reasons I am, it doesn’t matter.““I suppose not.” Alec grimaced as he tossed down the brandy and reached for the bottle.

They drank in silence for a few minutes, until Alec could feel the pleasant burn of alcohol deep inside. His mood lightened, and he relaxed more deeply into his chair.

“No luck tonight?” Carr asked eventually, his green eyes overbright with the effects of a surfeit of gin. “Just before I left I saw you conversing with that little brunette demirep.”

“It was not good,” Alec said, his voice muffled as he pressed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets. He had danced with her, flirted, enjoyed a kiss or two as well as the other preliminaries to a promising evening of lovemaking… useless. Boring. The easy conquest had robbed him of all anticipation. He had not accepted her invitation to go to a quieter, more private place to continue the dalliance. “I was using her to forget someone else,” he muttered. “It didn’t work. Don’t ever become attached to one particular woman, not for any reason. It’s madness.” Alec would never have made the admission in his sober moment, but strong drink and undemanding companionship had a way of wringing the truth out of a man.

“I won’,” Carr promised, his voice so slurred that he was beginning to drop the last letters of his words.

“I keep on thinking I saw her.” Alec ran the tip of his finger over the rim of the glass as he brooded over this unprecedented problem. “Every time I look at someone else, her face is there. I didn’t think I would be like this… I didn’t think she would be a problem. I keep on asking myself: why do I want her? She’s not my usual type—”

“No,” Carr said, shaking his head in agreement.

“—she’s no taller than a child, she swears like the very devil, she has no parents, no family… the little muff can be as abrasive as gravel, and I can’t stand an argumentative woman.““I hate them too.” Carr lifted his head and looked at Alec, his expression rapidly turning a shade of green that complemented his eyes. “I think I’m goin’ to step outside. My head is swimming and turning aroun’.” j

Alec sighed and beckoned to a barmaid. She smiled j at him with flirtatious eyes as he thrust a handful of ■ money into her palm.

“Usually they slips it into my bodice,” the maid said, her eyes batting suggestively.

“Why not?” Carr mumbled, standing up and swaying as he looked for the way out. “There’s more than enough room in there.”

Keeping stern control over his features, Alec handed the girl another sovereign and followed his lurching cousin out of the tavern. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly as he observed Carr’s unsteady exit.

Suddenly the loud clattering of a hard-driven phaeton filled the air outside, and Carr staggered backward to avoid being run over. As the horses thundered by, Alec stared at the driver of the vehicle, whose hood had blown back off her face.

“What the devil!” Carr exclaimed, squinting after the rapidly departing phaeton. “Rattling through the streets like a pair of demons out of hell. Alec… tell me, am I too foxed to see clearly, or was that a couple of women?”

“It was,” Alec said, looking as if he had been struck. “And not only was it two women, but…” He hesitated and then cursed, his eyes glittering with self-disgust. “I’m the one who’s seeing things.”