He would undoubtedly make her miserable and she’d lose every bit of freedom she’d enjoyed over the last two years. Not to mention her parents would benefit financially from such a union and she’d had enough of aiding them in any capacity. It was one thing if they legitimately needed the funds, but they did not.
Abruptly, Felicity stood and walked to Agatha. She held her hand out to the notebook and pencil. “May I?”
“Of course,” Agatha handed them over and watched the older woman return to her seat with them. Then she proceeded to writing in it swiftly over the next several minutes. When she was done, she closed the book and turned to Violet.
“I do hope it won’t take you this long again to come and visit me.”
“Where is my beloved?” A man’s booming voice sounded from the hall. Then a very large and jovial man lumbered into the room. He wasn’t precisely portly, just large all over. He walked straight to Felicity and bent to kiss her cheek. “There you are, my love. Are you entertaining?” He smiled at both Agatha and Violet.
“We are finished,” Agatha said, coming to her feet. She stepped over to Felicity and held out her hand. “Thank you so much for your assistance.”
The older woman handed over her book. “I wrote down a few skills you might want to grasp before you proceed. Do let me know if you have any further questions.” She smiled genuinely. “It was a pleasure meeting you. And seeing you again, my dear, Violet. Don’t be a stranger.”
12
Sebastian leaned back in his office and eyed the other three men in the room. They were known as the Notorious Bastards, a moniker they readily accepted though never used themselves. They were bastards though. Each and every one of them sired by a wealthy and powerful member of the aristocracy, none of them claimed, for obvious reasons.
Regardless of what initially brought them together—ignoring the fact that one of them was his own twin brother—he counts all of them his closest friends.
They met weekly for no other reason than to drink and gossip as if they are women. Occasionally they’d meet in public merely to set tongues wagging about their notoriety.
“What the devil are you smiling about today, St. Claire?” Tennyson asked.
Among their joint friends, as the eldest twin, he was known as St. Claire, his brother though was relegated to using his given name. Sebastian doesn’t think Spencer much cared one way or another though.
Sebastian leveled his gaze at Ten. “Was I smiling?”
Jameson nodded. “It’s rather off-putting.”
“Pitiful,” Spencer muses. “Had I not gotten all of the handsomeness, perhaps your smiles would be more welcoming.”
“Bugger off all of you,” Sebastian said.
“It’s this new bird, isn’t it?” Spencer asked with a grin.
“New bird?” Jameson asked.
“I take it your first lesson went well?” Spencer said. He swirled his glass of amber liquid and raised a brow at his brother.
“Let us gossip then,” Ten said. “Then onto business.”
“There is nothing to gossip about. I am assisting a woman in her quest to learn how to become a mistress.” He lifted a shoulder in a casual motion. “It will no doubt be a short lived affair, but admittedly for the moment, I’m entertained.”
His words sounded hollow and false even to his own words. He couldn’t afford to entertain notions of anything long-term with Agatha. A dalliance with him would certainly soil her reputation.
“As is she, I’m certain,” Spencer said.
Sebastian glared at his brother, then turned his gaze to Ten. “Be glad you have a sister instead of a brother. Brother’s are from the devil.” But even Sebastian couldn’t keep a straight face with that statement.
“If you ladies are done with your gossip, we do actually have important matters to attend to,” Ten said. He glanced at Sebastian and Spencer and gave a slight nod. “I took our contribution and invested it and now we have tripled the monies.”
Jameson frowned. “What are you talking about? I never put in a contribution.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Unless you caught me when I was soused.”
“No, we pooled some funds together and Ten invested it in whatever he does and now we have a larger chunk to put towards your invention.”
Jameson’s mouth opened, then his frown deepened. “I told you that I did not want a loan from any of you.”
Sebastian shook his head. “Not a loan. Consider us investors. Most inventors have them. Benefactors, if you will. It is a worthwhile contraption that we would all benefit from at some point in the future.”