Suzanne Enoch - A Ladys Guide to Improper Behavior

W hat do you think of that, Colonel? Hes brought in another one.

Annoyed, Colonel Bartholomew James opened one eye. At the far end of the room, beyond the two dozen comfortable chairs and tables, past the billiards table and the generous stand of liquor bottles, the Duke of Sommerset stood speaking with a tall, dark-haired fellow wearing the uniform of a naval captain.

Its Sommersets club, he returned, giving up on feigning sleep; clearly Thomas Easton meant to converse with him whether he was awake or not. I suppose he can invite whomever he pleases to join it.

Damned navy, Easton grumbled. Let him try spending a year in the desert like we did, and see how fine his uniform looks.

I wasnt in the desert.

Part of India is desert. Easton cursed under his breath. Damn. Theyre walking this way. Pretend to be asleep.

That doesnt seem to be very effective, Bartholomew noted dryly, shifting in the deep chair a little and ignoring the sharp pain jabbing through his left knee.

This is Mr. Thomas Easton, Sommerset drawled as the two men approached. He spent a year in Persia to encourage the expansion of the silk trade to Britain. Easton, Captain Bradshaw Carroway.

Carroway. So now the only qualification to join the Adventurers Club is what, to survive a rough sea?

The only qualification, the duke returned, still cool and unconcerned, is my say-so. I see youre awake, Colonel.

Bartholomew sent a sideways glance at Easton. Under the circumstances, theres little else I could be.

Sommersets mouth twitched. Captain Carroway, this is Colonel Bartholomew James. Tolly served for a time in India.

Served for a time . Interesting that four words could so completely describe ten years of his life. Bartholomew nodded. Captain.

Colonel. The naval officer straightened. I read about your ordeal. My condolences.

So it was an ordeal now. Better than an incident or an unfortunate occurrence or even an exaggeration, he supposed, and hed heard it described as all of those things. Thank you, he said aloud.

Come, Sommerset, Easton broke in, you always have a reason for admitting another uncivilized beast into your club. Whats our dear Captain Carroway here for?

Thats for him to tell, if he wishes to do sojust as I only mention the parts of your tale that youve made public knowledge. The duke motioned Carroway to follow, and the two men walked over to greet the Earl of Hennessy, the only other club member present at the moment.

Easton leaned over the arm of his chair. What do you think it is, Colonel? A shipwreck? Capture by pirates?

Bartholomew made one last attempt to ignore the blast of hot air that was Thomas Easton. He shut his eyes again. And immediately rocky hills, bone-dry stream beds, twisted trees hanging over crumbling ravines filled his mind. It was nowhere he particularly cared to revisit, but he could never seem to be anywhere else. He deserved to still be there, he supposed. Everyone under his command was still there, beneath the stones.

Were fifteen now, Easton went on, unmindful of the fact that no one else wanted to talk to him. Fifteen outcasts, unfit for proper Society. Ah, the tales we could tell, with only us to listen.

Some of us stopped listening to you ages ago, Hennessy commented from across the room. Bartholomew snorted.

You dont

The Adventurers Club is supposed to be a damned refuge, Easton, the earl continued. Not a place for you to torment the rest of us. Leave be.

Im talking to the colonel, not you. If he doesnt like it, he can tell me so.

Shut up, Easton, Bartholomew muttered.

Yes, the Adventurers Club, established several months ago by the Duke of Sommerset and located in the east wing of his massive town house, was a refuge for misfits. Explorers, adventurershow had Sommerset put it? A place for those whod learned to view the world and Society with clearer eyes than the rest of London. That was he, Bartholomew supposed. Because most of the time he couldnt see London at all any longer.

A moment later he heard Thomas Easton rise and wander off, likely to torment Hennessy or the new fellow. Thank God. Perhaps now he could manage a few minutes of sleep, given the way it tended to evade him at night. Then the scent of sandalwood touched his nostrils, and someone else settled into Eastons vacated chair. Sommerset, he drawled.

Hervey tells me youve been here for three days now, the duke said, pitching his voice lower.

Inwardly sighing, Bartholomew opened his eyes again and straightened from his current Id-rather-not-speak-with-you slouch. The movement twisted his knee again, but he hid his flinch. I dont feel like going out, he admitted aloud.

And you dont have to. Thats why the Adventurers Club provides spare rooms for whichever of us requires one. If Im not mistaken, Tolly, didnt your sister and brother arrive in Town the day before yesterday?

He didnt recall that Sommerset had ever been mistaken about anything. Hence me being here rather than at James House. Bartholomew cocked his head. Youre using my nickname. What do you want? Lifting his cane, he twirled it idly in his hands. Somewhere in the past few months it had become another limb, an extension of his body. He required it and hated it all at the same time.

I recall you speaking fondly of your siblings, the duke countered, ignoring his question.

I am fond of them. But Stephen and Violet are verychirpy. Im not. Not any longer, anyway.

Just keep in mind that I wont have them here. Nor do I want them searching London for you and raising all sorts of alarms that point here.

Ah. So thats what you want. It was the first rule of the Adventurers Club. Members only. As far as Bartholomew had been able to determine in the six weeks hed been a member, no one else in London had ever heard a word about its existence. Ill go see them tomorrow and let them know Im staying elsewhere.

Do it today. Theyre already asking around for you.

A murmur of uneasiness went through his gut. Sommerset made the rules at this club, however, and Bartholomew had no desire to be asked to leave. It was, after all, the only place where he seemed able to close his eyes for more than a few minutes at a time. Apparently there was something to be said for being surrounded by people who knew how to manage themselves in a crisis. Ill have my horse brought around, then.

The duke stood again. Ill see to it.

Drawing a breath and clenching his jaw, Bartholomew braced both hands against the arms of the deep chair and muscled himself upright. Hed gotten better at it; when hed first begun, hed ended up on the floor more often than not. Now, however, with another sharp, lingering stab and grind in his left knee, he stood. The end of the cane clicked against the polished hardwood floor, his third leg. One short of a horse.

He didnt have to go at that moment, he supposed. Sommerset had only told him to take care of it today, and going by the longcase clock in the corner, it was barely eleven. The sooner he saw to it, though, the sooner he could return to the refuge of the Adventurers Club.

Outside the well-hidden entrance of the club, Harlow held the reins of his big, dark gray gelding, Meru. The groom had already circled the gray so Bartholomew could mount from the right sidea damned shame, but the only way he could make it into the saddle these days. Thankfully Meru had caught on quickly and stood still as a rock while he slid the cane into the straps that would normally have held a rifle or a sword, then swung up into the saddle.