Lord Beast

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Ashcroft? As in Rhys Ashcroft?"

Gabriel turned to study his wife from where he stood by the window in their private chambers, a glass of brandy cradled in the palm of his hand.

"How many other Ashcroft's do you know?" he asked dryly.

She scrunched her face up in puzzled thought as she perched prettily on the edge of her stool in front of her vanity, her back to him. Her raven-black hair coiled languorously over her shoulders, touching her waist, as she ran a comb through its silken strands. "Well," she said slowly, "I think I once knew a Millicent..."

"Victoria."

"No, no... she was an Ashton."

"Were you even listening to me?" he demanded, growing a bit exasperated at her ability to distract herself.

She pivoted on her stool to face him and gave him a bright smile before pulling her hair over one shoulder and beginning to braid it. "Of course I was. Rhys Ashcroft was at the masquerade tonight." She stuck her tongue out at him, still smiling.

He sighed. "And? What else?"

Victoria pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I thought he was dead."

"Vicky, I love you but you're incredibly annoying."

Finishing her braid, she secured the ends with a pink ribbon, her long tapered fingers working lithely, and gave him a patient smile. "Very well. I wasn't listening. What about Rhys Ashcroft?"

Having known Victoria for most of his life, Gabriel wasn't surprised when his wife resumed being active immediately after having voiced her last question. Victoria was such an animated entity at all times. It was as if she simply couldn't stand letting her fingers lie idly. Even in sleep she tossed and turned to such an extent that once or twice Gabriel had to sacrifice his spot for one on the rug in front of the hearth. As he spoke, she began to fiddle with various containers and ornaments on her vanity, closing lids, straightening,

smelling, until Gabriel wanted to tie her hands behind her back.

"Don't you want to know why he bothered to attend the masque tonight?" he enquired in a testing voice.

Victoria huffed impatiently, distractedly opening a bottle of perfume and sniffing at the lid. "You're going to tell me whether I do or don't," she mumbled breathily. "I can't see how this pertains to me. After all, he was your friend."

"Victoria, Rhys hasn't made an appearance in society for over five years. He hasn't even bothered to correspond with me in all that time."

"So?"

"I was the closest thing to a friend he ever had. I couldn't even convince him to come to our wedding. Don't you think it odd that now, suddenly, he attended a ball where nearly the entire ton was present?"

She gave him a caustic look. "I wouldn't know what to make of it,

Gabriel," she told him slowly and in a tone that suggested she were talking to a very slow child who couldn't figure out a very simple mathematical problem. "Like I said, he's your friend and you should know why he was there. Not I."

Gabriel had to bite down an oath. "He was there for Danielle," he blurted.

For the first time in her life, Victoria was utterly still and utterly silent.

After several moments, she remained thus and Gabriel continued. "I tried to tell you there but you were so damned set on taking me apart for Desdemona Fitzgerald, I couldn't get a word in edgewise."