Page 64 of The Untamed Heart

“You don’t like me,” Darenth observed as he followed Marcus around to the livery stables.

Marcus sighed, assailed by a sudden stab of guilt. The man was only doing his duty by his friends.

“It’s all right. Most people don’t. I don’t like them much either, truth be told,” Darenth admitted.

Despite himself, Marcus laughed. He turned to Darenth, whose keen blue eyes watched him thoughtfully. “I don’t dislike you precisely,” he said, which was hardly better, but true. “I just find you…”

“Difficult?” Darenth suggested, not looking the least bit insulted.

“Hard to take. You have a way of stripping everything away and saying things a fellow doesn’t always wish to hear.”

“I speak the truth,” Darenth agreed with a nod.

“Yes, but you don’t speak it, you bash a fellow over the head with it,” Marcus retorted.

Darenth considered this. “Sheringham told me as much. I’ve spent a bit of time with him the past few days. I don’t do that as a rule—spend time with people. It was… nice. He explained a good deal to me. I shall try not to…. bash you over the head.”

Marcus snorted and patted the man’s shoulder, feeling a little sorry for him. What an odd chap he was. “I should appreciate it. In any case, it appears you need to get in the queue.”

They arrived at the stables with Lord Darenth explaining his thoughts about Keller. Marcus really couldn’t care less but found himself listening all the same.

“Major Keller is a fascinating man,” Darenth said with obvious enthusiasm. “I believe he may be a prime example of a monomaniac. A man whose entire life and identity is consumed by a single focus, that focus being you. It does not matter whether the source of his grievance is in any way rational, no matter how unjust, it ceased to be important some time ago.”

“I am glad you are enjoying yourself,” Marcus said dryly, waiting as the grooms brought their horses out. “In plain language, you mean he is a lunatic.”

“Oh no,” Darenth frowned and shook his head, moving to his own mount to check the girth and adjust the stirrups. “No, if he were a lunatic, the situation would be easier to deal with. Major Keller is entirely rational and able to make plans, to think on his feet, and change tactics if necessary. That’s why he is so dangerous.”

“You don’t believe he is mad, then?”

“Not a bit of it. It’s far duller than that, he is merely self-obsessed.”

Marcus paused with his hand on the saddle, looking over the back of his horse at the man. “Merely self-obsessed?” he exclaimed.

Darenth shrugged and swung easily into the saddle. “Certainly. He knows you are better than he. He cannot bear that you are better than he. He failed and you are living proof of his failure. Therefore, you must have wronged him, else he would not have failed. Nothing is his fault. Everything is your fault. It’s absurd, but it’s how he thinks.”

Marcus shook his head and mounted his horse.

“Dull or not, the sooner the fellow shows his hand, the better. I refuse to live my life with you three well-meaning idiots as chaperones.”

Darenth scowled at him. “That is an ill-observed description. I grant you, Sherry is somewhat shatter-brained and thinks more of fashion than anything of import, but he’s rather insightful at times, and always ready with a cutting remark. That takes a kind of intelligence. Hawkney is intelligent in the usual humdrum manner of a man who is well-educated, but he lacks imagination. And as for me, I am a genius. Professor Knightly declared me intellectually exceptional when I was seven years old.”

“I’m sure your parents were very proud.”

“Bewildered might be more accurate,” Darenth said with a frown.

“That, I believe. They have my sympathies,” Marcus said dryly.

Darenth regarded Marcus curiously, possibly uncertain if that had been a joke or not. “I also have a letter from Sir Humphrey Davy which described my reasoning as brilliant and acute. I still have the letter somewhere,” he added thoughtfully.

Marcus just gazed at him in silence.

“What?” Darenth demanded.

Marcus sighed and shook his head.

Seagull Heights, Little Valentine, East Sussex,1st October 1816

“Did you have to invite him in for tea?” Marcus grumbled as they waved Darenth off nearly half an hour after they’d arrived at their destination.