An easy man to dislike

"A Viscount. How adorable." I smile sweetly at him, turning back to look to his delicate sister. "Well, it seems that the Viscount shall wish to whisk you away to meet more dull suitors."

"If you should like to speak anymore, I should be delighted to have tea or perhaps write to you. It shall be nice to have another young lady who is enduring the same as I am." Daphne holds her gentle hand out to me, and I shake it carefully. She seems a lovely girl and I do often consider how little friends and contacts I have, specifically in London. It should be extremely pleasant to have at least one friend other than my seemingly awful brother.

"I should find that extremely delightful, Miss Bridgerton."

"You are of age and yet you are not within the marriage market yet?" Anthony enquires and I find myself a little irritated as he insists on interrupting my conversation with my new friend. "And both Simon and your father have been perfectly accepting of such?"

"Why? Are you interested?" I am quick to retort, rolling my eyes a little as I reach for another glass of champagne, sipping it and offering him another mocking smile. "My father recently died and myself and my brother, whose proper title is the Duke of Hastings by the way, are yet to discuss it. I do not see how it impacts you whatsoever though, viscount. Are you married yourself?"

"I am not." His face contorts into a slight scowl, his top lip curling ever so slightly as he intercepts daphne before she takes another champagne from the table as I did.

"Well then, perhaps you should concentrate on finding a woman who could bear speaking with you for more than a few mere moments at a time, rather than criticising what I am doing. You are not getting any younger and those sideburns shall only fall out of fashion. My lord." I bow my head slightly so that I may hide my smile, leaving the two of them stood there. It is a short time until I talk to anyone else, for the place seems to be just swarming with men gazing at the debutantes, and the debutantes either revelling in such or looking as though they are just dying for the floor to open up and swallow them whole. That, I imagine, is how I shall feel when my brother inevitably tells me I must marry. I am joined now by another tall and dark and handsome man and when I look at him, I am sure that he must be related to the Viscount I have just met. "I should like to make a guess as to who you are."

"Oh?" He raises an eyebrow as he watches me, the delicate champagne flute looking small in his hand. "And who might that be?"

"I have just had the absolute displeasure of speaking with a Viscount Anthony Bridgerton. Rather rude man, I thought. You look rather like him though, which is unfortunate for yourself. I presume he is either your brother or your father." I accompany my comments with a slight chuckle so that he is well aware that I am joking. After all, being related to a rude man is not a crime, for if it was then I am sure I should find myself a criminal too.

"He is my brother. Older brother though, I might add. I am the second oldest Bridgerton brother, I am Benedict. This is Colin. You seem to be lurking by the sides of the dance floor, we thought we might join you since we also do not want to dance. Miss...?" He hesitates for a moment as he asks for my name, he does not want to mislabel me and my title and so waits for me to tell him. That is rather polite, and the other brother gives me the same gracious smile.

"I am Lady Delilah Basset." I introduce myself, watching as the other young ladies sweep across the dance floor or desperately attempt to keep anyone eligible in conversation so they do not end up marrying someone old and disgusting who shall make every day full of only pure misery. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Bridgerton. And Mr Bridgerton." I nod to the other one as well.

"You do not dance either then?" The one called Colin looks to me, raising an eyebrow as he gazes onto the dance floor. "I would both rather do anything other than dance. I am afraid it shall only ruin any marriage prospects I have, it shall be so embarrassing that you should never look at me the same, in fact."

"I can vouch for that. My eyes have been unfortunate enough to witness such a travesty first hand." The older one, Benedict, offers me a grin. "And what is your excuse, my lady?"

"I do not believe I have ever seen a lady so beautiful that does not enjoy dancing, my lady." Colin gives me a sly grin similar to his brother's as he pays me this compliment, laughing a little after he does. They are clearly boys who are accustomed to spending much time wooing women and most likely telling them exactly what they should like to hear so that they may have their way. I have been around many men like that, my father was often one of them and that is what he did with my mother. It was not until after they were married that he revealed who he truly was. But I would not fall victim to such things that my mother did, I liked to think I was able to suspect men like these and I should avoid entanglements with them at all and any costs.

At this moment, Anthony notices that all of his siblings have congregated without him, and he must feel so excluded because he returns with Daphne to join the three of us. I ignore his presence and continue to talk to the two brothers. "You do not need to call me my lady, I should not like that. It does make me feel old and I am not at all old. Delilah shall be just perfect, or Miss Basset if you are feeling quite as though you must."

"Well, Miss Basset-" Anthony begins to speak, his arms crossed angrily across his chest as he clearly does not like that his brothers have made him leave his quest to find Daphne a husband so that he might tell them off.

"It is my lady to you, Viscount Anthony Bridgerton. Were you never taught any manners or are you too dull to have remembered you are in the presence of a lady?"

This causes Daphne to make that rather ugly snorting sound again, Benedict turns his head so that he can allow himself a loud laugh and Colin presses his hand against his mouth to suppress any kind of noise. Anthony narrows his eyes at me, his nostrils flaring slightly as he bares his teeth with his next words. "My lady. I should appreciate it if you would refrain from continuing to distract my siblings from the reasons that we are at the ball. For it is not for incessant chatter with people such as yourself, it is to find callers for Daphne."

"Brother, I do not see why all three of you must accompany me around. I should not wish for Colin and Benedict to also spend their nights wasting away whilst they inspect suitors, you are doing far too good a job." Daphne wraps her arm around her eldest brother's and looks at him, tugging for him to lead her away once again. "I think I see Lord Ambrose, perhaps I shall dance with him?" With that, she manages to move him so that it is only the three of us once more.

"Well, it seems as though you two get along fantastically well." Colin mocks, shaking his head. "You have taken a wonderful disliking to him, Delilah?"

"He seems an easy man to dislike."

Author's note

Hi!

Hope you're enjoying this so far.

I keep accidentally typing Peaches rather than Delilah because I'm so used to writing about Benedict!

If I do make that mistake at any point, please forgive me, I've spent the past week writing one name and it'll take me a little while to get used to the new one!

All my love,

Ruby (I so nearly typed Peaches rather than my own name??) xx