Miles glared at Delaney. She looked back in the direction Vincent and Duncan had went but they were gone. Within minutes, a carriage rushed by them to the road and turned in the direction that would lead them to Edgewood Manor.

"Vincent came?" Cora looked worriedly at Miles, coming to stand beside them, "But he said he wouldn\'t."

"What did you say to him?" Miles snapped at Delaney, "Why was he upset?"

"He wasn\'t upset. He was angry."

"Then why was he angry?" Miles demanded, louder now, "What did you say to him?"

"Miles calm down," Cora insisted, taking his hand in hers.

"I didn\'t know he was here," Delaney defended herself, "I was walking to the stables and he was just here standing in the dark! He scared me to death!"

"That would scare anyone," Selina came to her defense as well, crossing her arms over her chest, "A man lurking in the darkness. Let alone one who looks so shocking."

Cora turned on her angrily, "This doesn\'t concern you, Selina."

"You told him he scared you?" Miles questioned Delaney in disbelief.

"We should go back to the party," Olive took Selina\'s arm in hers, "Win will be looking for us."

"Good idea," Bernard nodded nervously and met Miles\'s gaze, "I\'ll ride to Edgewood in the morning. It will be good if we all talked."

Miles nodded and Bernard turned to leave, Olive taking his arm with her free one.

"Stop," Selina moved to pull away, "I can stay with Delaney if I want."

"Stop acting like a brat," Constance surprised everyone by shoving Selina forward, "No one cares what you have to say."

Selina looked at her in disgust before turning to look at Delaney for help.

"It\'s alright," Delaney assured her, "I\'ll be along in a moment."

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Olive dragged Selina away with her.

"Him being here at all surprised me," Delaney continued once the others were gone, "After speaking with you earlier I never imagined I would see him tonight."

"You can\'t blame her for being caught off guard," Constance stood by Delaney, "I think any of us would have been startled to see him stepping out from behind the club and not because of the way he looks. No one thought he would come."

"I didn\'t mean to make him angry or hurt him," Delaney tried again, tears stinging at her eyes remembering how hurt he had looked before he\'d gotten angry. She hated that she\'d caused him that pain.

She turned the little ring on her finger absently as she thought over the conversation and how it had gone bad. "I\'ve never seen him angry like that," she said quietly, dashing a tear away, "Not since that night at the hospital."

Miles had calmed down but still frowned. Mentioning the hospital, he looked away from them. That not being a happy memory for him either.

"You said yourself he\'s been getting angry often," Cora said quietly to Miles, stepping closer to him.

He looked back at Delaney, "That may be true but I didn\'t think he\'d react like that to her. He\'s felt guilty about that night at the hospital since she left."

"He\'s gotten angry with your mother lately too and I don\'t think any of us would\'ve imagined that," Cora sighed, "I know you want to help your brother but their conversation is their business."

Miles took a deep breath and nodded even though he didn\'t appear to agree. Delaney felt relief flood her. She didn\'t feel like being on the receiving end of another attack from Miles.

"I\'m going to go to Edgewood," Miles turned to Cora, "Would you like me to take you home first?"

"I\'ll stay with my friends," Cora shook her head before leaning up to give him a quick kiss. He smiled at her before turning back to Delaney, his face going cold again.

"I hope you don\'t make me hate you," he said before walking away towards the stables.

Once he was gone, both Constance and Cora turned to look at Delaney with serious expressions.

"What did you say to him?" Cora demanded.

Delaney looked at her unamused, "I thought our conversation was our business?"

"Obviously that doesn\'t apply to us," Cora rolled her eyes.

"Come on," Constance said, "Let\'s go back to the party for a bit, and then after an acceptable time we can all go back to my rooms and discuss it."

"Fine," Cora sighed, "But then you\'re telling us everything."

"And Selina isn\'t invited," Constance added before turning and heading back to the party.

Delaney mumbled a half-hearted agreement but wasn\'t looking forward to it.

Cora caught Delaney\'s arm in hers and they turned to head back to the party. Delaney looked over her shoulder back to the place where only a time ago she had stood with Vincent. She turned her ring around and around on her finger.

That had gone nothing like she\'d wanted it to. She had hoped if Vincent had come to speak to her about their contract, that she would\'ve been able to calmly put forward all the reasons it was no longer a good idea.

He had gotten angry so quickly though. He told her he hadn\'t changed and was the same man he had been before but that was obviously not true. The Vincent she\'d known before was never angry. He had seemed to have boundless patience and understanding.

Cora and Delaney fixed their faces back to a look of ease before they approached the party guests, again, keeping up appearances. Cora got wine for both of them from a server before they headed in to the gaming tables to find Win.

Win, knowing the women well, looked at them in concern when they took their seats at a table where Selina was already sitting with Olive. Constance stood nearby, looking over the tables to make sure the games were going smoothly.

"What\'s happened, girls?" Win asked seriously, looking from one to another.

"Just an unwelcome quest," Selina said, not looking up from her cards.

The other women looked at her in annoyance.

Delaney forced a smile to her lips looking back at the old man, "Don\'t worry Win it\'s nothing. We\'re just having a bit of a disagreement."

"Ah well I\'d best stay out of that then," he chuckled.

They played but Delaney did not do well. She couldn\'t concentrate on her cards. Instead, she kept seeing Vincent\'s scarred and angry face in the moonlight with his near-black eyes staring down at her. She heard his furious voice echoing in her mind.

Olive, tired from her night out, soon hugged Delaney goodbye, wishing her happy birthday once more. They had agreed to take Selina to her home on their way so she too said goodbye. Their departure seemed to start the flow of guests leaving.

Delaney stood to tell everyone goodbye and thank them for coming. She plastered a smile on again and wished they would all hurry and go. It had been a wonderful night until her encounter with Vincent and since then she had wanted to just go and hide.

At last, even Win stood with a yawn and told the women he\'d better be on his way. He hugged each of them goodbye and left half his winnings from the night to Delaney as a birthday gift.

Soon the club was empty except for the three friends and their workers cleaning up. Delaney joined her friends in the little parlor in the back that Constance kept for herself.

The women sat down in the overstuffed chairs and Delaney slipped off her heels, immediately feeling relief from the pain and stiffness in her feet. The other two followed suit, Cora tucking her legs and feet up on the chair with her under her skirt.

"So tell us what happened," Constance urged, as she sipped from a mug of hot tea.

Delaney sighed and recounted to her friends exactly what had happened when she had found Vincent behind the club until the moment they had been discovered. She admitted that she had been caught by surprise so she had said things she shouldn\'t have.

"Oh Delaney," Constance groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Why would you say that to him? Especially when he came all this way just to see you?"

"I didn\'t know what to do," she explained, "I was so shocked he was here at all."

"It took so much for him to come here," Cora sighed, "He\'s not getting better nearly as quickly as we had thought he would."

Delaney looked at her in surprise, "He\'s not? He seemed fine other than his marks." She considered this again for a moment. "And I suppose his voice did sound different and he had a limp."

"Yes. His leg still hurts him when he walks and he can\'t stay on it for long. We think his voice is deeper because of the one near his throat."

Feeling her familiar guilt return, Delaney regretted even more now coming across harshly. She so wished he hadn\'t come tonight. If only she had had time to prepare herself.

"He was well enough to return home to Edgewood though," Constance added thoughtfully, "Surely he wouldn\'t have done that if he didn\'t feel up to it. Edgewood is an enormous place with lots of stairs."

"I think that was more to escape the care of Violet," Cora smirked as the other girls giggled, "Miles told me he had said he would return to Edgewood to take up his duties but only if she would return to her home and her own life."

"Goodness," Constance laughed, "I bet his mother didn\'t take well to that."

Cora shrugged, "I think it was less of a fight than normal. He hasn\'t been the...easiest...to live with lately it seems."

Delaney swallowed and Cora didn\'t meet her eyes.

"It\'ll be alright," Constance gave her an encouraging smile, "You\'ve put up with me all this time and I imagine I\'m not the easiest to live with either."

The women laughed but Delaney couldn\'t quite relax. Because of the way things had gone tonight with Vincent she might not be able to convince him to break the contract. She may end up having to marry him and go to live with him after all.