He grabbed a chair and turned it around to straddle it. Clark and Hyland grinned at him as though they knew what he had been up to.

How could they?

Then again, he wasn’t very subtle. So perhaps they could tell just by his face.

“You found Wattings!” Clark said, hoisting his glass up. Hyland followed suit, and Griff looked around for the barmaid, who was thankfully approaching with his tankard of ale.

He took it from her with a smile, then held his glass up before taking a long draught.

“I did.” And I pleasured Lady Della.

“Good work, Captain,” Hyland said, clapping Griff on the back. “You can do anything you set your mind to.”

Griffith acknowledged Hyland’s compliment with a nod, finishing the ale with another long swallow while gesturing to the barmaid for another.

“Was your lady pleased?”

Griffith felt his mouth curl into a smug grin, only to realize Hyland wasn’t talking about sexual pleasure. Plus she wasn’t his lady. Most definitely not. If she were, she would have confided in him.

He really wished that didn’t bother him so much.

“Lady Della was pleased, yes,” he said in a short tone of voice.

“Ah, but what about you?” Clark said, using his glass to point at Griffith. “You don’t sound pleased.” He leaned forward. “Have you and the lady agreed to part ways since your bargain is complete?”

Griffith froze. Their bargain was technically finished, wasn’t it? They hadn’t discussed it. He didn’t want it to be over. He definitely didn’t want to stop spending time with her, even if Society was less daunting than it had been before. Even though it was still fairly daunting.

“I think the captain has gone and fallen in love with her. That’s what I think,” Hyland said, draining his glass.

He sounded as though he’d had as much to drink as Clark had. Griff would have to try to catch up.

“No, he hasn’t,” Clark replied. He tried to raise one eyebrow, but just ended up looking like he’d gotten something in his eye. “If he had, he wouldn’t be here with us. He’d be stomping outside of her house declaring his love. Making some grand gesture that would prove to her that he was the best and only person she should be with.”

Griffith blinked as Clark spoke. He wanted to agree with his valet-secretary. Secretary-valet. Whatever. That he hadn’t fallen in love with her, that he didn’t want to be with her for the rest of his life.

Only he couldn’t. He strongly suspected—and this was likely a first—that he agreed with Hyland.

Damn it. He had gone and fallen in love with her, hadn’t he?

He could have chosen a better time to realize it than now. In a pub with his former crew members, downing mediocre ale like it was water.