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Langley had been his second, and of his choosing, even. He supposed he was lucky to have survived making such a half-witted decision at all.
    Bennett scowled. “My crates of artifacts and specimens were sent ahead to Tesling for my later sorting and cataloguing, with the items of your choice going to the British Museum, as we agreed.”
    The duke sank into a chair. “And those journals and maps and sketches you’re so famous for making?”
    “Langley took them from me and disappeared downriver. I arrived in London yesterday to look for the miserable rat.” Well, not look for , precisely, but saying that he intended to kill the man and take back his rightful possessions might raise some alarms.
    “He’s not here. His illustrious publishers are sponsoring a tour across the country for him.”
    “So I heard. I’d at least hoped that he’d decided to give my things over to the Association, but clearly he had other intentio—”
    “I’m to believe that you’re the true author of Across the Continent , then?” Sommerset put a finger and thumb to his chin. “I find that difficult to believe.”
    “Langley reversed our roles and did a bit of inventing.”
    “That’s a great deal of invention for a miserable rat.”
    Bennett drew in a hard breath. “Standing here debating you about it is a bloody waste of my time, obviously. I don’t actually give a damn whether you believe me or not. I’m merely reporting my return to you, as per our agreement. I’ll take another path where Captain Langley is concerned.” With a nod, he turned his back on the duke.
    “You should worry whether I believe you or not.”
    Stopping, Bennett turned around again. “And why is that?”
    “Adventuring is what you do, is it not, Captain? After reading that book, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to sponsor a further expedition with you at its head.” He sat forward. “In fact, how am I to know whether the fiction is Langley’s, or whether you have been writing fictions all along? Have you actually been to East Africa?”
    Bennett’s insides clenched unpleasantly. That had been nagging at the back of his mind all night as he sat reading. “Once I gut Langley, we’ll see which of us is the more capable.”
    “In which case he would be dead, you would be hanged, and you would still look foolish.” The duke produced a handful of peanuts from the pocket of his immaculately tailored gray jacket and offered them to Kero. With an excited chirp she launched off Bennett’s shoulder to snatch them and then retreat to the top of the nearest bookcase to savor her new treasures. “Bloody and gossip-provoking, but not very practical.”
    “He stole from me. What the devil do you expect me to do? Sit back and smile while he takes my position and my status?”
    “No.” Sommerset stood again. “I expect you to keep in mind that you’re in London. Not the Congo. We don’t spill the blood of our peers without a trial—or at least a majority opinion.”
    “That’s helpful. I hope you don’t mind that I’ll be following my own instincts and not your lecture on propriety and proper manners.”
    “I believe you, you know.”
    That stopped Bennett again. “You might have said that before I nearly gave myself an apoplexy.”
    The duke flashed that brief smile again. “And you might have said, ‘Thank you’ just then, but you didn’t. Not much of one for either propriety or proper manners, are you, Captain?”
    “No. In most of the places I’ve been, honesty and directness have served me better.”
    “You’re not in any of those places at the moment. And if you want the opportunity to prove to whom Across the Continent truly belongs, you can’t go about threatening everyone who looks sideways at you.”
    That was the rub. He hated the idea of staying about in London for no bloody good reason, but if he went home to Tesling to sort through his specimens, Langley would have free rein to destroy what little remained of his