Benedict Bridgerton didn't go to his brother's engagement party to meet someone. In fact, it's the last thing on his mind when Augusta Hayes snatches the champagne glass out of his hand, drinks it, and asks if there's anything stronger. It's the sta...
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"I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone."
- Evermore by Taylor Swift and Bon Iver
How Anthony and Kate knew so many people, Benedict couldn't even begin to fathom. Both the Bridgerton and Sheffield-Sharma clans were present, but they did not make up the bulk of the people there. How had he not known that his broody, and sometimes downright boring older brother, had this many friends? It seemed impossible. Ridiculous, even. As he sipped his drink, he decided that most attendees had to be Kate's friends and relatives.
Across the room, he spotted Eloise and Penelope in deep and, undoubtedly, private conversation. Colin tried to keep Gregory and Hyacinth from terrorising more guests than necessary. His mother and Francesca spoke with some people he didn't recognise, but they appeared fine nonetheless. Benedict knew he should be mingling, but he just wasn't in the mood for a party today even though he'd been looking forward to it, and it had been on his calendar for weeks. Today, he was itching to paint and was absentmindedly scraping dried paint from under his nails when someone bumped into him.
"Sorry," the girl mumbled half-heartedly, eyes narrowing once they met his. "You bloody Bridgertons are everywhere, aren't you?" She grumbled, snatching the champagne glass out of his hand and downing its contents in one go.
She handed it back to him. "Don't they have anything stronger?"
Baffled, he looked at his empty glass and then at the woman before him. She had honey-brown hair and wore an intense shade of red lipstick. He couldn't pinpoint the exact colour of her eyes, but they were pretty, that much he could tell.
He smiled. "I'm Ben-"
"Benedict Bridgerton, yeah, I know."
"How did you-"
She interrupted him again. "Process of elimination," she explained. "Anthony's hosting, I've met Colin, I believe the fourth boy is young, and since you're all named alphabetically, it wasn't hard to discern that you're Benedict."
He gaped at her, completely taken aback by every word out of her mouth.
"Be careful," she said, looking directly into his eyes. "You might catch a fly." She tapped his chin lightly and walked away, leaving Benedict stunned beyond words.
He looked over his shoulder, watching her snatch a champagne glass off a tray. For a brief moment, he wondered if he should be concerned but barely managed to finish the thought before Anthony and Kate appeared in his periphery, approaching him with private smiles between them.
"Brother," Anthony began when in front of Benedict. "You look flustered."
"I..." he trailed off. "I just spoke to..." It dawned on him that he didn't even know the woman's name, so instead, he gestured in the general direction she had gone with his now-empty champagne glass.
