Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
“You will have to do better than that!” Theodore Merrick, the Duke of Carrowell cheered as he kicked his feet into the side of his horse with gusto. The great gelding raced at full pelt across the golden meadow. “I was promised a challenge.”
“Easy to win when you cheat!” Riding in behind him was Alistair Locke, the Duke of Pembourne. And he wore a most rueful expression. “And do not dare say otherwise!”
“Cheat? Me?” Theodore laughed gaily as he slowed his horse and turned it back. “I do not know what you mean.”
“Christopher!” Alistair looked over his shoulder. “You saw it! Tell him that he cheated. I cannot bear another second of the man’s gloating.”
Christopher Kingswell, the Duke of Thornwall, would often be on Alistair’s side, all too happy to confirm that Theodore had indeed cheated. Christopher was a particular man, and he liked things to work as they should. Oddities annoyed him.
Indeed, when the three men had lined their horses at the edge of the meadow, readying their mounts to sprint as if their lives depended on it, there could be no doubt that Theordore took off early.
Seeing as it was Theodore, it was almost expected.
Theodore was undoubtedly the liveliest of the three.
The charmer. The maverick who had that knack for finding humor in the morose and the joy in even the most boring of situations.
Tall, messy blonde hair, sharp features, and a jawline like an anvil, he knew what he was and how he was perceived, and he loved that about himself.
Alistair was the complete opposite. He was far stricter and more rigid, infinitely more serious, and rarely let so much as a chuckle escape his lips.
He was broad-shouldered and stocky, more muscle than fat, but his balding head was a point of concern, and he hated how he was so often looked down on…
literally, as he was rather short compared to his friends.
“Well?” Alistair demanded as he pulled his horse to a steady halt only a few feet away. “Theodore cheated. Worse, he knows that he did. Tell him.”
“If there is one thing I hate, it is a bad loser,” Theodore chuckled. He sat proudly on his horse as he leaned back and let the wind whip through his hair. “And you, Alistair, are certainly that.”
“And you are a cheater.”
“Shall we go again?” Theodore nodded across the open meadow. It was just the three of them, nothing but empty stretches of golden meadows for as far as the eye could see. “Perhaps the question should be, can your ego handle losing twice?”
“I did not lose!”
“You did,” Theodore said with a righteous nod. “But take some comfort in knowing that you at least beat Christopher.” He snorted at Christopher, who was sitting silently on his horse, hardly paying the two men attention. “The way he is riding today, I might not brag about that to too many people.”
“Best two of three. Unless you are scared?”
Theodore shrugged as if bored. “I had no idea you had such a passion for humiliation, Alistair. What do you say, Christopher? Best two of three?”
Christopher was not paying his friends any attention.
A shame that, as these daytime rides were a weekly tradition between himself and his friends, and it was one of the few occasions in his life where Christopher could be almost himself. He still had to present a certain air of strictness, and he couldn’t be free completely, but it was close enough.
Besides, Christopher was so used to living a double life by now that he hardly even noticed it.
Unfortunately, on today of all days, Christopher was having a hard time concentrating and keeping up the facade. And where his friends thought they knew the reason, they couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Never mind him,” Theodore drawled. “The man is lovestruck.”
Alistair scoffed. “Christopher, if you don’t mind joining us?”
Christopher vaguely heard his name mentioned, which was enough to force him back into the moment where he found his two friends looking at him. And neither looked impressed.
“Sorry, gentlemen.” He gave his head a shake. “My mind is elsewhere.”
“Is that right?” Theodore snorted. “We could not have guessed.”
“Business,” Christopher confirmed. “Nothing to concern yourselves with.”
“Business?” Alistair looked down his short nose. “Is that what they are calling it these days?”
“He is right, Christopher,” Theodore laughed. “If that is your attempt at a lie, you really need to try harder. And to be honest, I am a little hurt.” Theodore pretended to look upset. “We’re supposed to be your friends, and you think to lie to us?”
“Bad form,” Alistair agreed.
Christopher curled his lips at Theodore and Alistair.
Theodore burst into laughter. “Although if you do tell us what is on your mind, we are likely to mock you mercilessly. It’s a lose-lose, isn’t it?”
“When is the date?” Alistair said. “Two weeks, yes? Cheers up, old boy, it’s about time you wed. We’ve both been saying it, haven’t we, Theodore?”
“Something to that effect,” Theodore said. “And might I add, I did have the honor of seeing Miss. Marianne Drayton, with my own two eyes, earlier this Season, and there are worse women to be married to. Far too pretty for the likes of you, Christopher.”
“I wonder if she knows what she is in for,” Alistair added. “Is she aware of how much of a prick you can be when the mood strikes? Perhaps we should warn her?”
Theodore laughed at the jest, and even Alistair allowed himself a satisfied smile. All Christopher could do was squirm in his saddle because things were nowhere near as simple as his two friends seemed to think.
This marriage was turning out to be even more of a problem than Christopher had originally foreseen.
Christopher had been furious when the contract was first brought to him. So enraged that he had very nearly said some things and done some things that might have ruined his reputation completely. And as far as Christropher was concerned, his reputation was all that mattered.
It was his late father who had made the arrangements, signing the contract with Lord Strathvale behind Christopher’s back. Christopher knew the reason that his father had done so… just as he knew how necessary it was. But that did not mean he had to be happy about it.
His placid acceptance of the marriage was necessary, and Christopher came to accept that it was for the greater good. If not to help mask his secret from the Ton, then to further improve his perception in society and the business circles that he both roamed and dominated.
When he first met Miss Marianne, Christopher had breathed a sigh of relief.
She was indeed pretty, but that did not concern him.
She was subservient, meek in temperament, and the type who would not cause a fuss or give Christopher a reason to worry.
Not the most ideal situation, but nothing about this was ideal.
And then came her sister…
“There is something I need to tell you both.” Christopher cleared his throat and braced himself. “Before I do, I want you both to promise me,” He looked between his two friends. “That you will not make a big deal of this.”
“Oh-ho!” Theodore’s eyes widened. “How tantalizing.”
“We can’t make that promise,” Alistair said. “I would hate to do such a thing and then break it. Don’t put me in that position, Christopher.
“I mean it.” He allowed a growl to touch his voice, which both his friends took note of.
“What I am about to tell you both, the only matter you need to concern yourself with is that I did it for the right reasons. There is nothing to dig into. Nothing to ponder further on. As in all things, it was a business decision, and that is the end of it.”
“Just tell us already,” Theodore sighed. “Before we grow bored.”
“There has been a—” Christopher pushed his tongue into the side of his mouth. “A change in circumstance, regarding my marriage to Miss Marianne Drayton.”
“What sort of circumstance?” Alistair asked. “I thought the contract was sound?”
“The contract is fine. The circumstance is my decision to wed the older sister, Miss. Rosalind, instead. She will be a better match for marriage, and her father agrees.”
“What?” Theodore cried in amusement. “The sister? Christopher, surely you are joking.”
“It’s Lord Strathvale, isn’t it?” Alistair cursed. “He’s trying to pawn off the scraps and hopes you won’t say anything. I read that contract, Christopher, and you are within your rights to choose –”
“I have chosen,” Christopher snapped. “As I said, it is a business decision. Miss. Marianne is nice enough to look at, but her sister is far more…” He considered his phrasing, ignoring at the same time the way his heart pounded as soon as her face came to mind. “Practical.”
“Practical?” Theodore snorted. “That is not the word I would use.”
“And what you told us of her when this whole thing started?” Alistair asked with worry. “The very reason you chose the younger sister in the first place.”
“What is your point?”
“Is this wise?” Alistair pushed. “Christopher, forgive me, but…” He sucked through his teeth. “How did this happen?”
To that, Christopher had no answer. Not one that he planned on revealing to his friends, anyhow.
I can’t let them think that I was tricked or manipulated in any way. Which I was not. This was my decision… and it is for the best… yes, for the best…
Christopher had never expected Miss Rose to come good on their deal. That was what caught him by surprise. Making the deal in the first place was probably not the smartest maneuver that Christopher had ever made, but he had not seriously considered that it would make any difference.
That was his mistake. And considering what he knew of Miss Rosalind Drayton, it was one he was sure to rue.
The eldest Drayton daughter had never once been courted.
She had never shown an interest in what people thought of her or her perception as a lady of the Ton.
She was a budding spinster, the type who invited rumor, and the exact person that someone in Christopher’s position needed to stay away from.
But then why had he made the deal in the first place? Even if the odds of her completing it were so slim, what had Christopher been thinking?
I wish I knew. It might be easy to say that she tricked me, or that I was arrogant, but it’s more than that. There is something about Miss Rose that I can’t quite wrap my head around…
It was confusing. It was frustrating. It was so unlike Christopher that he had no way of explaining it. And when she came to him with the information he had requested, he knew he had no choice but to do as he promised.
Christopher was a man of his word, after all, and even the impending sense of doom that came with this marriage would not change that.
“It does not matter how it happened, only that it has. And that it was my decision.” He made sure to look between his two friends, letting them see in his eyes that this was a fact and not to be debated.
“And now that I have told you of it, I expect not only your support, but your silence. Is that understood?”
Theodore wore an amused smile, and his body was shaking from the effort it took for him to keep his mouth shut.
Alistair was frowning with worry.
But neither man pushed, which Christopher was not surprised by. He had spent a long time building his reputation to a point where even his best friends would not consider questioning him beyond what he allowed.
That’s what came with the life he had chosen, and the way he had chosen to live it. A life which, if things went poorly with this marriage, could be threatened.
He was going to need to be careful, he decided. And no matter what, he could not allow himself to grow too close to Miss Rose. That, he knew, would only lead to pain.
“Come on then.” He kicked his feet into his horse and pushed it forward. “Let us go again. And without cheating this time, Theodore.”
“I did not cheat!”
“You did,” Christopher said. “And we all know it.”
The three men laughed together as they steered their horses to the edge of the meadow, preparing to race them for a second time. It was a good day, a fun day, a day that Christopher would probably look back on fondly.
Perhaps the last time he’d be able to do so for a while.