Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Lord Caspian Turner, the Duke of Amberhall, noticed his best friend the second he walked through the front door. As he should have; he’d been waiting on him for the past five minutes. Which, by Caspian’s calculations, made him exactly five minutes late.
“It is about time you arrived.” Caspian was sitting at a corner table in the gentleman’s club, and he had a glass of ale before him. He raised it to his lips and swallowed the remaining dregs in a single mouthful.
Lord Evander Lockridge, the Duke of Ironvale was Caspian’s best friend for a good reason.
Like Caspian, he was serious and no-nonsense when it came to his reputation and the perception people held him in.
Like Caspian, he was a businessman first, and there was little he would not do to see his business needs met.
And like Caspian, he was a god living in a world of ants, and he made sure to act like it always.
“Do not hold my lateness against me, friend,” Ironvale smirked as he crossed the room. “I did it for you.”
Caspian raised a questioning eyebrow. “This ought to be good.”
“It has been what, two weeks now since that fiasco of a wedding? By my mind, I thought you might want some time alone to drink and ponder where it all went wrong.”
“Ah, I see. How very selfless of you.”
“I do have my moments. Although do not get too accustomed to it, seeing as a part of me rather likes seeing you so upset. Reminds us all that you are human, after all.” Ironvale reached for the seat across from Caspian.
“Don’t bother.”
“Excuse me?”
“Sitting.” Caspian pushed back his chair and stood quickly. “We’re already running late, and I’m not about to allow that lateness to increase because you slept in.”
“I told you, I am late for your convenience.”
“And if you think that I believe that, I wonder if you have always thought of me as a moron? Or is this a new development?”
“I want a drink,” Ironvale complained.
“Have water.” Without another word, Caspian strode past his friend, across the gentleman’s club, and out the front door.
And, as he knew would happen, Ironvale hurried after him.
“Someone is in a mood!” Ironvale snapped as he fell in beside Caspian. “I would ask what is the cause, but we have covered that topic already.”
“Am I?” Caspian asked. “In a mood?”
“Having one’s heart broken will do that – oh, wait. That would require you to have a heart in the first place. My error,” he chortled gaily.
Caspian rolled his eyes as he and Ironvale started together down the street.
It was a warm summer’s day in London, the type that seemed to encourage crowds to gather en masse outside, which in turn made walking difficult as Caspian was forced to push and shove through the throngs because he wasn’t one to slow down and allow others to pass by.
Were he not in a hurry, he might not have cared so much, but his friend’s tardiness ensured that lateness was exactly what Caspian was experiencing. And how I hate not being on time.
It was a business meeting that he and Ironvale were on their way to, one that Caspian would have liked a few extra minutes to discuss.
Alas, as Caspian was starting to learn, one did not always get their way in this world, and the best one could do was adapt to changing circumstances any way that was needed. So long as one still came out on top.
“So, tell me then,” Ironvale asked as he strode beside Caspian. “When is the wedding?”
Caspian frowned and looked back at his friend. “How did you know about that?”
Ironvale blinked. “Everyone knows! For a week, it has been all that anybody is able to speak of. The assumption, rightly, is that the girl’s father will pull her back into line and arrange the wedding for another time and place.
Seeing as you are who I am dealing with, I think it’s safe to assume you have already done that, no? ”
Caspian allowed himself to smirk, realizing suddenly what Ironvale was speaking of.
He thinks I am going to try and marry Lady Rosaline again. I cannot blame him for thinking this, as that would be the usual way to approach this nasty business. For once, Ironvale could not be further from the truth.
What Lady Rosaline had done was not just dishonest, but cause for extreme alarm, and was the circumstance even slightly different, he could not say how he would have approached this mishap… only that Lady Rosaline, and her father, would not have enjoyed it.
But as was so often the case with Caspian, he was able to remove himself emotionally from the situation and spy a new path yet unseen. And that path, the one he was now walking, was proving to be a masterstroke.
Or it would be, save for the one variable that even Caspian could not quite come to terms with. His bride-to-be.
“It brings me untold amounts of pleasure to tell you that you could not be more wrong, Ironvale,” Caspian said.
“Is that right?”
“Despite what you might assume…” Just then, a small group of men appeared in the pathway, blocking Caspian. He did not slow his pace, standing tall and walking right through them. They scattered without a word. “…I will not be marrying Lady Rosaline.”
“What?” Ironvale hurried to catch him. “You are joking? Surely!”
“You know I don’t joke.”
“But Amberhall…” Ironvale was looking at him like he had lost his mind. “Correct me if I am wrong, but you and the girl’s father had a contract? You have a contract! Do not tell me that your pride is so enormous that you are willing to burn everything to the ground on principle?”
“You know I would do no such thing.”
“And yet you are.”
Caspian came to a sudden stop and turned on his friend. Ironvale was of similar proportions to Caspian, so the effect wasn’t meant to startle him. Rather, Caspian wanted the man looking into his eyes when he told him the reason.
“As far as my contractual obligations with Lord Donmere are concerned, I do not give the faintest damn. If he was so concerned about me marrying his daughter, he would not have allowed that fiasco to take place to begin with.”
Ironvale snorted. “Have you told him that?”
“And as far as my own contract is concerned, I have already seen to finding myself a new bride. One who, I am quite sure, will happily walk down the aisle, announce herself as my wife, and then do as I expect of her.”
Ironvale blinked. “A new bride… already? Who?”
About to answer him, Caspian’s gaze drifted over Ironvale’s shoulder where it found a young woman hurrying down the street as if her gown was on fire; behind her raced the woman’s personal maid, begging to slow down as she tripped and stumbled through the crowds.
It was funny how fate worked sometimes, because that’s what this was. A reminder, Caspian thought to himself, of what was at stake.
“See for yourself.” He indicated to the woman.
“See for…” Ironvale turned and found the woman to whom Caspian was referring. “Her?” he pointed right at her.
“That’s the one.”
“Why does she look… oh!” Ironvale laughed. “Do not tell me. Caspian!” He slapped Caspian on the arm. “You know, just when I think that you are the most serious fellow I have ever met, you go and do something like this. Good show!”
“I assure you that this is not a joke.”
“It is from where I am standing,” Ironvale laughed.
The woman who was hurrying down the street was none other than Lady Thalia. She did not see Caspian watching her, far too busy focusing on each store that she passed, no doubt searching for something specific.
Caspian watched her for a moment, unsurprised by her haphazard wanderings, the frantic nature that she rushed by with, and the look of extreme discomfort on her face as if the task of shopping was akin to having her nails pulled out.
Perhaps my friend is right to judge me? Had someone told me even two weeks ago who I was set to marry, I might have punched them in the face for daring to joke about such things.
Lady Thalia was not the type of person who Caspian would usually waste his time with.
Having been raised in a strict household, Caspian liked things done a certain way.
He did not like fuss. He did not like surprises.
He liked plans, and action, and knowing what to expect so he could account for it.
His wife-to-be, he began to believe, was the opposite of this. She was stubborn. She was antagonistic. She was the type who liked to argue simply for the sake of it, happy to burn down the house just so that she could be proven right about a point that she did not want to win in the first place.
The two of them were a dangerous pairing, Caspian knew.
Not that any of this mattered, and he reminded himself of this often. This marriage was done with a singular purpose, there was no need to worry himself with the aftermath, and he was quite sure that even one as temperamental as Lady Thalia would not dare oppose him.
All he needed to do was remain calm around her, remind her of what he wanted, and this marriage would be an effortless thing. It had to be.
“Lady Thalia!” Caspian called to her as she came near.
Lady Thalia came to a sudden stop when she heard her name. Her face then dropped, her eyes then widened, and when she looked up and saw Caspian standing just a few feet away, the look that overtook her visage was nothing short of disgust.
Were Caspian the type to do so, he might have laughed.
“What a pleasant surprise.” He walked toward her, not wasting time with a smile because he didn’t see the point. “What brings you here?”
Her lips curled as she watched him come. “What do you think?”
“I wouldn’t waste my time with guessing.”
“If you must know…” She rolled her eyes. “I am shopping for a gown for our…” Her lips somehow curled further. “For our wedding. You do remember that you are forcing me to marry you?”
“Nobody is forcing anything,” he said simply. “You are still welcome to say no.”
“Is that right?” she scoffed.