Chapter Four #2
Well, this was unwelcome. Alexander had no way to reach Oakhurst. How was he to unravel the mystery of his whereabouts last night without his friend?
“Send a note to his staff. Surely, they’ll know where to find him.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” Timmons hurried off.
“How like Oakhurst,” Damon drawled. “Fleeing at a moment’s notice, without regard for others.”
“I don’t think he fled purposefully, Damon,” Alexander mused. “Nor do I think his absence is because of anything that may have happened last night. I doubt it has anything to do with me. He likes Paris a great deal. As does Lady Maxwell.”
“I suppose we cannot confirm whether you were at the Perswick ball. Not from Oakhurst, at least. But given Canterbell’s visit, I fear his confirmation isn’t necessary. If what he says is true about Lady Brokeburst.”
“I could not have been there,” Alexander insisted. “I would not have forgotten an entire ball.”
At least, he didn’t think so.
“How can you even be sure?” his uncle thundered back at him. “You can’t even recall making it to your bed last night. For all I know, you lifted Lady Sophia’s skirts in the garden. Fucked her on a bench.”
“No one would believe that of me.” Alexander tried to sound convincing.
“Don’t be an imbecile. No one will believe you, nephew, over Canterbell. You are an unrepentant rogue. You drink far too much. Gamble away hundreds of pounds. Throw lavish parties attended by half-naked courtesans.”
“What of it? And most of them were completely unclothed. Also Oakhurst—”
“I realize you have little interest in politics,” his uncle interrupted with a snarl. “Nor do you care how Parliament works.”
“I do my part.”
He didn’t. The last time Alexander had attended Parliament and prepared to vote as his uncle requested, he’d been so bored he fell asleep.
Damon snorted. “Allow me to apprise you that Canterbell controls the House of Lords with an iron fist. He is the Lord Speaker. Nothing is voted on without his approval.” The fingers of Damon’s hands clenched and unclenched.
“He dines frequently with Lamb, the Prime Minister. Do you know who that is, Alexander?”
“I’m not a complete idiot.”
“Yes, you are, because compromising his daughter out of all the skirts in London,” Damon fumed. “Was the absolute worst thing you could have done.”
Alexander jerked his gaze to the door. “Timmons, you better not be listening or I’ll have you sacked.”
Quiet footsteps slid away from the drawing room.
“I did not intentionally muck up your grand ambitions, Damon. I would not.”
Damon snorted again.
“But I do not believe I compromised that girl. Or was even at the Perswick ball. I’m sure of it.”
“You’ve no idea what you’ve done.”
Alexander stared down into his snifter of brandy.
The guilt returned, stronger than ever. His uncle had devoted his life to the Viceroy name.
Damon handled a myriad of responsibilities.
Grew the Viceroy fortune and influence. He’d never once asked anything of Alexander except to follow his guidance.
No well-bred, virginal young ladies who would require marriage.
He’d never once crossed that line. Until now.
I didn’t touch that chit.
“I’ll fix this, as I did before.” Damon pressed his hand to the glass of the window; gaze fixed on the street outside.
“Were she not Canterbell’s daughter, I might have been able to make this entire unwelcome incident go away.
Send her to the Continent with money and threats.
Canterbell, however, will make sure you wed Lady Sophia.
” He tapped a finger on his chin, as if considering.
“But you don’t have to bed her.” Damon nodded slowly as if coming to a great realization. “Yes, that’s it.”
“I don’t think I could even if I tried. Her manner puts me off.”
A complete lie. If anything, Lord Canterbell’s daughter displayed a level of insolence and lack of respect for him that Alexander found oddly…arousing.
How horrifying.
“I think I need another headache powder,” he said. “Timmons,” he yelled for his butler.
“Canterbell’s honor,” Damon mused out loud though he seemed to be talking more to himself than Alexander, “Must be satisfied. The gossips silenced. He is correct that spinning a tale of the two of you, a secret courtship, will quiet everyone. And please the queen.”
“No one will believe I would ever secretly court that shrew.”
“Banns can be posted,” his uncle ignored him. “A quick marriage, but not too quick. That will silence Lady Brokeburst. And after a time…six months, I think, but no more than a year, we’ll ask to have the marriage annulled.” Damon regarded him calmly. “Failure to consummate.”
“I don’t feel well, uncle.” Alexander looked up at him.
“Exactly. Canterbell won’t disagree.” Damon’s mouth curved into a smile. “On the contrary, he’ll thank me.”
The edges of the room blurred around his uncle. He’d had at least four snifters of brandy and nothing to eat. But that was fine. Timmons would bring him something later.
“Impotence,” Damon informed him. “Is valid grounds for an annulment. Given your love of spirits and opium, it should be easy to cast doubt on whether you can perform your husbandly duties. We’ll say it was a recent development, given you’ve had…
” He looked at Alexander. “Nearly every woman in London.”
“Not every.”
“Even Canterbell wouldn’t want to doom his daughter to such a future, one without the hope for children. Lady Sophia will be pitied, but not a pariah. Her reputation will remain intact, if not a tad tarnished. It may even increase her appeal.”
“Doubtful,” Alexander murmured, not bothering to open his eyes as his uncle’s footsteps came closer.
“But you cannot bed her, Alexander, under any circumstances. Don’t even touch her hand unless it is necessary. There can be no questions of your inability to consummate the marriage.”
“Don’t worry, Uncle. I wouldn’t bed that chit if she was the last woman in all of England.”
“I’m pleased to hear it.”
Alexander’s mind started to drift as his uncle continued pacing about and speaking in a hushed tone to himself. Four glasses of brandy hadn’t managed to blot out Lord Canterbell and that self-righteous little twit, but at least Damon had found a solution.
I never touched her.
“Maybe I won’t need to worry over an annulment.
” Damon’s voice sounded very far away. “Not with your inability to sit a horse. You’ve never managed it properly, no matter how I had you instructed as a child.
Though now, that’s more the fault of the spirits you consume.
Such an excessive amount.” Damon made a tsking sound with his tongue.
“I might fall into the Thames again, Uncle. Plop.” Alexander made a sound while raising his hand, then dropped it. “Right into the water. You were so angry with Oakhurst.”
“Yes, he apologized profusely for not…watching you closer. You nearly drowned. I was quite upset with him.”
The room grew quiet save for the ticking of the clock before his uncle spoke once more. “No touching Canterbell’s daughter. If you got her with child, we wouldn’t be able to gain the annulment. Promise me.”
“No touching. I promise, Uncle. I won’t muck things up again.”
“Good.” The clink of the brandy glass settling on the table reached his ears. “I’ll see myself out, Your Grace.”