Chapter 4 #2
“Right,” Phoebe declared, brightening. “Nothing ventured and all that.”
Phoebe drew in a steadying breath and strode away from her cousins before the bleat of alarm from Emily, Anne, and Tabitha could penetrate. Alarm that perhaps she should not take the advice of an actress who had abandoned the ton to live in America and take to the boards.
But Phoebe was determined to have a marvelous evening, and she wasn’t going to stand about waiting for him to come and ask. She had no patience for waiting. Some women waited for what they wanted and ended up in their beds decades later, still waiting for dreams that would never come.
Dreams and desires needed assistance.
Phoebe wound her way through the crowd, determined to find someone to introduce her to him.
She might be a Briarwood, but in such a public setting, she wasn’t about to thrust herself upon a gentleman without some introduction.
And so, she pivoted quickly, spotted her brother, dashed towards him, grabbed him by the arm, and started heading in the direction of the man.
“You’ll provide an introduction.”
“Hello to you too,” he teased.
“Come. I shall take you too him.”
Laertes did not try to stop her, but he did groan. “You are clearly going somewhere with a purpose, and I’ve got no idea what you’re about to get me into. And Phoebe, when you get like this…”
“Yes, yes,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I know. You’ve always told me. I’m a bit like a dog with a bone.”
“I don’t like that analogy,” he said. “But it’s apropos. Now, who is this fine fellow you must meet without delay?”
“That fellow,” she whispered, gazing pointedly towards the handsome giant of a man. “I want you to introduce me to him.”
Laertes swung his gaze to where she was indicating.
“Him?” he gasped.
“Yes, him.”
“Not him, Phoebe.”
“Why not him?” she asked, still walking in the direction of her goal. “He is beautiful. He is tall. He’s clearly important. I think he’ll do just the treat for tonight.”
“He will not,” Laertes countered quickly. “He’s here with a different purpose than you.”
She arched a brow, intrigued. “Who’s he here for then?”
“Himself,” Laertes said.
“I don’t follow.”
Laertes’s brow furrowed and he blew out a quick breath. “You don’t need to, but you should avoid him.”
“Why should I avoid him?” she said, quite surprised by her brother’s cryptic statements.
“Because he’s not the man for you,” he warned rather loudly before clearing his throat and saying with more calm, “He’s not in touch with his own feelings.
His own feelings are locked in a block of ice.
He’s got no idea how to get them out, and I will not have you attaching yourself to a man who may or may not be able to show affection for his wife.
It would be a terrible marriage, Phoebe. ”
“Marriage?” She gasped with mock horror. “You have already made the jump?”
“Yes, I have,” he gritted. “Because I can see it in your eyes. I know that look. I’ve seen it on too many of our cousins’ faces. I will not permit this sort of thing.”
“Not permit,” she echoed. “How could you ever say such a thing to a lady of the Briarwoods? You know that there is no such thing as permitting or not permitting. You will either make this easier or you will make this harder.”
He scowled. “Then I will make this very hard,” he gritted. “He is my dear, dear friend. He’s a duke. He is lovely, but he is not for you.”
“If he is your friend, he cannot be a terrible person. You’d never bring a terrible person here.”
“Phoebe,” he said, “I did not bring him here to fall in love with you.”
“Do you think he shall?” she teased, unable to stop herself. Sometimes, making Laertes squirm was all too easy, and she loved that he longed to protect her. But really, he needn’t. She was made of tough stuff and could protect her own heart if needed.
Laertes gave her an exasperated but knowing look. “Any gentleman, if you put your mind to it, will fall in love with you. I have no doubts about that. But the Duke of Crestfield needs…”
“What is it that I need, old boy?” the Duke of Crestfield drawled, having come up behind them whilst they bickered, as so many siblings loved to do.
The duke placed his massive hand on Laertes’s shoulder, his signet ring winking in the candlelight.
Laertes looked as if he was about to perish on the spot. But then he somehow managed, “You are in need of an introduction to my darling sister.”
“Ah,” the duke said. “Lady Phoebe, is it not? I have heard a great many things about you.”
She blinked. “Have you?”
The duke inclined his head, neither effusive nor rude. Just pleasant. Distant. Yet somehow crackling with energy. “Your brother sings your praises all the time.”
“Does he?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“We have spent little time together in the last years,” she said sadly, wishing that their paths had not separated them so much. But young ladies and young bucks spent their time in very different pursuits. She winked at her brother. “He is so much older than I.”
The duke laughed. “Well, if he is so very much older than you, then I must be positively decrepit in your eyes.”
She grinned. “Oh, absolutely. A cane will be necessary, no doubt, in the near future.”
The duke’s eyes widened with amusement. “How will I prove that I am not one foot in the grave?”
“There’s really only one way,” she teased back.
“Oh?” the duke asked. “And what is that?”
Laertes swung his gaze back and forth, looking like he wished he could intervene but knowing his cause was lost.
She gave the duke a merry grin. “You must ask me to dance at once. Otherwise, I shall be convinced that you are an old, old man, ready to give up and sit in a corner with your head nodding.”
The duke let out a booming laugh. “Well, I cannot have that, can I?”
Laertes let out a slow groan. “That’s it,” he said under his breath. “It’s over, isn’t it?”
Phoebe gave him a mischievous grin, and the duke gave him an odd look.
“What’s over?” Crestfield asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Laertes said. “Absolutely nothing. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. This is just going to be a very typical Briarwood Christmas.”
“Are you all right, old boy?” the Duke of Crestfield said. “I’m here making merry just as I promised. But you look quite done.”
“Yes,” Laertes said. “You are and it’s what I wanted, so I must go ahead and bear it. But I never thought…”
“What did you never think?” asked Phoebe, wondering at her brother, loving him dearly and yet unable to give up the duke’s company.
“He never thought that I could be so friendly,” the duke declared.
Laertes let out another groan. “That’s right. Exactly. You’ve said it.”
“Well, Your Grace,” she said with a curtsy, “then you must bestow that friendliness upon me. Shall we?” she asked.
Crestfield turned to Laertes. “Do you mind, old boy?”
“Why are you asking him?” Phoebe asked.
The duke gave her a kind look but seemed a touched surprised. “Because he’s my friend. You are his sister, and I would not like to upset him.”
Laertes closed his eyes, then started to laugh slowly. “No one tells a Briarwood lady ‘no,’ Your Grace,” he said. “Not even me. All we can do is surrender.”
“Surrender?” the duke drawled. “Never,” he teased.
And the way he said that made Phoebe’s heart beat and she knew, without question, that the chase was on.