Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
Felix glared out the window as Lord Milton and Isabelle strolled through the gardens of Windham House, leaning their heads close together and whispering while Mrs. Peregrine trailed behind them as a chaperone.
Stanford smirked and leaned against the alcove wall on the far side of the drawing room. “If you keep frowning like that, I suspect Miss Alden is going to figure out how much you care for her.”
“I do not care for her!”
“She is out there promenading with Henry Milton for the fifth time in two weeks.” Stanford smirked and pushed away from the alcove, striding to another window in the drawing room.
“Mrs. Peregrine is hovering nearby, but she appears to begiving them the amount of space a couple would require when they are beginning to discuss marriage.”
Felix’s spine stiffened and he fought the urge to punch Standford in the nose and see for himself.
Even though they had disappeared from his view, Felix knew that Isabelle was only feigning an interest in Milton. She had to be. The man wasn’t entertaining enough for her.
That idiot Milton does not have a sense of humor that would mesh well with my little imp. He is far more likely to dull her light. He will take away everything that makes Isabelle who she is.
Milton is far too vain to allow Isabelle to continue to dress as she pleases. He will only want her clothed in the latest fashions. He will expect her to host his guests, and when she wishes to lose herself in her painting, Milton will demand that she return to his orbit.
He was the last man that Isabelle should be with. One of them at least. There were nearly a dozen others that she shouldn’t be with.
Stanford crossed his arms and shook his head with a condescending smirk. “If she marries him, you get everything you want.”
“If she marries him, I will be forced to watch her live out the rest of her life in a loveless marriage, during which she will spend most of her days hoping that things will improve , but they will not.”
“You are speaking as though you know something about him that I do not.”
“I simply do not care for the man as much as I once did. He has made some unsavory comments here and there.”
“And this change of heart has nothing to do with the jealous monster clinging to your back?”
Felix shot him a withering look and watched as Isabelle and Milton came back into view. She leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment as she laughed.
Felix determined that hers wasn’t a real laugh. Her eyes didn’t crinkle at their corners the way they did when she found something truly funny.
Stanford waved a hand in front of his face. “If they look this way they are going to see you standing in the window. Miss Alden is going to know without a doubt that you wish it was you out there in Milton’s place.”
“That is nothing but a lie and you know it.”
“What I know is that you are pathetic.” Stanford clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You should go out there and tell her that you are sorry for everything that you have done, and then you should tell her that she should marry you instead of Milton.”
Felix poked his tongue into the corner of his cheek before scrubbing a hand down his face in frustration.
Confessing to Stanford what had happened between himself and Isabelle would result in total humiliation. Stanford would never let him live down the fact that he had gravely misbehaved and kissed Isabelle.
Felix kept his mouth firmly shut and turned away from the window.
If Isabelle wishes to marry Lord Milton, then who am I to stand in her way?
He wished that there was something he could do to stop her from making such a colossal mistake. Every man carried closely held secrets, but the most pressing question was whether Lord Milton had any that would tear apart the marriage before it even took place.
Perhaps it was cruel to do this to her, but in the long run Isabelle would realize that he had saved her from Lord Milton. She would likely never forgive him, but at least she would not be trapped in a marriage with a man who so obviously conflicted with her personality.
Stanford sighed. “I do not like the look that is on your face.”
Felix turned to Stanford with a look of supreme tenaciousness. “We are going to find a way to stop this wedding long before it ever happens.”
This is a horrible idea that will likely leave me looking like an utter fool. Why do I not care?
Felix couldn’t sit idly by while Isabelle married Lord Milton, although he was beginning to see that he could not bear for any man to marry her.
Stanford shook his head and walked over to the bottle of bourbon. He poured himself a small glass and tipped it back. “I do not know when you concluded that I would assist you in this insane mission, but I urge you to rethink it.”
Felix paced over to him, his hands clasped behind his back. “We have been friends for a long time, have we not?”
“We have.” Stanford agreed as he put down the glass. “Which is why you should listen to me when I tell you that it would be better to tell Miss Alden how you feel. She would immediately change her mind and call off her courtship to Milton.”
“She would not.”
“And how do you know?”
His stomach tied itself into a tight knot as he looked out the window once more. “I did ask her to marry me and she said no.”
“You asked her?” Stanford’s eyebrows climbed into his hairline as a stunned grin contorted his face.
“Well, I told her that we would need to be married after I kissed her.”
Stanford poured himself another glass and tipped it back. “We will need more liquor for this conversation.”
Felix rolled his eyes. “We will not. You do not need to know any more than that. I should not have told you even that much, but now that I have, you would do best to keep it to yourself. Not a single other person knows.”
“Not even Lord Milton.”
“Especially not him.”
“Then if you wish to break up this marriage, you had better work quickly. Rumor has it that he is looking to marry her and whisk her away within the next fortnight.”
Felix spun and stalked out of the room.
If there was anything to find about Lord Milton, he was sure that the servants knew something.
He stalked through the halls and out the door, heading to the garden where Mr. Peregrine was bent over the vegetables, checking the tomatoes that were starting to grow.
“Mr. Peregrine, a word, please?”
The older man nodded and straightened up, brushing the dirt off his hands and onto his pants. “Is something the matter, Your Grace?”
Isabelle’s laughter rang through the garden, drawing their attention. Felix ground his teeth together and fisted his hands at his sides as he watched the casual brush of Lord Milton’s hand across the small of her back.
“I see.” Mr. Peregrine cleared his throat and nodded to the tool shed. “Perhaps you would like to check the grounds with me?”
Felix followed him over to the toolshed. “I am sure you can see as well as anyone else that Miss Alden is only going to be unhappy with Lord Milton should they marry.”
Mr. Peregrine entered the shed and pulled out a couple of pairs of worn leather gloves. “There is far more than that.”
“What do you know?”
“There are rumors about what he is really searching for from a marriage. I may not spend my time with the young men like I once did, but you know how these things spread around.”
Felix pulled on the gloves and nodded, accepting a shovel and following Mr. Peregrine down an overgrown path at the back of the property.
“What kinds of things?” he asked as they stopped at the foot of a tree with dead bushes beside it.
Mr. Peregrine stuck his shovel into the dirt, starting to loosen the roots. “Some say that his fortune is gone.”
“Gone?” Felix thrust his shovel beneath some of the roots on the other side of the largest bush, trying to loosen them as well.
“Yes.”
“How gone is gone? Is it simply a matter of needing to build back his land and investments, or is this a matter of poverty?”
“He is a horrid gambler. I know men who have seen him at the tables. He doesn’t leave until there’s no money left in his pocket, and he owes at least one person several pounds.”
The pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. It was enough to bring clarity to why Lord Milton decided that this was the year he would marry when he had been so adamant about never marrying.
Felix felt sick. He had been the one to introduce Lord Milton to Isabelle. It was his fault that a man he thought was his friend intended to use her solely for his personal gain.
“And are there people who would be willing to provide me with proof if I asked?”
The corner of Mr. Peregrine’s mouth twitched. “There might be, if you were willing to offer them the right incentive. You know how men are and the way they like to do business.”
Felix hauled out several of the roots before crouching down to knock off some of the dirt clumps that remained stuck to them. “Would you be willing to direct me to these men?”
“For Isabelle?” Mr. Peregrine grinned as Lord Milton dodged a bee in the distance. “Anything. I know my wife is worried about seeing her married to that man. Elizabeth talks daily about how insufferable he is.”
“I beseech you to speak of this to no one except your wife.” Felix moved to the back of the bush, stabbing his shovel into the dirt once more. “I want to be sure of what I know before coming forward with the evidence.”
“And if Isabelle wishes to marry Lord Milton in spite of the fact that he’s after her family money?”
“Then that is her choice.”
Felix’s stomach turned. He didn’t want to think about that possibility. Isabelle would be better off alone for the rest of her life than with the likes of the man Felix had once considered his friend.
She would not have to endure this alone. He would give her time to get over the heartbreak of Lord Milton. In time she would move on and she would find someone better suited for her.
Even though she has refused to choose me, I will not allow her to continue down the destructive path she is presently on.
Mr. Peregrine looked quizzically at Felix as they hefted the bush out of the ground and tossed it into the rusted wheelbarrow.
Felix sighed. “I know that she must marry eventually, and as long as it is not to that scoundrel, I will be satisfied.”
“You’re lying to yourself.”
“I must.”
The older man hummed. “You know, you don’t get to be married as long as I have without learning a thing or two about women.
I’m sure if you tell her that you’re sorry for whatever it is that you broke between the two of you, then she will forgive you.
Sometimes all a person wants to hear is a sincere apology. ”
“I think the problems I have caused with her are far beyond repair.”
“Have you tried?”
“Stopping the marriage is trying.”
Mr. Peregrine gave him a sympathetic look. “I’ll do everything I can to help you, but she may never forgive you for this either.”
“But at least she will be happy.”
At the end of the day that was all Felix cared about. He simply wished that Isabelle would find genuine happiness, whatever that looked like to her. Forfeiting the agreement with her father would hurt the duchy, but it would save her.