Chapter 37
After a spare bedroom was prepared for Joanna’s father, a message was sent to Clifford Manor to let them know that the viscount was safe.
Peter and the viscount both retired for the night, and his grandmother was luckily already fast asleep. He was happy about that because he did not want to deal with her strange mood tonight.
However, Evan didn’t sleep. Instead, he paced around his study, drinking water and tea until his head was clear enough for him to think about what to do.
He did his best to recall every random fact that he knew about the viscount that he could use to carry out his plan. By early morning, he had a vague idea of what he wanted to do. He just hoped it would work.
He didn’t bother knocking on Peter’s door. Instead, he burst into the room. “Good morning!” he called.
Peter shot up in bed, half-asleep, half-surprised. “Fire?” he mumbled. “Is there a fire?” He groaned and clutched his head. “Oh, I had too much to drink last night.”
“There is no fire,” he said, taking vindictive pleasure in intruding in his brother’s space without knocking first. “Get up, Peter. We have a lot to discuss.”
Peter looked at the clock. “At six in the bloody morning?”
“Yes. Because I am going to eliminate the Viscount of Folly today, and you are going to help me.”
Twenty minutes later, the two brothers were in Evan’s drawing room, while a maid served them a pot of strong tea.
Peter glared at his brother. “What is this about?”
Evan described his plan to Peter, who went from irritated to thoughtful. “Interesting,” he said. “And this is the grand gesture you have settled on for Joanna?”
“No,” he said. “This is because you painted a haunting picture last night about the love of my life, accepting my hand in marriage out of duress.”
Peter smirked. “The love of your life? You have fallen hard, dear brother. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
Evan rolled his eyes. Lack of sleep made him careless in his word choices, but that didn’t make it any less true. “You will help me, yes? And we can’t tell Grandmother about this.”
“Tell me what?” said a sharp voice.
Evan winced and looked at the older woman, who was standing in the doorway, already dressed, despite the early hour, and with her hands on her hips.
“My maid told me something very interesting this morning,” she said.
“Apparently, the Viscount of Clifford is in one of our guest rooms. I thought I told you to forget about Miss Thorne.”
“We ran into him last night,” Peter said. He looked from Evan to their grandmother, looking conflicted for a moment, before talking. “Evan has a plan that you might be interested in hearing.”
Reluctantly, Evan told his grandmother the same plan he told Peter. He expected her to be angry, but instead, her expression softened, and she nodded.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “Yes, I think that is a good idea.”
“Really?” he said, surprised.
Her expression hardened a moment later. “Yes, I do. If you are successful, then you will no longer feel obligated to Miss Thorne, and you can forget about her. You have one day. Tomorrow you will meet Lady Katherine Preston for tea.” She swept out of the room and closed the door behind her.
Peter looked at Evan with a furrowed brow. “You are right. She is acting very odd.”
“I know,” Evan said. “But we can’t worry about that right now. We must make the arrangements before the viscount wakes up.”
Peter nodded. “It’s a bold plan,” he said. “Risky, too.”
“Risky for others,” said Evan. “Not for me. I am in the wonderful position where I can get away with just about anything.”
“There will be variables that you cannot control. And we both know how much you hate that.”
“Yes,” he said. “But it’s a risk that I have to take. I will not allow the viscount to ruin his family any longer.”
By the time the viscount was awake, everything was ready. The two brothers met the man at the breakfast table.
The older man looked up at them with an embarrassed smile. “Good morning,” he said. “Thank you for your hospitality, Your Grace. I will leave you in peace as soon as I am finished breaking my fast.”
“Actually, we hoped you would be able to stay a while longer, my lord,” Peter said.
The older man raised his eyebrows. “Really? For what reason?” His brow pulled into a frown a moment later. “Of course, you probably want to discuss that article about Joanna.”
“Absolutely not,” Evan said quickly. “I know what the gossip rag said about her is pure fiction. My opinion of her is unchanged, and there is nothing to talk about there.”
The viscount nodded. “So then why would you like me to stay? I am available, of course, but I admit I am at a loss, Your Grace.”
“Let us drop the formalities,” Peter said. “I beg of you. If I have to hear my brother be called ‘Your Grace’ for an entire day in his own house, I will simply go mad.”
Evan smiled. “I do not mind being called Evan for a day. Of course, it is up to you.”
The older man laughed with a note of disbelief. “It makes no difference to me if you call me Matthew.”
“Excellent,” Evan said. “After breakfast, let’s go outside and enjoy the fresh air.”
It didn’t take long for the three men to eat their fill before going outside. Once they were out of the manor, Peter said, “Matthew, I have heard that you were crowned fencing champion during your schoolboy days. Is that true?”
The older man smiled wistfully. “Oh yes. But that was a long time ago. I do not get to fence as much as I used to, but I admit I do miss it.”
“Peter loves fencing,” Evan said. He looked up at the sky and was relieved to see that the sun was out for once.
Hopefully, it would stay that way. He could hardly follow through on his plan if it started raining, and he needed to make sure he executed it flawlessly.
“He practices as often as he can. He even taught some of the stable hands and the gardener how to fence so he could always find a fencing partner.”
“Indeed!” Matthew exclaimed. “How wonderful!”
Evan led the way to the estate’s large expanse of grassy lawn, on the other side of the gardens. He didn’t come here often unless they were hosting an outdoor party, but Peter frequently used it for sport when he had the chance.
One of the stable hands, a young man named Jeffrey, was already preparing a selection of swords, along with the necessary protective gear needed for fencing. He grinned. “Good morning, Your Grace, Mr. Swinton! It is nice to meet you, my lord.”
“Please, Jeff,” Peter said. “No formalities today. It has already been agreed upon.”
“Of course,” the stable hand said, nodding.
Matthew looked around at the display. “What is all this?”
“I should think it is obvious,” Evan said. “We want to test our sword skills against a champion of the sport.”
The older man laughed. “I am happy to do some fencing practice, but I am rusty. My best years are behind me.”
“We will see if that’s true,” Peter said, grabbing one of the swords and testing its balance. “Choose your weapon, then.”
All four men dressed in the protective gear before they started to practice. Evan battled Jeffrey while Peter and Matthew sparred. After a few minutes, they all switched partners and kept sparring.
Peter, Jeff, and Matthew were soon laughing and enjoying themselves, despite the exertion. Evan found himself feeling a little more relaxed and even smiling from time to time. However, he could not relax entirely because he kept thinking of Joanna, which was bittersweet at best.
Matthew, despite his claims of being rusty and past his prime, took to the sword like it was only yesterday that he was crowned fencing champion.
Peter laughed as Matthew scored yet another strike on him. “All right,” he said, taking off his protective helmet. “I must admit, I am worn out.” He wagged his finger at the viscount. “I believe you were lying, good sir, when you said you were out of practice.”
Matthew had a face-splitting grin as he took his own mask off. He was dripping with sweat, but looked deliriously happy. “And I believe all of you are going easy on an old man. My ego is not strong enough to delude me about my own skills.”
With the fencing over, Jeffrey bid them farewell as the three of them went to the terrace for some cold beverages and sliced fruit.
“It’s a shame that the young man isn’t joining us after all of that fun,” the viscount said. “Would it really be so terrible to give him the day off from work so he could have a drink with us?”
“Believe me, I have tried,” Peter said. “I enjoy Jeffrey’s company, but he admitted to me that even though he enjoys fencing, he finds it uncomfortable to socialize and share a drink with his employer.” He shrugged. “To each his own.”
All of them settled into seats, sweaty but content as they drank cold, refreshing water.
“Thank you for today,” Matthew told Evan. “I admit, this is the most fun I have had in a long time.”
“You are welcome to come here as often as you like for fencing practice,” Evan said. “There will always be a partner available for you.”
The man smiled. “That is very generous of you.”
Peter met Evan’s gaze for a brief moment before the duke continued talking. “There is, however, a condition.”
The viscount looked surprised. “Of course. But what could you possibly want from me?”
Evan set down his drink and turned to fully face the viscount. “The condition is you cannot set foot in a gambling hall or sit down at a card table again.”
Matthew’s smile faltered and disappeared.
“Ah,” he said softly, setting down his water glass.
“Perhaps it was foolish of me not to expect this to ever come up. I thank you for your generosity, Your Grace. That is a condition I cannot meet. It is beyond my ability. But you helped an old man forget himself for half a day. And that was a wonderful gift.”
“There is still no need for formalities, Matthew,” Peter said, his expression serious now. “Neither of us holds your gambling against you. Some men take to cards the way others take to drink. But you are stronger than you realize. There is no need for you to continue down that path.”
“You think I haven’t tried?” The older man’s voice shook slightly with emotion. “I hate myself for what I have done to my family, but somehow I end up with cards in my hand almost every night anyway.” He shook his head. “I do not deserve your benevolence. Not after what I have done.”
“There isn’t a single man in the world who doesn’t have regrets,” Evan said. “What matters is learning how to overcome them. How to move on.”
The viscount shook his head, his lip curling in disgust. He kept his gaze on the refreshments table instead of looking at the two gentlemen.
“With all due respect, I cannot imagine your regrets are as deep as mine. You never would have let your family fall into poverty. Just last winter, my wife fell ill with fever, and we could not even afford a doctor to tend to her. I left Joanna alone to nurse her back to health while I played cards for half the night.” He covered his face with his hands.
“What is the point of my stopping now anyway?” His words were slightly muffled.
“My family is ruined. Joanna only ended up in the scandal papers because of me. It’s all I can do to keep the manor. ”
“If you don’t wish to accept our support for yourself, then you must do it for your family,” Evan said. “I haven’t even told you the complete bargain I am willing to strike with you.”
The viscount looked up at him, brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“Your family will not fall to ruin,” Evan said. “Not if I have anything to do with it. There are two business opportunities that I was presented with last week. Both of them are sound. Whether you stay away from the gambling halls or not, I would like to include you in the opportunities.”
“I don’t wish to take charity from you, Your Grace.”
“This isn’t charity. You have already shown that you have a sound mind when it comes to politics. There is no reason why it should be any different when it comes to business. And I want at least one partner whose judgement I can trust.”
The viscount looked doubtful at Evan’s reasoning, but he didn’t immediately object, which Evan took to be a good sign.
“I also have another proposition,” Evan said. “If you can keep from gambling for one year, then I will pay off all of your debts in full.”
Matthew’s eyes widened at that. When tears entered them, Evan looked away, hoping not to embarrass the man.
“Y-Your Grace,” he said. “I don’t think I could ever hope to repay you.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” Evan said, quickly taking a drink of water. He hadn’t expected the viscount to look at him as if he was a hero and he felt really uncomfortable by it all of a sudden. “Just take care of your family.”
The man took a deep breath and then nodded earnestly. “I will. Thank you.”