Chapter 2
Two
“‘Peace and quiet‘ my arse,” Erasmus growled to himself as he left the church as quickly as he could. Had it been up to him, he would have slammed the doors behind him, but they were tied open and enormous.
All he had been hoping for was a moment to gather his thoughts after his father’s uncrowded funeral. He had only returned to the city the day before, so it was not as if he’d had ample time to come to grips with everything in advance.
Typical, he mused to himself. The man is gone, and even his absence makes things more complicated.
Perhaps peace had been too much to hope for. It was not his private church, after all. Nevertheless, it took him by surprise when a woman entered in a rush, so distraught she didn’t even notice him. He had stepped into the shadow behind one of the doors for her benefit, to avoid frightening her.
He had intended to make his way out of the church as soon as she sat down in the pew, but then he couldn’t help but linger when she began to speak.
He told himself he had simply been morbidly curious, but more than that, her voice had captivated him.
She had a voice like a songbird, even in her distress.
He had certainly received an answer to his curiosity. Rather more of an answer than he had been expecting. His attempt to leave before she realized the church was not as private as she thought it was, however, was stymied by his own bum leg.
She heard him. And when she turned to face him, he was struck into stillness again. She had smooth, perfect skin, enormous eyes, hair that could put the most expensive amber necklace to shame, and full lips that looked as if they were begging for someone to press their thumb against them.
And then she opened her mouth.
The words that followed were neither shy nor demure.
There was no fear at his stature. She met him with a temper like embers in the wind.
It had been as refreshing as it was infuriating, and he’d left soon after their argument began—quite the talent of mine, managing to start an argument with a woman I’ve never met, before I even know her bloody name—and left her alone in the church.
Though it took him some time to reach White’s Club, William was not there yet.
Erasmus was left to his thoughts once again, though he couldn’t say he was surprised.
William was likely with his family. When they met in the West Indies, he couldn’t say he had expected William to settle down, but he supposed most men of his rank did.
As he waited, Erasmus pulled his pipe and a leather tobacco case from his jacket. He was just getting it properly lit when at last William arrived and deigned to grace Erasmus with his presence.
William eyed the pipe with sardonic humor as he took a seat. “Really?” he asked dryly. “Honestly, my toddler has more patience than you sometimes, I swear.”
“Is the little tot the reason you’re running late?” Erasmus asked, taking the pipe in his teeth as he spoke.
“My niece, actually,” William admitted. “She asked a few questions that were, we’ll say, lacking in tact, and my sister-in-law was in a state afterward.”
William didn’t offer any details beyond that, so Erasmus took that to mean it was none of his business, and he asked no further questions. It was always nice when he didn’t need to pretend to care about people he didn’t know.
“It must be quite a change from the West Indies,” Erasmus remarked instead; it seemed like safer ground to tread upon. He hadn’t seen William in four years and they had corresponded little in that time. Sticking to safer topics seemed like a better idea, at least to start with.
“That, and everything else,” William agreed wryly. “Considering our fathers were what brought us to the West Indies, I suppose it seems fitting that their deaths were what brought us both back to London.”
“Your triumphant return went a bit more smoothly than mine,” Erasmus replied, hoping he didn’t actually sound as jealous as he felt. If he did, then at least William didn’t comment on it.
Fitting, that he should even be gracious about that.
“Barely,” William said, with a tone that made it clear he would not be elaborating on that particular topic. “But at least I eventually got something out of the old man, even if it was just his title.”
“I would say the same,” Erasmus groused, “but I really did only get just the title.” He could have gone on about how the house was in shambles and the property looked as if a storm had swept through and then never been tended to again.
“Hardly any of the staff are still there, and it’s not as if I can afford to hire new ones right now. ”
“Was he so bad with money?” William asked, bemused. “I didn’t hear rumors of a gambling habit or anything like it.”
Erasmus snorted, blowing pipe smoke from his nose. “Nothing like that. It’s all locked up, safe and sound, a trust meant just for me—assuming I ever have a male heir.” He rolled his eyes. “Leave it to my father to figure out how to turn an infant into a key.”
A gambling habit. How absurd. Father would have at least needed to have a concept of fun or enjoyment for that.
“At least he didn’t run you out of the country,” William offered cautiously.
“He may as well have,” Erasmus replied, shrugging one shoulder casually. “The options were to leave or marry my brother’s widow, which means my option was to leave.”
William’s mouth twisted to the side in distaste. “Made an infant a key and a young woman a lock, it seems.”
“It is what it is,” Erasmus sighed, pulling the pipe away from his mouth for a second. “Which means it’s up to you to take advantage of it while it’s good. Settling down seems to have been good for you. At least one of us got a good place to land.”
“You act as if you think you’ll never be wed,” William challenged. “Surely the idea of settling down isn’t that distasteful.”
“To me?” Erasmus asked. “No, not particularly. I’m sure it could be perfectly fine. To whichever lass gets saddled with this, though?” He gestured to his face with the end of his pipe before returning it to his mouth.
“With a house that looks straight out of a child’s ghost story, and a husband who looks like he got keelhauled.” He rolled his eyes. “Ah, yes, truly it’s a mystery, why they aren’t lining up and begging for my attention. It’s a wonder how you got a wife yourself, if that’s what you call sense.”
“Have you always been quite so dour?” William asked, caught somewhere between surprise and amusement.
“I have, in fact,” Erasmus replied, feigning a bright tone as he answered. “You’ve been so distracted with the wife and the tot that it must have slipped your mind. Honestly, I’m amazed you could pull yourself away from them long enough to meet with me.”
William cleared his throat, his expression going slightly awkward for a second before he deliberately pulled a neutral expression back into place. Regardless, Erasmus saw it just long enough to realize that, somehow, their meeting had something to do with William’s new family.
I swear to God, if he has some absurd plot to get me to play happy family with some poor woman, I will throw him into the sea and then myself after him.
Erasmus sighed, wary but amused despite himself. “Alright, Tulliver, what have you got up your sleeve?”
“You need a wife,” William pointed out.
“I need an heir,” Erasmus clarified, “but I suppose one does require the other.”
“I know a woman in need of a husband,” William said.
Erasmus was quiet for a moment, as the realization that William was, in fact, setting him up to play happy family struck him.
He could not say he was angry, considering it was being done as a favor for him.
But nor could he say he was looking forward to the prospect.
A favor to Erasmus had to be seen as a punishment to the woman William had in mind, after all.
“Does this woman know what she’s potentially getting into?
” Erasmus asked warily. Scarring aside, he knew there had been unpleasant rumors about him when he left, and his sudden return had likely only stirred them all up again and made them even more extreme.
He could not imagine a woman willingly tying herself to that sort of drama.
“Somewhat,” William answered evasively, which was not the most comforting way he could have replied.
“In what way?” Erasmus asked.
“She knows you’ve recently become a duke,” William answered, his tone light, as if that was all the information she might ever need. “And that you are a friend of mine.”
Erasmus rolled his eyes emphatically. “Do you hate this poor woman?” he asked.
“I don’t claim to know everything there is to know about the fairer sex, but I’m fairly sure most of the allure of a title like mine is the benefits that come with it.
A duke with no access to his money and no reputation, among other shortcomings, is likely not the sort of fairy tale of which this lady friend of your wife’s is dreaming about. ”
William had not mentioned this woman being a friend of the duchess, but it seemed like the most likely option to Erasmus.
“She’s my sister-in-law,” William informed him, equal parts correction and confirmation.
Erasmus’s eyebrows rose. “If this is your way of currying favor with your wife’s family, I find your methods a little questionable.”
Or perhaps he hates his in-laws. I suppose that’s also a possibility.
William huffed out a quiet laugh, as if at a joke he felt no need to share. “Nelly does not need a fortune or a man with a spotless reputation. She needs a man to be a father to her daughter, and for that, she needs a husband.”
At that explanation, some of Erasmus’s growing irritation eased.
He supposed he could sympathize with such reasoning.
He had already assumed that the best he could expect was a marriage of convenience, so it was not as if it would be a sacrifice on his part if his bride was not madly in love with him.
At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a bit insulted that William’s thoughts had turned to him in a situation where ‘a man, literally any man’ would do.
He took a breath and sighed it out, smoke trailing with it. “While I am not agreeing straight out of the gate, let us say that I am at least willing to humor the idea,” he said.
William sat up straighter in his seat.
“Tell me about her,” Erasmus instructed. “Not every single detail of her life story, but enough that I may form some sort of opinion.”
“Worried I’m trying to tie you to some unreasonable hag?” William asked wryly. He did not make the ‘like draws to like’ joke that Erasmus assumed he wanted to make, and for that he had to appreciate William’s restraint.
“You pined after a woman you barely knew for five years,” Erasmus reminded him flatly. “I believe it’s safe to say that we have very different perspectives on these matters.”
William laughed. It was brief and startled, but he did not argue, and he did finally humor Erasmus’s request to know of this woman he might marry.