Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
“You’re leaving, Your Grace?” Mr. Mortimer walked into the office and paused when he saw Edward hurriedly collecting his things.
Edward looked up. “Ah, Mr. Mortimer, I was just about to come and find you. This will save me the time.” He did a quick look over his desk, made sure he had everything, and strode across the office. “As you so astutely noticed just now, I am heading home.”
Mr. Mortimer blinked in surprise. “We are not even open yet, Your Grace. Not for another hour.”
“I am aware.”
“Forgive me…” He clicked his tongue. “I would have thought that with all the rumors lately, you might have wanted to…” He clicked his tongue again. “I am surprised to see you going, is all. It is not like you.”
To that, Edward chuckled. “That is where you are wrong, Mr. Mortimer. It is exactly like me. It is only now that I have finally decided to act like it.”
Mr. Mortimer was Edward’s right-hand man…
at least as far as his gaming establishment was concerned.
Although Edward owned and operated the gaming hell under his own name and influence, he could not very well dedicate every waking hour to seeing it function.
The wealth that flowed through the doors was vast, the turnover of customers was never-ending, and such businesses as that one were not those that someone of Edward’s standing ought to be seen spending too much time at.
Thus, he relied on Mr. Mortimer.
The man was a savant where numbers were concerned, and since he had come into Edward’s employee, the money made had nearly doubled. He ran a tight ship, he was not known in the ton, which allowed him to go unnoticed, and he had Edward’s confidence completely.
“I wanted to speak with you, Your Grace.” Mr. Mortimer was middle-aged, of average height, with the type of face that one would not look twice at in a crowd. All perfect attributes for a man in his position. “If you have a moment?”
Technically, Edward had many moments. All night, in fact. As was often the case, he spent at least three nights of the week at his gaming establishment, working until the early hours of the morning to ensure that business flowed and nothing untoward happened.
However, much had changed in Edward’s life recently, and while he ought to have spent the night, he found that he did not want to. What he wanted to do… well, that was personal, and above Mr. Mortimer’s paygrade.
“Make it quick,” he said as he eyed the closed door.
“It’s these rumors, Your Grace,” Mr. Mortimer said. “They are getting worse. This last week, we’ve seen the clientele…” He clicked his tongue, which he had a habit of doing. “It’s not that they have lessened. We have been getting similar numbers through the doors.”
“So, what is the problem?”
“It is the types of clientele, Your Grace. Less of your peers, more ruffians and scoundrels than we like. Their money is still good, even if it’s not as much. But it’s the atmosphere they bring. I had to break up three fights just last night.”
Edward groaned. The news was not unexpected, but that did not mean it was welcome.
When Edward had first bought his gaming hell, he made a solemn promise to himself.
While the ownership of such establishments was frowned upon by his peers, they were not discouraged entirely, and so long as they were known to be of reputable reputation, the type of place that stood above that which was common, then he had nothing to worry about.
To go unnoticed and ignored by those of the ton was the primary goal.
For so many years too, such a state had existed peacefully and effortlessly at Edward’s establishment. While many judged him, a blind eye was turned because making money was what mattered most, and Edward was able to keep lips tight so that few dared to speak ill of what he did.
Lately, things had started to change.
He did not know why or how, but whispers were starting to spread, those which told others to stay away.
It was said that Edward used his gaming hell to blackmail his peers, to take advantage of them and abuse his power for his own nefarious purposes.
And it was warned that one would be a fool to step through his doors.
Consequently, less members of the peerage had been seen these last few weeks. Worse still, low-born commoners had started to appear as if encouraged to do so. They fought. They drank. They gave this place a bad name. And slowly, so very surely, they dragged Edward’s reputation into the mud.
I need to find who is starting these rumors, and why.
“Keep doing as you are,” Edward told Mr. Mortimer. “I am looking into it.”
“But –”
“There is nothing I can do now,” he cut the man off.
“And it is not as if we are going to close our doors tonight. No…” He looked pointedly at his number two.
“Someone is responsible for this recent change, and I will find out who. Until then, we do as we have been. Just…” He chuckled and shook his head. “Be subtle about it.”
Mr. Mortimer scoffed. “As subtle as a gale through a nunnery.”
Edward wanted to look further into the woes that had fallen on his gaming hell. He wanted to stick around, maybe speak to some of the new clientele to see if they could tell him who had convinced them to start going there.
What he wanted more, however, and the reason that he was so eager to leave, was to see his wife.
Without waiting for Mr. Mortimer to try and convince him to stay, Edward bid the man farewell and hurried from his office, the gaming hell, and made his way back home.
If he was lucky, he would arrived just as supper was finishing, giving him plenty of time to spend the evening with she who had captured his attention so thoroughly these last few days.
Truly, I cannot believe how well this marriage is working out.
It was a wonder that Edward’s marriage to Celestine had started so perfectly.
Oh yes, he had known there would be certain aspects that he relished…
a little too much, to be fair. And while the physical side of the relationship was one that he thought about constantly, as well as taking advantage of as much as he could, what surprised him most of all was everything else.
It was just so easy.
Celestine was everything a good wife ought to be, and more than that. She did not nag. She did not complain. She did not sulk about and insist on his attention whenever he was home. She was exactly what she promised, and that was why Edward was so thrilled with how things had gone so far.
And his desire to spend more time with her wasn’t just so that he could bed her. Thoughts of devouring Celestine were not all that consumed him. They were, indeed, a highlight, but they were not the sole motivation.
Edward, a man who had never wanted to marry, found suddenly that he rather like this state of life.
I cannot help but wonder now, what took me so long?
That was a thought that made Edward chuckle as he returned home that evening, hurrying through the front doors, eager to see his wife. Just as he was certain that she would be eager to see him.
He found her in the dining room, which surprised him as she ought to have finished eating a while ago.
But when he saw who she was with, the reason for her tardiness became clear.
Therefore, rather than walking in and announcing himself, Edward chose to stay by the doorway, silent and hidden, watching the scene unfold before him
“… it has come down to two choices,” Millicent explained to Celestine as they sat together at the table.
“And what is the problem? Why the indecision,” Celestine asked.
Millicent clicked her tongue. “One of the gowns is undeniably more elegant, and I know that Edward would likely wish for me to wear that one.”
“And the other…”
“It is…” Millicent grinned wickedly. “It is not so appropriate. At least Edward will not think that it is.”
“Ah, so it is a choice between scandal and propriety.”
“More like looking ravishing or looking as my grandmother might have back in her time.”
The two women giggled together, and Edward smiled to see it.
He had worried about asking Celestine to postpone their honeymoon until after the Season. While their marriage might not have been traditional, he was certain that she still expected such an engagement, and that she certainly looked forward to it.
As did I, for that matter, for obvious reasons…
But Millicent came first and she always would, and it was imperative that Celestine understood that and made her peace with it.
As he had come to learn this last week, not only had Celestine made her peace with her place in their home, she had risen to the occasion like he could not have thought possible.
The two women got along famously. Millicent seemed to trust Celestine as if she were her own mother, and Celestine clearly valued this level of trust and was eager to do as she had promised Edward that she would.
Often and throughout the day, Edward would find the two talking; sometimes sitting in the corner of a room, sometimes taking walks across the garden.
He guessed those conversations to be the type which he was not suited for, and he could not have been more pleased that Celestine recognized this, saw how much she was needed, and dedicated herself to molding Millicent into a lady of the ton.
It makes me wonder what I was so worried about all this time, just as I wonder at what I might have missed had Celestine not come along.
“So, let us be serious.” Celestine stopped her laughing and touched her chin in thought. “It is a garden party that you will be dressing for. Meaning, that it is a day event.” She licked her lips. “Meaning that it will be quite warm…”
Millicent sat up eagerly. “So, it would be strange if I dressed in a way that covered too much skin.” She giggled.
“We do not want you sweating all day,” Celestine agreed. “How horrid that would look.”
“Tragic,” Millicent agreed. “So, it’s decided. I’ll wear the…” She flashed her eyes wickedly. “The more seductive gown.”
The two women giggled further and Edward grimaced. While he liked that Celestine was taking care of Millicent, he wondered too if she might be a bad influence on her. Or am I the bad influence of Celestine, and this is the natural result?
“Let me see them both on your first,” Celestine said. “Then we will decide.”
“Yes!”
Celestine looked wryly at Millicent. “I do now wonder if this sudden concern for your gown is for a reason. Is there a particular man whose attention you are trying to capture?”
“Maybe.” Millicent looked away as if embarrassed.
“Oh, tell me who.” Celestine leaned forward.
“I cannot,” his niece said. “Edward…” She sighed. “He does not like him very much.”
“I won’t tell him. I promise.”
Edward found himself leaning forward, desperate to hear what was said, just as his stomach tightened with worry because he suspected who that man might be, and he was determined to be proven wrong. Please…
Frustratingly, his slight movement caught the eye of Celestine, and she sat up, turned, and cocked an eyebrow at him.
“What do we have here?” she said. “Eve’s dropping, are we, Edward?”
Millicent’s eyes widened and she cleared her throat as if she was choking.
“I am doing no such thing.” Edward swept into the room, making straight for his wife. “I only just arrived home.”
“I thought you were working tonight?” Millicent asked as if to accuse him of something nefarious.”
“I meant to,” he said with a shrug. He came behind Celestine and rested his hands on her bare shoulders. She turned stiff at his touch and then relaxed as he began to squeeze. “But I thought it a good idea to be home. Worried, I was, of what might happen if I left the two of you alone.”
Millicent scoffed. “So that you could spy on us.”
“Is there anything worth spying on?”
“No,” she said quickly, and then shot a look at Celestine. “We were speaking of Lord Ironvale’s garden party, is all.”
“Ah, yes…” Edward looked at her knowingly. “I am sure that’s all it was.”
The two women shared another look and while Edward wanted to press, he was also careful not to overstep. He liked that they were getting along, and he did not want to get in the way. Better that Celestine gained Millicent’s trust because he knew that if anything was wrong, she would tell him.
“Well, I am off to bed…” Slowly, Millicent rose from the table. “And Celestine, thank you for your advice.”
“Tomorrow,” Celestine said. “Let us see those two gowns.”
“I cannot wait.”
They watched the young girl exit the room. Once she was gone, Edward stepped around Celestine, took her hand, and pulled her to her feet.
“Anything I need to be concerned with?” he asked her.
She laughed. “Not at all. Besides, there are some things that an uncle ought to not know. But know that she is in safe hands.”
He took her other hand, held it tight, and looked at her with infatuation. “I have no doubt.”
For a moment, they simply stood and looked at one another. Holding hands. Alone in the room. Their stares met and held, no need to say what was on their minds, and Edward was beyond pleased that he had decided to leave work early. Being home with his wife promised to be far more enjoyable…
“The night is still young,” he purred as he looked into her eyes. “Far too early for bed.”
“Oh, is that right.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Whatever shall we do to pass the time.”
“I am sure we can come up with something…”
“I am all ears.”
He stepped into her and kissed her on the lips.
He held that kiss, keeping it simple and not too hungry, while letting her know exactly what he wanted.
As expected, she returned it in kind. They were of the same mind, as was often the case this last week, and it made for a truly wonderful start to their marriage.
“Shall we…” He started to lead her from the dining room.
“I am all yours,” she said.
“Not yet, you aren’t,” he fired back with a grin. “But you will be soon.”
Edward’s blood was up, his arousal was peaked, and it took more self-control than he thought was possible to wait until he had her alone in his room, the door closed, nobody to disturb them until morning. But he waited, he resisted, and the night was all the better for it.
That night… the next… the one after that. A marriage he had not been sure of, now fully realized, and Edward dared to say that he was the happiest he had been in as long as he could remember. And it was all thanks to Celestine, his wife.