Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
“So the infamous bachelor is finally getting married.”
Cedric grinned as he stared across the table from the man who had offered the droll-sounding commentary. He raised his glass of whiskey.
“So it seems I am,” he replied, then took a sip. He smacked his lips with satisfaction after he swallowed and set his glass down. “So glad you could come celebrate with me, Godric.”
Godric Donnet, the thirty-year-old Duke of Hungate, huffed and swirled his untouched whiskey in his glass.
Where Cedric came at life with a dry wit and cynical, if not bored, amusement toward the spectacles of nobility, Godric was the opposite.
Godric was intensely self-controlled. Deeply principled.
Loyal. Then, of course, there was Cedric’s favorite characteristic- Godric’s ruthlessness when provoked.
Cedric had discovered the admirable trait when they were at university together long ago, and they had been close friends ever since that particular incident that had allowed Cedric to bear witness to it.
“True love?” Godric mused, and Cedric chortled.
“Hardly. No, it was more of a necessity. Adeline has run through countless nannies and governesses over the course of the last year,” he explained, “I have decided to try to bring her someone who has a more maternal touch.”
“You mean someone she could not chase away because that someone would be bound to you by the laws of marriage,” Godric countered.
“Precisely,” Cedric agreed, then smirked.
“And where did you find such a woman?” Godric asked.
Cedric paused, taking a moment to take a longer swig of whiskey.
“At the auction,” he admitted.
Godric’s already hardened gaze turned to granite, and the glass in his hand creaked from the pressure of his grip. Cedric wondered if it was going to explode in his hand or if he was going to smash it into the table.
“I know you are not in favor of such a place,” Cedric stated, “To be honest, I am not either. However, these women on the marriage mart need to be wooed. They also need to believe that they will come first. I have no time for either. My niece is…not handling the loss of her parents well, and she needs immediate intervention. So, yes, I went to the auction. I made a bid. It allowed me to be honest, and the woman I won has accepted her role. It will, I believe, be a mutual benefit.”
“And you will use her in other ways as well, I imagine?” Godric asked bitterly.
Cedric’s jaw tightened as his temper flared to life.
“Careful, old friend,” he gently warned, “I may enjoy my trysts, but you know full well I would never use and lose a woman like those other monsters.”
Godric’s gaze softened, if only a little. He then bowed his head, his silent way of offering an apology, and Cedric bowed his in return, letting the moment be forgiven.
“So your niece is still not doing well?” Godric asked, changing the subject.
Cedric frowned, guilt flooding into his heart.
“My staff tells me her temper tantrums have become quite destructive.”
“How can I blame her?” He added with a helpless shrug. “She lost her parents. Had to move from a house she knew to Calder. I am not a parent; in fact, I am sure I have not a single paternal bone in my body.”
“Have you even tried?” Godric asked.
Cedric’s guilt grew more intense.
“Not for a while,” he confessed, “Her temper tantrums, Godric, they are not…they are not like anything I remember from my childhood.
“Perhaps she needs a firmer hand?” Godric mused.
“No,” Cedric nearly barked, frowning. “Not after-”
He stopped himself from speaking the truth, but it was clear from Godric’s raised brow that he was already curious. Cedric scrambled for an excuse.
“I truly do not believe it is just discipline she needs,” he finally
finished. “And even if she does need some correction, it should not come from me. She barely knows me. We did not even meet until her mother’s funeral.”
Sadness, an emotion he usually fought to keep away, joined his guilt.
Winnie had cut off all communication with Cedric and their father the moment she married her husband, a decision that, while it pained him, was one he understood.
Their father had not been a kind man, and despite how much Cedric stepped in to protect her from the man’s cruelty, it had not been enough.
“Perhaps this wife of yours can teach you how to handle children,” Godric said, pulling Cedric from his thoughts.
He huffed out a laugh before taking another sip of his whiskey.
“Perhaps,” he said dryly.
“You should come to the wedding,” he added a moment later. “Meet Adeline and my future bride. She is admittedly a beautiful woman. At the very least, you could appreciate that.”
Godric grunted at that.
“I am not as easily swayed by beauty as you are, dear friend,” he replied, and Cedric grinned at the slight.
“Maybe not,” he mused, keeping his other thoughts of Deborah to himself, “But it would mean a great deal to me if you came. This might not be a traditional marriage, but…”
Godric smirked. It was the closest he ever came to a smile.
“I will be there,” he promised, then held up his glass, “To your future bride. May she have the strength to tolerate your nonsense.”
“To my future bride,” Cedric agreed with a chuckle, and they toasted.