Chapter 16
It was nearing midnight a few days later, but Nicholas was just arriving at his club. He’d kept his promise the past few days to Cordelia to stay home to make sure she ate and cared for herself, so that was why he waited until so late to go to his business, after she went to sleep.
You only wish for a distraction to keep away from her.
He was both tired and irritable but not for the usual reasons.
After their night together, Cordelia had never mentioned it again.
She certainly went limp when he moved close to her or touched her, and he could see the heat in her gaze which matched the heightened color of her cheeks, but to his disappointment, she’d never said anything more about it.
Or asked for anything more either.
Instead, she threw herself into caring for the children and interviewing nanny after nanny.
He thought it’d be easier to get her to beg for him after showing her just what sort of pleasure she could feel, but she was as stubborn as a mule.
And so, he’d hardly slept for thoughts and dreams of her, curious at his own overwhelming desire as well as a new need he had not noticed before.
There was no name for it, and he could not quite identify it, but it was there.
Was this what you felt, David, when you first met Helen? Because it’s unbearable.
As he entered the club, the noise and busyness soothed him.
He had been bred to be a duke and yet to find work and purpose was the best thing he had ever known.
At least now, for a little while, he could have the distraction he needed.
Spying Leonard at one of the gaming tables, he walked up to him and nodded at the dealer in greeting.
“Seems you’ve done well this evening, cousin,” he told him, eyeing his pile of chips.
“And so I have.” Leonard grinned. “All the better for seeing you though. Haven’t seen much of you around these last few days.
” Grabbing his chips and rising, he chuckled.
“Looks like you’ve taken my advice then to think more of family life than the business life.
Or is it that your married life and all its bonus pleasures have just become too addictive? ”
Leonard’s dark eyes flashed teasingly, and Nicholas had the desire to punch him in the face at the reminder of just how slow things were moving in that direction. But he’d take distraction that evening in any form.
“Hardly.” He walked with his cousin to get his payout, and then he waved him over toward a private room.
“Have a drink. Remember, the marriage is all just an arrangement, nothing more, and she was promised a white marriage, no matter how little I may want that.” Once Leonard entered the room, Nicholas shut the door and motioned to the armchair by the fire. “Sit.”
As he poured them each a whisky, he considered what Cordelia was doing at that moment.
She was likely asleep, or at least he hoped so, her breath coming slow and steady, her skin glowing in the last embers of the firelight from her hearth, and perhaps she was wearing that silken robe again, this time open to reveal the pair of perfect –
“So, tell me about it. This addictive woman and all.”
“No addiction,” Nicholas grumbled, passing his cousin the glass and sitting down across from him.
It wasn’t quite a lie since he’d hardly had the chance to touch her enough for it to become an addiction.
If he was an addict, then he certainly wasn’t fulfilling it at any point.
He took a long sip, and Leonard smirked, clearly not believing him.
Nicholas was glad he hadn’t seen Darren yet, or he would likely receive more of the same.
There must be something about my face tonight. Revealing too much.
“Yes, you seem very calm and collected, full of satisfaction.”
Nicholas rolled his eyes. “So, do you have other topics you can discuss with me? Besides the inner workings of my married life?” He kicked his feet up to the ottoman and swirled the whisky in his glass.
He could appear relaxed and unaffected if he wanted to.
“Well,” Leonard shrugged. “You should know what Wexford is saying about you all over town and at White’s.”
“And what’s that?” Nicholas ignored the little prickle of fear at the back of his neck. Wexford could be a determined bastard when he wanted to be and persuasive as well.
“That the marriage is a fraud, and that you and your wife manipulated David’s will and rushed into the marriage to gain control of both the children and the fortune.”
Nicholas chuckled low in his throat. “I don’t think there is anyone who could blame Cordelia for starters.
Who would choose to receive a set of children not their own with hardly any money provided to pay for them?
” He shook his head. “And if they were to ask any legal questions, they would see that I have set the money aside and put it away for the children when they come of age. It is not for me or for Cordelia. But as you well known, the marriage was not built on love, which could perhaps be construed as fraudulent. However, what marriage in the ton is a true love match?”
Leonard shrugged again, and it irked Nicholas. The man cared little for serious matters. He cared for gambling and women and drinking, all the vices of a well-bred, well-to-do man. But he was entertaining at times, and after everything, he was family.
“It is just a warning to you that those rumors are going around. And since you did not take a wedding trip, nor have you really appeared together in public since, there is some strength gaining behind that rumor. That it was deviously created to steal money and legacy from Wexford, and all done illegally of course.”
“Well, then, it seems I’ll have to make amends for our privacy.
” He wanted to add that if anyone remembered that both he and Cordelia had lost their dear friends only almost two months before, and it was not surprising they should linger in privacy, but he refrained.
“Perhaps it’s time to take Cordelia out and show her to others.
Prove that we are no devious scoundrels. ”
The thought of showing Cordelia to the world as his new duchess appealed to Nicholas. As did the thought of her in a delicious new, low-cut gown, her neck bedecked with jewels.
“A sound plan. I should like to see her myself.” He grinned.
“See if I can’t sway her away from you with my usual wiles.
They are mostly effective, except when you are near, of course.
” Nicholas felt his every muscle tense at the thought of another man attempting to flirt with Cordelia, and Leonard held up his hands with a laugh.
“Don’t worry, cousin, I won’t attempt it.
You nearly tried to kill me with a dark look, there. Seems she really has become addictive.”
“I’ve got a fist waiting to meet your face, cousin, if you don’t stop it.”
“Fine, fine.” Leonard rolled his eyes and finished his glass. He pulled out his pocket watch, and instantly, Nicholas’s gaze went to it, the memory of his conversation with Cordelia a few days ago returning to his mind.
Plated in pure gold.
“Leonard, tell me more about this watch. Do you know the family where it came from?”
Leonard sighed and shut the watch, stuffing it back into his pocket. “No. I sent my servant to purchase a few things, and I’d seen the watch there earlier and had him go back for it. Why?”
He stood and Nicholas followed, putting down his whisky glass on the side table. “Did you know it was from Cordelia’s family?”
His voice came out far angrier than he intended.
Leonard’s brow furrowed, and he shook his head. “No, I just told you I did not know the family who it’s from. Therefore, I did not know it was from her family.”
“I will take it back now.” Nicholas held out a hand.
“What? Are you mad? Why should I give you my watch? I paid good money for it.”
“Did you?” Nicholas lifted a brow. “You told me it was a small sum.”
Leonard dissembled. “Yes, well, it is not as if I’m made of money. It would be small in your eyes but not mine.”
Nicholas continued to hold out a hand. “My wife’s family sold this watch for the sake of money. But now that they are under my protection, they no longer need this money, and I wish to return it to them. It is a priceless family heirloom.”
Leonard hesitated but then Nicholas took a small step forward, and grumbling, Leonard handed it to him. “I hope you will be so good as to get me my money back.”
“What is it you paid?”
At the sum, he lifted a brow, realizing Leonard had been right. It was less than the watch warranted but a good deal more than he thought Leonard could pay. He took the key from his pocket and unlocked the safe, feeling Leonard’s eagerness behind him.
“Here you are,” he said finally, slapping the money into Leonard’s hands. “And a little more for good measure.”
Leonard grinned, pocketing the money.
“Cousin, it was a pleasure doing business.” Ignoring that, Nicholas took the watch and left the room, eager to quickly finish his own business and return home as soon as he could.
With the pocket watch stowed away in his pocket, he was dreaming up plans of how to return it to her.
Cordelia would be shocked and pleased, but he would have to find a special way to give it back to her. A grand way.
* * *
“You seem very experienced, Miss Hartley, and your references are impeccable.” Cordelia smiled at the older, dark-haired woman from over the tops of papers she held in front of her.
“Thank you, Your Grace. I was very sad to leave my last post, but as you’ve read, the children are now far too old to need a nanny, and it was time for me to move on. That’s the difficult thing, isn’t it? Children have to grow up.”
“Yes, that’s true.” She smiled again and put the papers together. “Thank you very much for coming, Miss Hartley. I will be in touch.” She rose and led the woman to the door, where a footman helped her to depart.
Turning back into the sitting room, Cordelia went to the window seat, feeling a headache coming on.