by Fanny Finch
She wanted to be respected but also know she had earned that respect. Most of all, she wanted love. It was love that would keep her happy in her darkest moments. She needed to make sure she was with a man who could provide that for her.
She nodded as she moved down the hall to Camilla’s room. “Yes. I suppose if it came down to it, the Duke of Lox is my best option. After all, I am looking for a husband so that I am secure if… when my father goes to Heaven. I suppose in a way the Duke of Lox is doing the same thing.”
Camilla’s voice dropped as they walked down the hallway. “His grace seems to know what he wants, Emma. I do not think he would be pursuing you if he did not want to, no matter how much money is at stake. He has had years to make sure this did not happen. He found no one worthy of his attention before. That makes you very special. Do you not see that?”
The words made Emma feel good. She grinned over her shoulder at Camilla, whose responding smile was instant and bright.
The more she thought about it, the more excited Emma got. She would be the Duchess of Lox. She tried on Duke Baldwin’s last name, calling herself “Emma Baldwin, Duchess of Lox.” It had a nice ring to it.
She danced around the room, trying on different pairs of old boots and dresses that Camilla stored in a box in her closet. Camilla was in a similarly happy mood. Both were about to see the men they would possibly be married to by year’s end. Two handsome dukes for two best friends and cousins. They talked about the irony of it and how blessed they were.
They had a little time before they were to be picked up and decided to stroll through the garden. It was a rare sunny day, not one cloud in the sky. Both girls wanted to take advantage of it.
“It is such a beautiful day to be looking at land to purchase,” Camilla sighed, slipping her hand through the crook of Emma’s elbow and holding on to her as they walked.
“Yes, it is.” Emma’s voice was just as whimsical. Both young women felt as if they were walking on clouds, butterflies fluttering all around them, rainbows piercing the sky in every direction. The fresh feeling of new love filled them both when they thought about the men who were coming to pick them up.
Emma could not help feeling a bit more reserved than her cousin. It seemed to her that there were no warning signs in Camilla’s budding relationship with the Duke of Rabney. He was just suddenly there, perfect for her, making her laugh, fulfilling her every desire in a future husband.
The Duke of Lox was not so picture-perfect. He mentioned he wanted an obedient wife, which translated to a servant in Emma’s mind. He appeared to play games with her to get the reactions he wanted, manipulating her feelings. Not to mention the fact that he was in desperate need of a wife in order to keep his income.
But despite knowing these warning signs were there, Emma could not deny her attraction to him. He had many qualities that could not be ignored because of a few trivial flaws. She herself was filled with flaws. Could she stand on a moral ground higher than him? She thought not.
She would take her chances. As long as she was still seeing him on a regular basis, she would give him the opportunity to prove to be the man she needed and the man she wanted.
Chapter 12
The Duke of Lox affixed his greatcoat, flicking his fingers under the fluffy collar that moved down his chest to his waist. He detested the latest fashion of flair and fluff. He wanted to look like a man, not a traveling gypsy.
He sighed and looked up at his face, scanning his trim beard and mustache, his bright blue eyes, and the dark mop he would soon cover up with a hat. The hat was the only thing about his outfit that he liked. He had a fondness for hats, whatever the style.
The thought brought a smile to his face.
“Are you ready, Baldwin?” Duke Christian stuck his head in the room and inquired of him in a quick tone. “I am ready.”
The Duke of Lox laughed. “Yes, I am ready. I see you are ready. You are also in a hurry, are you not?”
“I do not like to waste time when I am on my way to seeing a beautiful woman, Baldwin.”
“I can see that.” The Duke of Lox went to the door and quickly followed his friend to the front doors. The carriage was waiting for them just beyond the steps.
“Do you think she will like the property we are going to see?” The Duke of Rabney was adjusting his shirt, feeling the buttons underneath his outer vest and adjusting the hat on his head several times.
“I think you are a bundle of nerves, Christian,” the Duke of Lox said with a laugh. “You must calm down. She is not the Queen.”
The Duke of Rabney turned his eyes to his friend without smiling. “I have met the Queen, Baldwin. And I did not feel this nervous then. That must mean something.”
The Duke of Lox nodded. “It does. It means you will be asking for her hand in marriage soon. I cannot imagine why you would want to purchase any land. If you marry her, surely you will move into Cooksey Castle.” He and his friend smiled at each other.
“It is a grand place, to be sure,” the Duke of Rabney said, chuckling. “But I cannot live there. It would not be a home that I have provided for my bride. Since I will be receiving my inheritance after I marry, I will be able to afford to provide a home for Lady Fielding and our children. You are fortunate to have a mansion already provided to you by your grand-uncle.”
“I do not know if I will be using it,” the Duke of Lox said forlornly. “I may lose it if I do not marry. I am not sure if it is part of the arrangement or not.”
The Duke of Rabney frowned. “What do you mean? You will be married. You will not lose your inheritance. You will marry Lady Emma Wentworth. Am I mistaken?”
“I do not think she cares much for me,” the Duke of Lox stated in a sad voice. “I seem to… irritate her. I do not know how but… I always seem to.”
“I have seen the way she looks at you when you are not looking, Baldwin,” the Duke of Rabney said in a knowing voice. “It is not a look of disdain that I see. I believe she is enamored with you. Perhaps she is denying it for some reason. Women are sometimes difficult to understand.”
The Duke of Lox cocked his head. “You seem to have no trouble with it.”
The Duke of Rabney laughed and shook his head. “It is not women that I understand. It is this one woman that I understand. She has wit and knowledge and is well-read. She sings like a bird and plays a beautiful pianoforte. She does not raise her voice and is accommodating as well as headstrong. I could not have asked for a better woman in my life than she.”
“I do wish I could say the same about Lady Wentworth.” The Duke of Lox felt a bit jealous of his friend but washed it over with pride. “I am very happy for you. It seems you are well on your way to a fulfilling future.”
The Duke of Rabney nodded but his eyes looked into the distance as he thought deeply. “I remember a few times Lady Wentworth seemed to take something you said and perhaps was displeased by it in her perception. She is a friendly duck but seems complicated. You are in for a run, Baldwin. I wish you luck.”
“I thank you for your encouragement,” the Duke of Lox replied. “And I ask that you continue to invite me along on these adventures so that I might have more time with…”
The duke’s words were cut off when they both heard the shrieking tone of a female ring through the air in their direction.
“Brucie???”
The Duke of Rabney’s eyes widened and he stared across the carriage at the Duke of Lox. Both turned stunned faces back toward the house behind their carriage. Neither had even heard the other carriage pull into the drive.
A young woman was practically standing up in the carriage, holding on to the side with a tight grip as she swayed back and forth with the movement. Her other hand was waving wildly in the air and she was continuing to shriek, calling the Duke of Rabney “Brucie.”
Both of the men knew who it was. There was only one Lady Daniella Christian, the Duke of Rabney’s only female cousin on his father’s side, who had been raised mostly in New Yo
rk in America.
The Duke of Lox turned back to face away from the young woman, his wide eyes staring at his friend. “Why did you not tell me you invited her?”
The Duke of Rabney looked stunned and innocent at the same time. He shook his head. “I did not invite her. I have not spoken to her in nearly a year! Not since the last time when…”
Neither man wanted to speak of the last time they had seen the Duke of Rabney’s cousin. She had practically smothered the Duke of Lox to death, threatening several other women who dared to show interest in “her man.”
Both men had skillfully avoided contact with Lady Christian ever since. And now, it appeared she had found them.
The Duke of Lox felt a little sick to his stomach. His friend smiled and waved back at his cousin before leaning forward and saying in a serious voice, “You must take a few deep breaths, Baldwin. You are turning green. We will handle this woman.”
“But I live here, Christian. I live here. Now she knows where I live.” The Duke of Lox groaned and slid down in his seat a little, covering one side of his face with his hand.
“She is coming, Baldwin, straighten yourself quickly,” the Duke of Rabney hissed.
Reluctantly, the Duke of Lox sat up straight and by the time Lady Christian appeared at the carriage door, he had painted a smile on his face.
“Well, I cannot believe this luck!” Without asking, Lady Christian opened the door of the carriage and climbed in, plopping herself next to her cousin. She turned to him and began talking rapidly. The two men said nothing, just staring at her, blinking.
“Why, I have been looking for the two of you for so long now. It seems as though no one in the family knows where you are, Brucie, and I had to keep asking friends upon friends and getting the word out that I was trying to find you. Of course, you know why I wanted to find you. I just knew you would be with my favorite man in the world. Or at least you would know where he is.”
She giggled and fluttered her eyelashes at the Duke of Lox. He had sat in silence, listening to her speak so quickly he sometimes lost track of what she was saying and had to catch up in his mind. He caught the part about being her favorite man in the world just like he caught the flinch Duke Christian made when Lady Christian referred to him as “Brucie”. It was the most disrespectful thing the Duke of Rabney could think of and it made him detest his cousin even more.
He would not be disrespectful toward her, though. It was not in his nature nor would it be the gentlemanly way. And she was technically family. The woman would have to be dealt with another way.
“It is lovely to see you, Lady Christian,” he said, interjecting his words into her conversation when it looked like she was going to pause to take a breath. “His lordship and I were on our way to view an old plot of land I am intending to buy. It will be very hot and dusty. Would you like to stay here and rest, perhaps wait for us in the parlor or on the veranda? I am sure we can provide refreshments for you after your long journey.”
“Oh, thank you, no, cousin,” Lady Christian replied much to the dismay of both men. “I am refreshed. I arrived early this morning and had breakfast in town before coming out here. I needed to meet with a friend.”
The men wondered how she managed to breathe when she was talking nonstop.
“The friend I mentioned told me you were here! I am so grateful! Now we are together again. You must tell me all about your adventures since we last saw each other. And cousin! You are planning to buy land? You know you will not be able to if you are not married by the end of the season. Does this mean you have a lady in mind? Am I going to welcome someone new to the family? You must come to the inn and see our great-auntie. You simply must. She is not going to be with us much longer, you know. You must pay your respects to her very soon, while she’s alive.”
The Duke of Lox was exhausted just from listening to the woman speak. He knew the Duke of Rabney did not want to tell Lady Christian all his business. Half of it would turn into gossip and the other half would be speculation and rumors she would add in for embellishment.
The Duke of Lox also knew that once Lady Christian was finished with her cousin, she would turn her sights on him. He would not be able to win the heart of Lady Wentworth with Lady Christian trailing along. He looked at the Duke of Rabney with pleading eyes.
The Duke of Rabney looked at a loss. He shrugged and whistled to the driver to go on. The servant turned and looked down at him.
“To Cooksey Castle, my lord?”
“Yes, Arthur. To Cooksey Castle.”
Arthur looked skeptical as he turned around. Arthur had acted as a driver for the Duke of Lox for many years, traveling with him when he settled in a new home. He had met Lady Christian the year before. The Duke of Lox assumed she had made herself known to anyone and everyone as soon as they met eyes with her, never to be forgotten.
He tried to zone out and not listen to her droning voice as she scolded her cousin for losing touch with her and for traveling with the Duke of Lox for a year “sowing your wild oats.” He knew she meant before settling down to married life. With her.
He shuddered.
Halfway through the ride to Cooksey Castle, Lady Christian stood up and noisily moved to the other side, sitting down next to the Duke of Lox. Instead of taking the seat comfortably, as she had done with her cousin, she sat as close to the Duke of Lox as she could. She barely left enough room between their thighs. He knew she did that so that when the carriage rocked back and forth, they would be forced to touch.
Again, he felt sick to his stomach. He did not want this woman around Lady Wentworth. Things were difficult enough for him to understand. There was no way he could explain his way out of this.
He stared out at the passing scenery, giving up on any chance at happiness. He wanted to throw himself out of the carriage and plead with God to take him away. The longer he listened to Lady Christian’s droning compliments and flirting, the more he wanted to jump from the carriage and run away.
It went on and on until they saw Cooksey Castle in the distance. The fact that the Duke of Lox had ignored nearly everything she had said, grunting every now and then as thanks for a random compliment, did not stop her from talking. When she saw the castle on the side of the mountain, she pulled in a sharp breath.
“Oh my! Oh my! What is this? Such beauty! This is where we are going? You are going to buy this? You are definitely getting married then. There is no way you can purchase this without a hefty income. I did not know you were getting so much! It must be much more than I thought.”
“Lady Christian,” the Duke of Rabney interrupted her, lifting one hand. “This is not a discussion I wish to have with you. I am not purchasing Cooksey Castle. I am picking up two young ladies who will be accompanying us on the drive to and from.”
This brought a halt to Lady Christian’s incessant talking. She stared at her cousin and moved her eyes to the Duke of Lox. Both men reveled in the abrupt silence, thanking God for even a moment of it.
“I see. I did not realize. Well, you know I always believe the more, the merrier. Am I not right? We will have a lot of fun. Yes, I am a very friendly woman, you know that. I am friends with all sorts of people, no matter their station.”
The Duke of Lox was overcome with remorse. He did not want Lady Wentworth to meet Lady Christian. The woman had been obsessed with him since they had danced together the first time at least five years ago.
He did not want to go back to the way it was before, dodging her, trying to get her to understand he was not interested in making her his wife. She told everyone they were engaged to be married for months and it had taken twice as long for him to unravel the confusion she had caused.
He braced himself for the impact as the carriage got closer. He knew Lady Wentworth’s reaction to Lady Christian would not be a good one. She already questioned him and seemed irritated by him. How could he ever possibly hope to win her heart when another woman claimed to have his already?
Lady Christian con
tinued to remark on the beauty and uniqueness of the castle. She could see the two ladies waiting on the porch and as the carriage drew closer, she stood up, just as she had in her own carriage and waved at them, calling out to them.
The two men exchanged exasperated looks. The Duke of Lox did not want to look at the reactions of the women. He knew they would be friendly with Lady Christian because both were refined individuals. But the questions would be there.
When Lady Wentworth found out Lady Christian considered the Duke of Lox to be “her future husband”, there would be some explaining to do.
When would he find the time?
He finally turned his eyes to see how the ladies were taking the presence of Lady Christian. It appeared both women were trying not to laugh, transforming their giggles into welcoming smiles for the stranger.
