by Alice Kirks
“I understand your feelings entirely,” Geoffrey admitted. “Lord Miles has a tendency to pick his teeth at the table once a meal is done. It is such a disgusting habit, and yet when I try to bring it to his attention he does not seem to care one ounce!”
Bridget laughed heartily at the thought of Miles not caring about his teeth habits, and hearing the sound of Bridget’s laughter thrilled Geoffrey. When she laughed, to him it sounded like a morning dove cooing to its mate. The morning dove was Geoffrey’s favourite bird, but not many other people liked them and so he decided not to mention the likeness to Bridget.
“That is disgusting!” Bridget agreed with him. “Why do our siblings not understand that our suggestions about manners are only trying to aid them in becoming less repulsive members of society?” It was Geoffrey’s turn to laugh at Bridget’s remark, but then a thought came to mind that made him turn more serious.
“My mother always understood my intentions with Miles,” Geoffrey admitted. He looked at Bridget and saw that the change in his tone of voice made her look upon him with more tenderness. “She knew that I was not trying to tease him; I only ever wanted the best for him.”
Bridget paused thoughtfully before what she said next, and Geoffrey did not mind the momentary silence. He wanted to tell Bridget of his favourite memory of his mother, but he did not want to frighten her off by showing too much emotion too quickly.
However, when she responded by saying, “I only met your mother once, and have heard so little about her. Would I be imposing upon you if I were to ask you to tell me more about her?” Geoffrey knew it would be alright.
“I would be honoured to,” Geoffrey responded gratefully. “Whenever I think of my mother, the same image comes to my mind. It was about five years ago, when my family held a dance in honour of a cousin who was getting married. My mother had been dancing all night with my father, and she looked so happy and fulfilled, twirling and bowing around the room. At one point in particular, my mother broke away from the dancing to come and seek me out.” Geoffrey looked up from his horse to check that Bridget was still interest, and he found that she was listening with such rapt attention that it made his heart swell.
“When she did find me,” Geoffrey continued, “she took my hand and said softly, ‘Geoffrey, I know that dancing makes you nervous, but I know that if you only took a chance and tried it, you would have the time of your life as I am doing right now. We must seek out the things in life that make us nervous or scare us, for those are so often the things that are the most worth doing.’” Geoffrey smiled to himself at the remembrance. “That was how she lived her life. I swear that she got more out of her short life than many people would in 100 years.”
Bridget chuckled appreciatively. When Geoffrey looked over to her again, he saw that there were tears welling up in her eyes. “I am so sorry,” Geoffrey quickly apologised, “I did not mean to upset you!”
“No, no, please don’t worry!” Bridget reassured him, dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief. “Your mother sounds like such a wonderful woman that it made me think of my own mother.”
Geoffrey looked at Bridget encouragingly. “I can imagine no greater joy than hearing about your mother,” he said earnestly.
Bridget smiled sadly at him. “Our mothers sound so very much alike that it makes me quite sad to think that they will never be able to meet,” Bridget began. “Mama had the same philosophy that your mother did. She knew that her time here on earth would not be long, and so she was determined to make the most of it. One of the ways that she inspired me to follow in her footsteps was by reading me all of the great adventure stories when I was young.”
Geoffrey looked at Bridget with surprise, “It was also your mother who inspired your love of reading?”
Bridget nodded vigorously. “Yes! After seeing your mother’s library, I believe that we both owe a great deal to our mothers, especially our adventurous spirits!”
The pair laughed, and when the laughter petered out they entered into another comfortable silence. Geoffrey thought fondly of the imaginary conversation that their two mothers would have, and it brought him a great deal of peace.
Finally, Bridget broke the silence. “Lord Geoffrey, I sincerely hope that I am not being too bold in saying this, but I must admit that while I do enjoy your adventurous, daring side,” Bridget paused and thought about how she wished to word the next part of her sentence, “I also very much enjoy the sensitive side of you that you have recently been revealing to me.”
Geoffrey had to look away from Bridget, for he knew that if he were to look at her right now he would want to jump off his horse and kiss her. He took a deep breath, and finally met eyes with her. “I couldn’t agree more, Lady Bridget. I have loved discovering this new side of you as well.”
Chapter 19
Lord Geoffrey and Lady Bridget rode around the estate for much of the rest of the afternoon, until she said she had to return home for supper or her father would begin to worry about her. And so, Lord Geoffrey helped her into her carriage and sent her on her way home.
After they had parted ways, Geoffrey made his way back into the manor and towards his study. His morning off from work had turned into a day off from work, and though he had very much enjoyed his time with Bridget, he knew that he had a few things that needed to get done. As he walked, he thought about how much fun he and Bridget had.
Even when their conversation centred around more serious topics, Geoffrey felt very comfortable around her and also felt that he could disclose anything to her. Well, almost anything. At the same time, Bridget had a unique ability that allowed her to switch quickly from discussing something fun to discussing something serious. This was a quality that Geoffrey greatly appreciated about her.
As Geoffrey thought upon Bridget further, he realised that many of her qualities aligned beautifully with those qualities he had imagined his wife would be in possession of. This was a very surprising thought for Lord Geoffrey, for he had not thought that he would be getting married any time soon - if ever. But if he were to get married, Geoffrey thought that a woman such as Lady Bridget could make him very happy.
Just as he was thinking about this, Geoffrey reached the door of his study. When he walked into the room, Miles was sitting behind his desk with his feet propped up on it. Geoffrey’s entrance caused Miles to look up at him with a smirk on his face. “Glad you finally decided to stop traipsing around the estate with my future wife,” Miles said, being quite snarky.
Geoffrey narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Take your feet off my desk, get out from behind it and don’t talk about Bridget in that way!” Geoffrey shouted at Miles. When Miles did not move but merely laughed, Geoffrey shoved his feet off the table, grabbed Miles’ jacket by the shoulders and pulled him off his chair. Miles stumbled into the middle of the room. Geoffrey glared at him and said, “Your behaviour over the past few weeks has been abhorrent. I know that you blame me for your misfortune, so instead of continuing as we have been, shall we deal with this as men?”
Miles suddenly looked rather frightened at his older, stronger, bigger brother offering to fight him, but Geoffrey did not back down. Geoffrey took three steps toward him and Miles cried out, “No! No, I did not come to fight you, brother. We are not animals; we do not need to solve our problems with our fists.”
Hearing this, Geoffrey lowered his fists that he hadn’t even realised he’d raised. He was still furious with Miles, but he was not going to hurt him if he did not wish to fight and get things over with. Miles relaxed slightly when he saw his brother put his fists down, and so he continued. “I came because something very interesting came into my possession, and I believe it is yours...”
Miles put his hand in his pocket, and when he drew it out Geoffrey saw that he was holding Geoffrey’s black mask that he had worn the night he stole into the Stanhope Manor. Geoffrey’s blood froze in him. He tried his best not to let his face give away that he recognised the mask, but the instant Miles took it out,
Miles began laughing.
“Your recognise this, I can tell,” Miles said in a cocky voice. “I am not even going to tell you where I found it or how I acquired it, for it isn’t important. What is important is that you have many things that I want, and I have one thing that you desperately don’t want the world to know about. Does that sound about right?”
The corner of Geoffrey’s lip began to twitch in anger, and he felt his hand making a fist once more. He knew that he shouldn’t let his frustrations with his brother take over, but he was finding it very, very difficult not to give in to them. That would mean beating up his brother, and that was not something that he was about to allow himself to do.
“Why do you want Bridget so badly?” was the first question that Geoffrey had for Miles. “I thought that you liked her sister?”
Miles smiled mischievously. “While Lady Deborah did catch my eye and maintain my attention for a time, it was obvious that Lady Bridget was the object of your affections. And because you have so many things that I want, I decided to go after what you wanted more than anything.”
“But why would you admit to being the thief to try to win her over?” Geoffrey asked, stunned. “You could not have been certain that Lord Alymer would believe that you were confessing in an attempt to shield someone else.”
“That’s right, dear brother, I could not be sure of that. But because we have money, influence and excellent social status, I always had some idea that I could get away with whatever I wanted, and in the process, win Lady Bridget. That’s a real win-win situation if I’ve ever seen one,” Miles said smugly.
“But you don’t even like Lady Bridget!” Geoffrey protested, and as he did, he realised how truly childish he sounded.
“Alright, alright, enough questions and comments about my brilliant decisions!” Miles cried suddenly. “I did not come here today to further flaunt my genius in front of you, brother...Who am I kidding, that is exactly what I came here! But regardless of that, I want to talk about my plan for this mask.” Miles walked over to the front of Geoffrey’s desk and sat down in the appropriate chair. Then, he gestured to the chair behind the desk and said, “Well? Are you going to take your seat and hear my proposition or not?”
Geoffrey growled, walked over to the desk and took his seat. “I will not make any deals with you, Miles, that is not how I work,” Geoffrey said.
Miles tilted his head back in laughter. “Oh, brother,” he said in between laughs, “you think that you are above and beyond so many things, when really you’re just as bad, if not worse, than I am!” Miles let out another loud guffaw, but eventually managed to regain his composure. “Here is my proposition: I will keep your thievery a secret on the condition that you give me the second family dwelling...” Geoffrey was not surprised, nor really very put off by this suggestion, “... and Lady Bridget.”
Upon hearing this, however, Geoffrey shook his head emphatically. “Certainly not. This is not only because you know of my feelings for her, but this also supposes that Lady Bridget has no say in whom she is to court. I will not have her forced into a marriage with a man who does not love her.”
Miles raised his eyebrows at his brother. “A man who does not love her? Does that mean that there is a man present in this room who does love her?”
Geoffrey looked away from his brother, disgusted. “That is not what I meant, and you know it,” Geoffrey said harshly, but Miles just laughed at his misery. “Do you truly like Lady Bridget, or do your feelings for her arise solely from the fact that you wish to spite me?”
Miles shrugged his shoulders. “She is quite pleasing to the eye, and she has a good dowry, and so she is an acceptable option of a woman that I could wed... that is, if I only had the second family estate...”
Suddenly, Geoffrey slammed his hand down on the table and Miles jumped. “Miles, you can have any profession that your heart desires, where you could make a good living because of our family’s influence and father’s support. And yet you insist on desiring the life that I have? Why would you throw such an opportunity away?” Geoffrey shouted at him.
Miles shook his head, disappointed. “Brother, I find it so sad that after all this time you still do not understand why I do everything I do. I am not trying to win Lady Bridget because I love her; I am doing it to spite you. I am not trying to get my fair share of the family fortune because I do not wish to have my own profession; I am doing it to spite you. And I do not wish to be labelled as the clumsy thief who stole into the Stanhope Manor, I am-”
“Doing it to spite me, I understand you, you fool,” Geoffrey said, his patience with his brother growing thinner by the moment. Geoffrey scowled. He hadn’t thought that the animosity between the two brothers had risen to these kinds of levels.
A part of him desperately wanted to know where Miles had found the mask so that he could tear into him for going through his room. However, another part of him did not want to begin another feud with his brother who now, devastatingly, held the power in their relationship. Geoffrey cursed the day he had got involved with this thievery, for it was causing him such anguish now.
While the two men settled into an uncomfortable silence, Geoffrey began to consider his options. If he were to say no to Miles’ conditions, Miles would expose what he thought he knew of Geoffrey to everyone, and Geoffrey would lose Bridget, his reputation and, most likely, his position and inheritance.
As well, Lord Alymer would look kindly upon Miles for protecting his older brother and would welcome either of his daughters into a union with him. Miles, of course, would insist that it was Bridget who he desired, and then Bridget would be stuck in a horrible marriage with a deplorable human being. Miles would also likely become the marquess, and that would be another whole problem entirely.
And then, of course, there would be the punishment for the theft. He did not expect that even if he admitted to the crime all by himself that the punishment would be very great, for he was still a nobleman after all. However, he would still have to make amends, but the truth was that he should probably do that anyway. In addition to all of this, Geoffrey’s reputation would be permanently blackened. He would never be able to recover in this community if people found out about what he had done. It would necessitate a move to another country or continent, and while Geoffrey did enjoy the thought of that and the freedom that would allow, he thought about how disappointed his father would be if he were still alive to see all of this going on. If there was one thing that Geoffrey did not want to do, it was disappoint his father.
If things continued on as they had been, people would probably still believe that Miles had confessed to the crime because he was protecting someone. This would happen almost certainly if Lord Alymer continued to perpetuate that idea. However, if Miles was to come out and say Geoffrey had committed the crime, people would certainly believe that.
It would make perfect sense with the narrative that had come together so unfortunately: Miles confessed, Lord Alymer said it was because he was protecting someone, then Miles would reveal it was really Geoffrey who had done it, and Miles would be painted as a hero for protecting his foolish older brother.
To make things worse, Geoffrey did have a bit a reputation around town for getting into scrapes. He had never stuck around long enough to be caught, but nevertheless it would be all too easy for townsfolk to vilify Geoffrey and glorify Miles.
With all of these thoughts swimming in his head, Geoffrey turned to his brother and said, “You know full well that I wish to court Lady Bridget for myself, and I don’t want to see you anywhere near her.”
Miles raised an eyebrow at Geoffrey. “That’s what you have to say after all of that time in silent thought? Brother, please bestow upon me some more intelligent thoughts than that!” Miles cried, opening his arms towards the sky.
“I was not finished, you fool,” Geoffrey spat at him. “I will admit that because of the combination of our actions, I no longer see any other way out of it. It makes me sick to my stomach to think
of Lady Bridget ending up with a buffoon such as you.”
Miles smiled smugly at his brother. “Is it not better than the other option though? I should add that if you don’t agree to my terms, I’m also ready to imply that Lady Bridget may have helped you in some way. She is ever so fond of you, after all.” Miles sneered at Geoffrey.
